Because Bunnies Breed Like...well, bunnies!

We can't emphasize enough the importance of getting your pets, and especially rabbits, spayed and neutered. Not only does it cut down on overpopulation, it also helps to cut the risks of some cancers, and can certainly help with those pesky behavioral issues.

Add to that the fact that many foster and rescue groups are pushed to the brink of their capabilities all at a time when belt tightening and budget cuts have made it such that many community animal shelters no longer even accept rabbits, and you have a situation where even a few extra bunnies is a big deal with no place to go.

There are currently thousands of loving, adoptable, often spayed and neutered, pet bunnies out there at shelters and rescue organizations just waiting for a good home. Let's not add to that situation when the solution is just so simple.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So this World Spay Day, make sure ALL your pets are spayed and neutered!

Check out the Humane Society of the United States for further information. Also check with your local rabbit rescue or shelter to find local veterinarians specializing in rabbit spays and neuters.

We thank you and the bunnies thank you!

"DO" The Worlds Oldest Rabbit

You want to know his secret!!!??

He never ate a vegetable in his live long life!!!

Interesting.

Isnt that what David Sherwood has been telling us all along!!!??

Sure we want to give the ones we love a treat...

But should we!!!?? 

Food for thought folks.

Go HERE for more about "DO" the Oldest rabbit.  

And go Here and Here to learn more about the diet Sherwood Forest Natural Rabbit Food suggests for your bun.

Here’s a handy tool from the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society. It’s a state-by-state listing of emergency veterinary clinics and hospitals. Use the tool and post the results on your refrigerator (or smartphone) before you need it.
Go here for the help!!

Beware of Overheating During Summer MonthsSummer is in full swing and we want to remind everyone that bunnies do NOT tolerate heat well. If they get overheated it can quickly become fatal. Imagine if you were wearing a fur coat in hot weather!

Please protect your bunny from becoming overheated by keeping them indoors and making sure the temperature does not exceed 78 degrees. Any time the air temperature gets to 80 or above, it quickly becomes dangerous, not to mention very uncomfortable. Another way to help keep your bunny cool is to provide a couple 12" x 12" squares of marble, granite or even just ceramic tile for them to stretch out on. These can be purchased for a couple to a few dollars each from a home improvement store. You can also fill a plastic water or soda bottle with water and freeze it, then put it on a mat or towel in their living area for them to stretch out next to if they are feeling too warm. Fans are good for circulating the air, but don't set them so they are blowing directly on your bunnies.And of course, never leave your bunny unattended in a vehicle even if you think you might be 'just a minute or two' with a quick stop at a store. It only takes a couple minutes for the inside air temperature of a vehicle to soar well beyond what bunnies can tolerate. 

Here is a link to an informative article by the House Rabbit Society .
source
art by Erin Kravchenko

Rabbits love to play!!
You know its true!!
They run, they jump, they flip and play hide and seek.  They even toss things in the air.
And just like human kids, they love a good toy. A good toy helps them from getting bored. "MOM!!!...There's nothing to dooooooo...." (add a whining sound for realism)
And now you have a choice. You can go out and buy toys for your bun...or...unlike most children, rabbits appreciate homemade toys too.
Bunny toys should reflect  their natural behaviors, such as digging and tossing, tunneling and chewing.
 Here are a few fun, easy suggestions for you to try-

