Tuesday 26 July 2011

Homemade Rabbit Treats

Homemade rabbit treat are generally healthier then the store bought ones.When you make some at home, you will know exactly whats in them and you can choose to make them better for your bunny or more like a treat. If you make them more like a treat, I would recommend not to feed them regularly. Here is a recipe that my bunnies enjoy!
Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of your rabbits food (I used excel)
  • 1 banana
  • 2 carrots










Instructions:


  • Start by putting parchment paper onto a cookie tray and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
  • Blend your bunnies food until it is really ground up like in this picture:




  • Chop the banana and carrots into slices



  • Place all of this into the blender and keep it in there until there is no more lumps or only a few


  • Put the ground up food and pureed vegetables into a bowl and mix until combined 

 

  • Grab a bit and roll it into a ball

  • Place it onto the parchment paper on the tray and squash it in the middle to make a small biscuit thing

  • Cook them for 30 minutes in the oven to harden them. When you take them out, they should have hardened and look like this:




That is a simple homemade rabbit treat recipe. If you are interested in cooking and baking, then click here


Friday 22 July 2011

Fruit for Rabbits

I'm sure that your bunny would enjoy to have something sweet to eat once in a while. You can give them some fruit! they are only allowed 2 tablespoons of this a day due to the amount of the type of sugar that is in them. In the information below, their are lists for the safe and unsafe fruit for rabbits.


Safe fruit for rabbits:


      Apple

Apricot 

Blueberries

Cherries

Grapes 

Melon

Nectarines 

Oranges (not the peel)

Papaya

Pears

Pineapple 

Plums

Tomatoes 

Blackberries (and leaves)

Raspberries (and leaves)

Strawberries (and leaves)

Banana (high in potassium)

Unsafe fruit for rabbits 

Rhubarb
Peach leaves  
Plum leaves
tomato leaves 

Here are some bunny products which I thought that you may like, click the pictures below to have a look!

There may be some that I have missed out. Comment on this post if you are unsure about one.

Saturday 16 July 2011

Heat Stress in Rabbits

Heat stress in rabbits can end up being deadly. Make sure in the hot summer days you provide them with something to cool them down and keep their hutches in the shade. Their are many ways to prevent it and for what to do t make sure that they stay a bit cooler around this time of year. For information about the symptoms, treatment and prevention, read the information below.

Cause

The cause is quite obvious, it is when a bunny becomes to warm and may have a stroke or just heat stress. This would usually happen in the summer time when the weather  is generally warmer.


Symptoms

The symptoms for heat stress in rabbits are:

stretched out and panting

flaring nostrils as they breathe

and

moister around their face and/or drooling

When their body is unable to cool down, their body temperature rises a lot and could become heat stroke.The symptoms for that is:

heavy panting

salivating

they may become confused

and

inability to move around. This can lead to death of your bunny.


Treatment

If their body temperature reaches 104 degrees F it is recommended to seek a vet as soon as you can. If their body temperature is really high, a full recovery is poor. Once your bunny becomes overheated, quick action can determine life or death, but bring the temperature down too quickly can be dangerous. Put them immediately into some room temperature water without getting their head in their.

You have to keep their stress down and you could have a wet towel round them. Then gently rub some water into their fur to get to the skin to cool them down. You have to make sure you keep them cool until the vet sees them.  

Prevention

If they are kept outside in a hutch, make sure you have it in a shaded area. Even if it is a shaded area, it can still get warm.

make sure they have lots of fresh water everyday and if you want, put some ice cubes in it as well if you want to keep the water colder for longer.

Make sure you groom them on a daily basis in the summer so they don't have any loose fur left on them. This will keep them cooler because the loose fur can give them some heat so it does help by doing this.

Here are some bunny products which you may be interested in, if you are, click on the picture below!

Comment on this post if you have anything to say about heat stress in rabbits.