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Originally posted by will_ainsworth
wait till ur house stinks
yourplace will stink like a council estate soon enough

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Originally posted by AdZ9
Me and my gf were talking about house rabbits, but i don't know much about them or how you keep them properly?

Do they have a hutch in the house? Or like a bed like a cat? lol
Also you say they are litter trained, so if they shit or piss they go in a tray like a cat? Thats insane.

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Here are some of the facts coming from a book on rabbit nutrition.

Lettuce is 95% water. Non-dehydrated lettuce has 1.2% crude protein and 0.6% crude fiber. De-hydrated lettuce has 22% crude protein and 11% crude fiber. (Rabbit Feeding and Nutrition, Peter R. Cheeke)

A rabbit really should get about 16% crude protein and about 20% crude fiber. If the rabbit gets too little fiber, then it is going to get diarrhea.

Rabbits have a digestive system made to utilize energy and water as best as possible. Energy normally comes in the smaller less fibrous particles. When food in a rabbit reaches the end of the rabbit's intestines it get sent to a point that is a split between the rabbit's colon and the rabbit's cecum. The cecum is where the food is broken down through fermentation to utilize the water, protein, and energy. The colon runs to the rabbit's rear end where the poop is excreted. The colon of the rabbit is designed to return small particles and water to the rabbit's cecum. Larger particles (fiber) that are harder to digest are excreted as poop. Feeding a rabbit too much food that has a lot of water content and small particles such as many vegetables have and lettuce has increases the amount of water and small particles sent back to the cecum, causing the cecum to ferment longer and retain more particles and water. The longer fermentation occurs the more time bacteria has a chance to build up to high levels. Once the level gets so high, your rabbit gets diarrhea. Also, since the food sits longer in the cecum as a result, it also can cause GI Stasis. Where the food just sits in the digestive system and doesn't want to move.

Your rabbit will eat all of the lettuce, because for them it is like a treat. And as you can see, since the crude protein and crude fiber levels are so low, the rabbit has to eat a lot of it to get the nutrition it needs out of it.

Where some of the argument comes into play is that you can get away with feeding a small portion of lettuce or vegetables without your rabbit getting diarrhea. But, if you give too much, your rabbit will get diarrhea. So some people will give their rabbits vegetables and claim they have no problem with diarrhea. If given in low enough amounts, your rabbit won't get diarrhea. You really have to be careful come the summer though, especially if you have your rabbit outside. Rabbits are more prone to diarrhea in the summer since the temperature is hotter and the rabbit is under more stress. Also, bacteria grow easier when the temperature gets warmer.

Fiber as you read, goes through the rabbit's system quicker and helps "flush" their digestive system out. That's why feeding hay helps. Hay is usually pretty high in fiber content. That may also be part of the reason why some get away with feeding lettuce more than others is because they may feed more hay also.

I personally suggest avoiding feeding lettuce and feeding vegetables and fruits. While you may avoid diarrhea, other things may be occurring that you don't really notice. For example, most vegetables are high in energy in comparison to the protein and fiber the rabbit can obtain from them. That excess energy normally gets converted to fat. Many vegetables and stuff like that while being high in energy are low in protein and fiber. Being low in protein can cause your rabbit to lose muscle and thereby lose weight. All the while, it is still gaining fat. Some vegetables also contain toxins that can build up over time in the rabbit's liver and kidneys and slowly but surely poison your rabbit. Also, some vegetables and plants are high in tannins. Sunflowers are high in tannin content and so are oak leaves. Tannin basically renders the protein undigestible so that the protein can't be used by the rabbit. If your rabbit doesn't get enough protein, it could start chewing fur from the underside of its body due to a nutritional deficiency.

That's why I recommend sticking with primarily just rabbit pellets and water. If you want to give anything else, a small handful of hay might help.

I've read the books and taken the animal nutrition classes to know. If you read most of the other comments, you'll see comments like, "My rabbit loves to eat them, so lettuce is just fine." Kids love to eat sweets, but just because a kid loves to eat donuts and ice cream that doesn't mean I should make their diet donuts and ice cream.

Eating lettuce isn't going to kill your rabbit like a poison and kill it "boom" overnight. If you feed too much, you'll notice your rabbit getting diarrhea. When a rabbit gets diarrhea, it will lose weight and normally go off of its feed somewhat. Diarrhea won't kill a rabbit right away, but if you let it go on for more than 3-4 days or so it has a very high likelihood of killing your rabbit.

Young rabbits are more susceptible to diarrhea than older rabbits are. This is partly because of the difference in pH or acidity between an adult rabbit's stomach and a baby rabbit's stomach. An adult rabbit's stomach as a pH of about 1-2 or so. That is very acidic. That high acidity helps kill of bacteria. Young rabbits have a higher pH of 5-6 so they have a much lower acidity to their stomach. That lower acidity won't kill off the bacteria in the stomach like in adult rabbits.

Diarrhea kills more rabbits than any other rabbit disease. And one of the main causes for it killing them is people being uneducated about how to properly feed their rabbits. I hate to say it folks, but Bugs Bunny is not an authority on rabbit nutrition.

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Originally posted by VXR

As long as your not cruel to them, look after them and give them a good happy life, thats all that really matters (giving THEM the good life, not what suits yourself ).

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Originally posted by AdZ9
Spose if you got fed up with them you can have a nice game meat dinner etc, can't exactly do that with cats/dogs now can you

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