* Cardboard boxes or purchased cardboard castles made for rabbits with openings and ramps
* Large cardboard tubes made for rabbits or find form tubes (used for concrete) at a building supply just make sure they aren’t treated with any chemicals before purchase.
*Wood Bird toys – mobiles are okay especially the wood type and check at all materials in the construction of it.
* Large rubber or plastic balls for pushing. Stay away from foam or styrofoam materials that can cause choking or blockages.
*Baby rattles for throwing – be sure the plastic is strong enough to resist bunny teeth.
*Big Plastic Slinky – I like them, too . . . what is it about a slinky, anyway?
* Small stuffed animals with no removable chewable parts or hard eyes – more for snuggling than playing. If you have a single rabbit, they might enjoy a snuggle toy.
*Baked and cleaned pinecones for tossing.  Don't go for exotic "pinecones" that aren't your basic evergreen pinecone.
* Small cotton rag rug for arranging and tunneling inside. Make sure bunny won't eat it.
* Old phonebooks, although, these are becoming harder to find, rabbits love digging in them and chewing. *Core cardboard rolls from paper towels or toilet paper rolls – get the ones with the least amount of glue on the cardboard!
* Untreated willow baskets – without paint or varnish or other chemicals.
*Big plain paper bags from the grocery store for chewing and exploring

Does your bunny have favorite toys?
Please tell us about them!!

A Happy Bunny Makes for a Happy Home!!

art by:  Leontine Greenberg

You Positively GLOW!!

Pregnant rabbits require food with a more energy than normal pet food to be able to support their growing baby bunnies. This is especially important during the last two weeks of pregnancy. The type of food should be different than one that is made for pet rabbits. Most commercial rabbit feeds will work fine as a pregnant rabbit food but some brands are far better than others.

 After your rabbit gives birth to a new litter of baby bunnies it is best to switch her to a high-fat rabbit food. This is important to stimulate the milk production needed to support the health of growing bunnies (Fortun-Lamothe L. 1997). Research shows that you'll see major improvements in the health of growing baby bunnies and improved feed efficiency when using a high-fat rabbit food.

 Most commercial rabbit feeds have very little fat. Additionally, those that claim to have added fat for "show rabbits" are simply adding a little "natural" vegetable oil. Two things are wrong with this scenario. First, these types of rabbit foods still have less than 4% fat when growing rabbits should be getting at least twice that amount! Second, vegetable oil is refined and and lacks the natural vitamins needed. Plants that use oil to store energy in seeds also package vitamin E with it. Feeds that use cheep refined soybean oil will not have the same amount of vitamin E as feeds that use whole natural oil seeds like flax, canola (rape), and others as an oil source. This is important because when adding fat to any diet you should also add vitamin E.

 Following these dietary recommendations for feeding pregnant rabbits will improve their health. If you plan on breeding more rabbits then it is also important to learn how to rear Does before they become pregnant. The information found in the website below is guaranteed to improve your success and reduce the culling rates of nursing and pregnant rabbits and the mortality rates of their growing bunnies. It also details what you should feed your rabbits months before breeding them and how to find the best kind of pregnant rabbit food.


 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5479160

Where's The Litter Box?!

Rabbits need the right types and sizes of fiber in their food!

 You may already know that rabbits need a high fiber diet to prevent digestive problems, but did you know that they need the right types of fiber and, for optimal health, that they need them to be in certain sizes and ratios in their food? If they don't have the right types and sizes of fiber it could slow their digestion, cause diarrhea, stunt their growth, and reduce feed efficiency.

 How can you tell if your rabbit food has the right kind of fiber in the right sizes?

 Rabbits need two basic types of fiber: Indigestible, and digestible. The indigestible types need to be larger in size (approximately 1.7mm or larger) than the digestible types of fiber.

 This is because, at the end of the digestive tract, rabbits sort the unabsorbed portion of their food based on size. The smaller particles are channeled into the ceacum to be fermented by bacteria. If the ceacum contains mostly digestible fiber then good bacteria will ferment it to produce nutrients and vitamins for the rabbit. If the ceacum contains indigestible fiber or high amounts of grain or protein supplements then bad bacteria will grow causing digestive troubles like bloating and diarrhea for your rabbits.

 The best way to tell if your rabbit food will cause problems is to take a pellet in your hands and break it apart. If it is composed of mostly small particles then you'll know that all of it will likely end up in the ceacum and slow digestion as already discussed. If it has large particles then take a closer look at the large particles. If they are "woody" or stringy and tough fibrous plant materials then they'll probably do their job, but check the rabbit food label. If it has a lot of grain and grain by-products, or high concentrations of protein supplements like soybean meal then beware!

