Important Aspects About Rabbit Food
Rabbits make amazing and lovely pets to raise. They are playful and social animals that learn to love their owner as much as a cat does. Let's not forget about the adorable fluffiness its fur has. Rabbits are also known to shed and leave behind a serious amount of fur similar to cats. But with the proper care and nutrition, this aspect can be improved. While they are so cute and cuddly like all pets rabbits do take a lot of work to be taken care of. Along with needing a clean and healthy environment they also request the right rabbit food. A well-recognized brand called Timothy Hay has shown to have along with great customer reviews various health benefits for the animals consuming its food products.
What Does Timothy Hay Mean?
Timothy hay is a type of hay used in making food for various animals. It has been named after an American farmer from the eighteenth century and it is a special type of hay that provides the animal with a balanced and nutritious diet. It is a high fiber and high energy hay product with a low protein level and low calcium type of hay grass that brings benefits to your rabbit's digestion. It is perfect for feeding horses and rabbits.
Rabbit food hay comes in three cuts which are different from each other. The first cut is the roughest but also the highest in fiber. This cut is slightly lower in the overall nutritional value so if you want your pet to lose some weight this is perfect for him. The second cut contains a balanced amount of fiber and proteins. And the third one while it is known to be softer and greener it also has less fiber but an increased amount of protein. The Timothy Hay https://www.petshopdirect.com.au/shop/category/rabbit-guinea-pig-food products found in the supermarkets do not usually say what cut they contain so it is considered to be a mixture of all of the above.
Types of Hay
Some may believe that hay is growing only in one type but they are wrong. There is a range of many different types of hay that get to fall into two big categories: legume and grass. A rare type of grass hay called meadow hay contains edible plants such as dandelion. This type can be more variable in contents
than the simpler one due to the presence of these nutritious edible plants. Legumes consist of alfalfa hay and clovers. The alfalfa hay also called lucerne is greener and has the highest protein level and calcium among the other hay types. This one is suitable for baby rabbits that need more calcium and it is to be avoided when it comes to older rabbits that need to avoid calcium as much as possible.
Timothy Hay Health Benefits
Research has shown that offering your pet rabbit special rabbit food https://www.petshopdirect.com.au/shop/category/rabbit-guinea-pig-food such as the one from this brand, can have plenty of improvement effects upon his health. The fiber element part of hay is essential for the development of a rabbit's organism. Their digestive system is naturally built around a high-fiber diet. The fiber content levels make sure that their intestines do not get clogged up, a fact that leads to gastrointestinal stasis. This illness is extremely serious and can be even lethal. To avoid it make sure your pet bunny gets his intake of required fiber. Another reason for which a high fiber intake helps general health is represented by its contribution to keeping their teeth healthy. Rabbit's teeth are known to grow up to 5 inches in one year which can make it difficult for them to breathe. Without having rough hay and grass to chew on your bunny's teeth can turn into long and sharp bits that turn to be extremely uncomfortable. Timothy hay rabbit food can help your rabbit maintain its teeth in a healthy state.
Calcium in Hay
As any living being requires a certain amount of calcium in the first phases of their life in order to properly develop their structural bones and muscular system, rabbits require it too. It has been proven that bunnies are extremely efficient in getting calcium from the rabbit food they eat. While most animals absorb only a small percentage of calcium from their food, rabbits try absorbing the entire amount from which they excrete half through urine. Their urine may turn to a chalky consistency to eliminate the excess when ingesting too much calcium. To prevent urinary stones it is best to be careful with the amount of calcium in the food you give your pet has. Timothy hay is quite low on calcium so it is ideal for older bunnies.
The Quantity of Food
The amount of rabbit food you bunny requires depends on a lot of factors. From what type of rabbit you own, how big its structure is, its age, and how much it weights. People tend to not give enough hay to their rabbits because they do not know how much they need. Normally, a healthy bunny eats on a daily basis as much as the dimensions of its body. So the larger the bunny the more food it needs to get its nutritional balance in order. Also, keep in mind that rabbits eat more than hay. You can supply them with a snack made of a handful of green vegetables and herbs. Basil and cilantro have been shown to be the most preferred herbs by rabbits. Besides these two you can also give them small amounts of fennel, fresh lavender, tiny bits of mint, oregano, parsley, watercress, and even sage.
Like other animals when feeding rabbits there are some ingredients you should never give such as chives, spring onions, or garlic. Every vegetable coming from the onion family is poisonous to rabbits. Also never give alcohol, sugar, or salt to your pet bunny because it causes serious health problems that can lead to instant heart failure. Rabbits have sensitive hearts so it is best to avoid any possible danger.
