From: jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca (John Paul Morrison)
Subject: Re: bunny questions
Organization: University of BC, Electrical Engineering
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 09:11:33 GMT

In article <1992Dec23.175714.9959@news.cs.indiana.edu> "Amy Young Leith" <alyoung@kiwi.ucs.indiana.edu> writes:
>In article <1992Dec23.205153.9774@ee.ubc.ca> jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca (John Paul Morrison) writes:
>
>>5. Feed: he lives on Purina Rabbit Chow, or Buckerfield's Rabbit Feed. 
>>   He has unlimited access to food. He doesn't appear fat, so should we 
>>   change anything? 
>
>PURINA MAKES RABBIT CHOW??  
>
>The only foods I've been able to find around here are names I've never
>heard of.  He is very healthy, but I worry about the quality of these
>pellets since in the past, we had a bad situation with an off-brand
>dog food which had NO nutritional value, at least that's what our vet
>said. 
>

yes they seem to. Do you get small plastic bags from pet stores? That
stuff is usually just repackaged; it could be anything.

Here's the hype from the bag:
Purina, Country Green Rabbit Chow.
Palatable and Nutritious food for rabbits and bunnies.
Contains fewer fines.

then:
Formulated and Processed with care to be cleaner and greener.

Then they give a guaranteed analysis (maybe someone who knows can
say whether this is good)

Crude protein:  minimum 15%
      fat       minimum  2%
      fiber     maximum 18%
Sodium          actual   0.25%
Calcium           "      0.9%
Phosphorous       "      0.5%
Vitamin A       minimum  8000 IU/kg
        D3        "      2000 IU/kg
        E         "        10 IU/kg
Selenium                 0.1 mg / kg


I have no idea whether this is a good main diet for the long term.
It doesn't seem to have too much fat, so it should be good. He
does seem to do alright on it.

You should be able to find it or order it through one of those mega
pet food marts (which typically have lots of dog and cat foods). Purina,
Buckerfield's etc. come in (big) 10 kg bags and it is very cheap ($5 or
so per bag, definitely under $10). For a small (1 kg bunny) it lasts
a LONG time. As long as the feed is kept properly(dry, clean), we've 
learned that keeping his feed consistent is VERY good thing. Bunnies
seem to get really upset at food changes, and it would take a couple
of days to change over to different feed. Those useless books with
cute pictures don't tell you that, and the generic/pet-shop type
rabbit feed doesn't tell you either. The "pro" stuff DID confirm this,
and it says to mix in new feed with the old stuff, in order to adjust
the bunny's gut bacteria.

I'm not plugging the Purina feed; the Buckerfield's feed and others
are good to (but the Buckerfield's is more oriented to fattening up
them up quickly).

>>6. (not important) any theories why rabbits will lick some people but not 
>>   others? He licks me, but not others (and they feel like the bunny's not 
>>   being affectionate), I say it's just for salt. 
>
>We thought at first that it was just salt, too, but we bought him a
>salt lick and he didn't touch it.  Also, he'll do it to our clothes if
>he's not near skin.  I am convinced that it is a grooming/affection
>sign.  Dink didn't do this to Scot at all until after we'd had him a
>while and Scot was won over by his cuteness.  =)

He's got a salt/mineral lick which he uses consistently. He still licks
me though, so I guess that shoots down the salt argument for licking
people.


Funny thing: feeding a bunny is extremely cheap (only water and salt
are cheaper). We spend more on the results of feeding a bunny! The bunny-litter
(cat litter actually) is used up a lot faster. We use a paper based litter,
instead of regular cat litter. The paper/pulp has no dust and is soft; if
we use regular cat litter, the rabbit feels like chalk if you pick him up.
(cedar chips are even more expensive, and they are really messy with an
open wire cage. Cedar doesn't absorb much water either)

>
>amy
>-- 
>alyoung@kiwi.ucs.indiana.edu for personal mail
>			    All business mail to alyoung@silver.ucs.indiana.edu
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>**Dislcaimer:I only speak for myself.  Anyone who thinks differently is a fool.
>			(This means NOT my employer!!)


-- 
__________________________________________________________________________
 John Paul Morrison                     |  
 University of British Columbia, Canada |  
 Electrical Engineering                 |   .sig file without a cause
 jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca              VE7JPM |  
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Newsgroups: rec.pets