Hey! Your Rabbit Needs More Hay

April 30, 2016

According to MyHouseRabbit.com, rabbits as herbivores need a diet high in fiber and hay. While your rabbit may have a specific amount of food they are fed each day, the amount of hay they should be given at all times is unlimited. Rabbits should be able to munch and graze on hay whenever they want for optimal health, as this is similar to what they’d do in the wild.

For one, a proper hay diet provides the fiber needed to prevent blockages and keep their digestive system healthy, preventing a potentially deadly condition called gastrointestinal stasis. GI stasis is a common rabbit problem where they are no longer able to properly digest mass and it gets stuck in their digestive system, blocking it. Hay also cares for a rabbit’s teeth, as it helps to keep them down and at a good level where rabbit teeth can grow indefinitely.

So what kind of hay should you buy? The most common types of hay found in pet stores is alfalfa and timothy, and which one you get depends on the age of your rabbit. Alfalfa hay is high in calories and very fattening to rabbits, which makes it good for infant and child rabbits, age seven months or less. After seven months, rabbits should be fed the lower-calorie timothy hay, which has all the benefits without the now unneeded weight gain. Other alternatives for adult rabbits, if you can’t find timothy hay, include orchard grass and oat hay.