Rabbits, unlike humans, don’t have that much of a varied diet, so it’s pretty hard to get wrong, right?
Well, no, actually. Rabbits need fresh water, hay, selected fresh vegetables and dry food – but not all dry food is created equally. In fact, animal welfare experts are urging rabbit owners to stop feeding their pets rabbit muesli, as it’s making them sick.
But why? Turns out that rabbits who eat muesli will often selectively feed, which means they pick the bits they like out of the muesli, and leave the rest. In the case of my (late, great) rabbits, they used to eat the high starch, high sugar colourful pieces, and leave all the boring, fibre rich bits, like the dark bran pieces. It’s basically the same as giving a kid (or, er grown adult) a bowl of Lucky Charms – they’ll eat the marshmallow shapes and leave the toasted oat pieces.