 The right kind of fiber in rabbit food provides another level of assurance that your rabbits will be healthy.

For more interesting tidbits about rabbit care, go HERE!
 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5479122

WHY PELLETS?!

Feeding your rabbit pellets is important to ensure they get the vitamins and minerals needed for long term health. This is especially true for baby rabbits. Many websites recommend feeding mostly hay and only a small amount of pellets. I use to think the same way until I realized that this caused nutritional deficiencies! This occurs because most rabbit pellets are designed to provide just the right amount of the needed micronutrients as if the pellets were the only thing the rabbit ate. Supplementing rabbit pellets with hay, grain, or other feeds will alter the needed balance of these nutrients and will dilute the vitamin and minerals that are needed.

 However most rabbit pellets are formulated with too much protein and grain. This leads to bloating and causes your rabbits urine to smell like ammonia. The best rabbit food is soy free and uses very little or no grain. Adding minerals in an organic chelated form is also better than inorganic mineral salts like zinc oxide or copper sulfate. Research clearly shows that a balanced diet greatly improves the health and playfulness of your rabbit and you'll see a difference in the quality of the fur coat.

 In nature, rabbits will nibble on many different food items throughout the changing seasons. Although wild rabbits survive on this type of a diet they would greatly benefit if they could add specific vitamins and minerals to their food. Because of this it is best to feed domesticated rabbits a balanced diet of pellets. To clarify, imagine using miniature blocks to build a rabbit. Some of these are needed in large amounts while others are needed in very small amounts. The food given to a rabbit contains a mixture of these blocks and most of them need to be eaten on a daily basis. If some of the blocks were in a limited supply or if there was way too much of some of them then the health of the rabbit will suffer.

 This is why rabbit pellets that are designed for "rabbits of all ages" is likely to cause nutritional problems for "rabbits of all ages." Instead, rabbits should be fed pellets designed according to their age or life-stage. For example, baby rabbits need extra minerals like phosphorous and vitamins like choline. They also need a high energy diet that is high in fat and fiber but low in starch. Adult rabbits need less energy and protein in their diet but need specific chelated minerals to maintain long-term health.

 One other important fact you should know about rabbit pellets is that they need to be of the proper size. This is because pellets that ate too small and are made of fine ground ingredients will cause digestive problems. Pellets that are too big increase waste because the rabbit can't fit the whole thing in its mouth. The ideal pellet size is a diameter of 1/8 inch and a length of around ¼ inch. Searching for the right rabbit pellet is worth the effort!

 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7150032

BABY LOVE

Baby rabbits are healthier and grow faster with a specially designed baby rabbit food that is high in fat and fiber. In fact, they are accustomed to the doe's milk that is

high in fat and low in sugar (Coates et. al. 1964).

Baby rabbits don't produce enough enzymes needed to digest excess starch (sugar) until later in life. Feeding them a diet with a lot of grain or grain by-products makes them more likely to get diarrhea. A rabbit feed higher in fat and lower in carbohydrates helps baby bunnies make the switch from the doe's milk at weaning and provides the energy they need for healthy growth.

As baby bunnies get older they still naturally use fat as an energy source. In fact, rabbits need a high fiber diet because good bacteria ferment fiber in the caecum to produce the healthy fats rabbits use.

Scientific studies show that increasing the fat content of rabbit food will improve protein AND energy efficiency as well as improve the feed conversion ratio (easily by 20%) for growing rabbits (Arrington et. al.1974).

Most commercial rabbit feeds don't have near enough fat and fall short of the needs of baby bunnies. Generally, they have less than 3% crude fat when research shows that baby rabbit food should have around 8% fat when balanced with high quality protein.

If you choose a healthy rabbit food that has a higher fat content for your growing bunny rabbits then make sure it is using oil from natural sources and not simply refined vegetable oil or worse, rendered animal fat. This is because when adding fat to a rabbit's diet you should also be adding vitamin E, which whole oil seeds from plants naturally have.

