Blog Entry 12- Hey, Rabbits have a Diet too?

When I was growing up I thought rabbits just ate vegetables from the garden and lots of carrots, because that’s what popular culture has led many people to believe.  But this is an ignorant belief based in fiction.  They can eat vegetables, but they should be considered as treats and not a staple of their diet. In actuality, 80% of a rabbit’s diet consists of hay.  It can either be Timothy hay or Orchard grass.  There really isn’t a distinct difference between the two types of hay, it’s just that one isn’t as thick as the other and the color is a bit different.  Hay is used in rabbit litter boxes for them to eat and use as bedding.  Usually two litter boxes are better than one, but at the shelter we don’t always get that option.  They also eat pellets that are made of hay.  This should also be given to rabbits in small quantities because they’re something to chew on and not their main source of food.   Their main source of food is the hay itself.  Alfalfa can also be used, but it’s very rich and is only recommended for rabbits who are severely underweight, are very young, or are refusing to eat their hay.
When I first got to the shelter, I had no idea what rabbits were supposed to eat. I thought that Bugs Bunny displayed the normal eating habit of a rabbit, but it’s far from the truth.  If rabbits don’t eat hay, they can get very sick and get to an unhealthy weight.  A lot of people who have dropped or abandoned their rabbits at the shelter have fed them incorrectly.  It’s really sad, because if they just did a little more research, went to google and typed in a few key words, they would have discovered a whole list of websites that talk about proper rabbit care.  One of the best sites is the House Rabbit Society, where you can find all sorts of information about what is safe for rabbits to eat. Adopters need be educated and be informed about a rabbit’s diet so that both pet and adopter are happy.