THE GOOD

Hay –unlimited amounts, grass is prefered to alfalfa

Pellets-rationed with a measuring cup. Choose timothy-based pellets if available. Avoid high-calories pellets.

Vegetables-chos fresh green vegetables, serve smaller amounts of carrots. Avoid starchy vegetables such as fresch or dried corn, eas and beans, potatoes.

Fruits-fresh is beter than dried. Keep portions tiny and feed no more tham one piece daily. Use small pieces of apple and banana as treats and rewards for your rabbit.

THE NOT SO GOOD

Seed & nuts – don’t feed these calorie bombs.

Comercial rabbit or rodent treats-don’t feed these on a weight-loss lan, and feed them sparingly or never to marintain a healthy weight. Examine the ingredient label to make sure the treat your purchaed is high in fiber and low in sugars, fats and proteins.

Human foods-don’t feed human foods (except for fresh vegetables and fruit), because they are too calorie-rich. Stick with low-calorie vegetables and the occasional dried fruit. 

new vegetable for several weeks, and rotate it with familiar ones. 1 once fostered rabbits that didn't know what lettuce was, and it took them a month before they started to eat it; now they love it!

Fresh vegetables are wonderful for weight loss because they are high in fiber and water, and low in calories. They are an important part of weight control, and, over time, they may even replace a pellet meal. Emphasize green vegetables, and balance these with a few colored ones. Good choices include: broccoli, ci1antro (an herb), parsley (curly and fiat-Ieaf), dark green lettuce (romaine, curly, red), escarole, caulifiower, red pepper slices, bok choy, fresh herbs (not dried), spinach, carrot tops, radish tops, beet tops, kale and chopped celery. Some rabbits enjoy a tomato slice, too.

Avoid fresh beans and fresh peas as they are calorierich, and feed limited carrots (e.g. no more than 4 inches daily). Starchy foods such as fresh or dried corn, potatoes and yams are also calorie-dense and should never be fed to rabbits.

Generally, 1 feed 4 to 8 ounces of fresh vegetables daily, depending on the rabbit's size. Your kitchen scale can help you figure out a good serving size. Then you can bag the vegetable mixture (at least three to five different vegetables daily) into daily portions for easy feeding. It is easiest to do this right after you return fi-om the grocery store. 1 find this method easier than separately preparing vegetables for every meal.

Rule #4 Offer hayto meet those grazing needs. Rabbits are instinctive grazers. Because they evolved on energy-poor diets, their brains are hardwired to continually seek and eat food. Those brain signals may not disappear when the diet is high-calorie. Hay is a great way to meet this grazing need because it is essentially identical to the rabbit's natural diet. For weight loss, a grass hay contains less protein and therefore fewer calories than does alfalfa hay. All hays, however, are excellent choices.

You might consider feeding a variety of

hays to balance Thumper's nutritional needs, but this is less essential if you also feed pellets and vegetables. Rabbits should have access to hay at all times. Dont worry - Thumper cannot get fat eating hay. Hay also has the bonus of keeping the

ceca! microflora balanced, and the long fiber strands propel ingested fur and prevent fur blockage of the stomach or gut.

Rule #5 Avoid no-no foods.

Like humans, rabbits crave sugary and fatty foods. For proper weight control, avoid or severely limit these junk foods. These include: seeds, nuts, honey or dried vegetables, raisins and other dried fruits as well as processed human foods (breakfast cereals, cookies and crackers, bread, snack foods, popcorn).

Instead, insist on healthy treats such as fresh vegetables, and high-fiber/no-sugar/no-fat foods. Happily, some pet food vendors offer healthy, low-calorie alternatives. When in doubt, read the label.

Ingredients are listed in descending order of

abundance, with the most common ones listed first. You want sugars, fats and starches to be toward the end of the ingredient list and not at its beginning. Follow serving sizes recommended by rabbit-savvy veterinarians and nutritionists.

Rule #6 Be patient.

It may take time for you and your rabbit to make these changes. Remember - junkfood bunnies are created, not born. It will

take time for both you and Thumper to_

learn new food habits. It may even be fi-ustrating. But the effort is worth it, because it will give you many more years together with your furry mend! *