• Whole oil seeds are naturally high in vitamin E.

• Rendered animal fat or refined vegetable oils ARE NOT!

Baby rabbits are healthier when fed a high fat natural baby rabbit food that mimics their mamma's milk.

Questions? Go Here for answers!!!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5479092

Hey!!! Is Hay Really Good For Your Rabbit?

Many people have read on-line that they should feed timothy hay to their adult pet rabbit instead of alfalfa hay. However, this is based upon some common misconceptions that are not true!
Feeding rabbits Timothy hay is a great way to provide them with a low-energy dietary fiber. Timothy hay grown in the western part of the USA is often a better quality because quickly cures in the desert air so it's green.
If you feed timothy hay to your bunny be careful to not feed it too much because it is likely to cause nutritional deficiencies. Timothy hay doesn't provide enough vitamins and minerals that rabbits need to stay healthy. To support long-term health it is important to provide a balanced diet that is fortified with phosphorous, chelated minerals, and essential amino acids.

For example many people have read online that alfalfa is "too high in calories" and can obesity in rabbits. This simply is not true. Although alfalfa has slightly more calories than Timothy hay it is important to understand that the calories in alfalfa are mainly from protein, which your rabbit needs to eat to be healthy.

The types of calories that can make your rabbit fat are from carbohydrates that come from grain and grain by-products. This is why adult pet rabbits will be healthier when they are fed a grain-free diet. Rabbit food that is made for "rabbits of all ages" will cause your rabbit to gain unhealthy weight because it has too many calories. This is why it is important to feed a properly balanced rabbit food that has the right protein to energy ratio. Although it isn't clearly listed on the feed label it is important to read the ingredient list and avoid rabbit food that has a lot of grain and grain by-products or soy products.

Also many people have read online that they should avoid feeding alfalfa to their rabbit because has more calcium than timothy hay. In reality the amount of calcium in hay greatly depends upon the amount of calcium that is in the soil that it was grown in. Also, hay naturally has a lot more calcium than grain! So the only way to lower the calcium content of your rabbits diet is to feed less hay and more grain... but that is definitely not recommended!

Nutritionists know that the digestible phosphorous content and the phosphorous to calcium ratio of the diet are the most important factors that influences calcium metabolism. Phosphorous is a limiting nutrient and is expensive but adding it to the diet of your rabbit is important for long-term health. Baby rabbits need a phosphorous content of around 0.6% (adult rabbits need above 0.3%).

For these reasons it is best to feed your rabbit a balanced pelleted diet that includes all of the minerals and vitamins that your rabbit needs to stay healthy. When you do you'll see a real difference in the quality of their fur coat as well as their playfulness and overall activity level.

Buy now you know...more info. can be found here!!





Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7167444

To Oat or Not to Oat?

Rabbits can eat oats and other grains when fed as a part of a balanced diet. However, don't feed them too much because it can cause digestive troubles that lead to diarrhea and bloating. Generally rabbits should not be fed a diet that has a starch content higher than 11% to 14%. The starch content of every grain is different and varies between 57% (oats) to over 70% (corn). This means that if you feed your rabbit oats or other grains that it should only be a very small part of their total diet. 
 Diarrhea and bloating occurs when too much undigested starch passes into the caecum which is then quickly fermented by bacteria. While a small amount of starch can help to speed the fermentation (digestion) of fiber, too much starch can actually cause a change in pH which results in a change of bacterial populations. These "bad" bacteria thrive on the easily fermented starch and cause digestive troubles.
 For additional information about rabbit diets go here. 


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7147191

Pet Rabbit Food

The nutritional needs of rabbits change as they grow up and so should their pet rabbit food. Baby pet rabbits require a diet that is low in starch, sugar, carbohydrates, and protein supplements because they can't digest it. If your rabbit has diarrhea then you are probably feeding a food that is too high in these things which include grains, wheat middlings, grain by-products and soybean meal. Check the feed label before buying your pet rabbit food.
 As a result many people suggest feeding baby rabbits timothy hay to prevent diarrhea. However, they do not realize that this grass hay lacks the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that baby bunnies need for healthy growth. Feeding it will prevent your baby rabbit from getting the nutrients found in a balanced pelleted diet.
 The solution is to feed your baby pet rabbit a balanced diet that is high in fat and fiber instead of starch. This type of diet mimics "mamma's milk" that is high in fat but low in sugar. Take care to make sure that the fat comes from whole oil seeds that are high in vitamin E instead of refined vegetable oil or animal fat. Baby rabbits should continue to eat this style of food until they are "teenagers" or somewhere between 10 to 12 weeks of age. Then you should gradually switch to feeding them a low energy rabbit food that is high in fiber (containing timothy hay) that is designed to meet the nutritional needs of adult pet rabbits.
 It is important to continue feeding an adult pet rabbit food that is balanced and designed to provide the minerals and vitamins they need to maintain a healthy immune system, bone health, and an active lifestyle. If you skimp and just feed grass and vegetables they may develop mineral and vitamin deficiencies that lead to muscular dystrophy (meaning they will become partially paralyzed) or other nutritional diseases. Feeding treats is OK as long as they are not high in calories and they are only fed in small quantities.
 It's really that simple! Feeding the right type of pet rabbit food will ensure that your pet rabbit grows and lives an active, healthy and long life. You will avoid nutritional deficiencies and prevent costly vet bills. Furthermore, appropriately feeding these two styles of a balanced pet rabbit food will significantly reduce odor and messes as well as promote a healthy and shiny fur coat.
 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6195039
Or go HERE for more information on our Food

The Dangers of Soy In Rabbit Food

There are many more reasons why soy is bad for you and your bunnies. A better source of protein for rabbits is alfalfa because it has higher levels of many essential amino acids and vitamins without any of the ant-nutritional factors found in soy. Balancing it with the proper amounts of other nutrients will promote long-term health for your rabbits.
 Most rabbit food has soy products in the list of ingredients because it is cheap and considered a good source of protein (soybean meal). Ironically soy is also loaded with trypsin inhibitors that bind to the enzyme trypsin and deactivates it. This enzyme is required to digest the protein that your rabbit eats. If the protein can't be digested then it can't be absorbed. This can lead to digestive problems when the undigested soy reaches the end of the digestive tract where bacteria begin to ferment it. This changes the pH and promotes the growth of bad bacteria that then cause diarrhea or bloating. It is best to avoid rabbit food made with soybean meal and other soy products.
For more reasons why you should avoid soy in your rabbit's diet-read the rest of the article HERE 




Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7164973

DID YOU KNOW!!!??

Can you guess how many teeth a rabbit has in its cute little bunny face?!
 The answer would be...28!!
A bunny has 4 incisors, 2 on the top and two on the bottom plus a whole bunch of other ivories. They have some teeth called "cheek teeth" that they use to grind their food.
Did you also know that rabbit's teeth never stop growing!? (like horses or beavers) And so...just like horses and the busy beavers...rabbits need to wear down their teeth by always chewing, nibbling, crunching on good things. So its very important to provide your bunny with all kinds of 'chew toys,' and a high fiber diet. For if you dont, your sweet rabbit may just choose to chew on the leg of you antique dining room table or your expensive carpet, or even on dangerous cords that swirl around on the floor.
 The high fiber diet is  the best answer for good dental health of your rabbit. Sherwood Forest Natural Rabbit Food is an excellent source of fiber for your bunny. Providing cardboard boxes and tubes, unsprayed apple branches and willow baskets for chewing are another good idea as well.
 Lets do all we can to avoid costly vet visits for our dear pets!! Chewing is a good and very necessary trait for our rabbits!! Chew on friends!!!
(one of my darling grandbabies just got his first 2 bottom teeth...I guess it got me think'in about rabbit teeth.)