Toys Made of Hay for Bunnies and Rabbits

Bring play and fun to your bunny's life with these awesome toys made of hay! You rabbits will never be happier! 

There is number of possibilities to make your bunny or rabbit happier. Mix their favorite things (food and play) and you will have ever loving rabbit, who will never regret he is with you. If you own a bunny or more, you certainly know they are playful pets, and they require toys in order to keep them busy enough not to think about chewing and biting your furniture.

In other post, I was writing about their need to chew things, in order to wear down their ever growing teeth.

Bunny Teeth Care

Follow the link and learn more about bunny teeth care. Why do you need to feed your bunny with hay, and why is fiber rich food good for your bunny! Excellent post that will tell you everything about hay, and other products from bunny diet. 

Check these awesome toys made of hay! Toys for perfect fun moments for your adorable bunny!

Super Pet Rabbit Rollin' The Hay Holder:

I have to admit that this rolling the hay holder is my bunny's favorite toy. It is not just a toy, it is also source of good old, tasty hay, that my Gary adores! He can't stop playing with it. This way you can be sure your pet rabbit won't get bored, and plus you can stay assured he is wearing his teeth down properly. 

Hay is perfect source of fibers for your rabbit, and rotating hay is just the thing you must have to keep your little devils away from carpets, cables etc. 

This super pet rabbit rolling the hay holder is made of plastics and aluminium wire. It is perfectly safe for your loved ones. You can easily fill it with meadow hay just by taking one plastic side off. 

Peter's Woven Grass Play Ball:

Another awesome toy made of hay for your bunny!

This hay ball is an excellent way to ensure your bunny is having great time, while you are not around. Also, this way he won't be starving either. Provide hours of fun and healthy teeth care to your adorable bunny! 

If you own a rabbit, you are aware that they love to role things, bite them and trow around your house. This toy made of completely natural materials, is going to provide material for hours of rolling, chewing and trowing. 

Hanging Hay Rack for House Rabbits:

I bought this toy made of wood and hay few months ago and I can tell this is wonderful toy for any bunny. Our loving pets are crazy for things colored in bright, vivid colors. Also, they adore to "work for their meal". With this spinning hanging rack for house rabbits, hay will taste even better. 

Don't worry about the safety. This wood is colored using safe colors for your house pet. Hay can be placed easily in this hanging rack, and in few seconds, the treat is ready for your rabbit. Make their day rich in colors and fun!



I hope you like the choice of toys I put in this post. I checked them all, and this is my recommendation. My Gary was and still is very happy to have these hangers and rollers filled with hay to play.
I guarantee every bunny and rabbit will be thrilled to play with such toys made of hay. Endless source of fun and food!

Which hay is the best for your bunny:

Earlier I posted about proper food to feed your bunny with. This time I will just give few advices on issues relating to this topic: Toys Made of Hay for Bunnies and Rabbits.
In order to be fully informed about proper bunny diet program, I recommend you to read this post:
Hay and Vegetables to Feed your Bunny with.

There is no better treat for your pet than meadow hay. Of all types of dry grass, this type is the best, and the most useful to ensure proper teeth wear.



Thank you!

Hay and Vegetables to Feed Your Bunny

Go back to What king of food to feed your bunny with?

Here I will talk about hay and vegetables. Lets first write few lines about hay.

Hay is basic food to feed your bunny with

Hay can be offered to bunny without any limits. But keep in mind that not every hay is good hay.

Hay is must-have diet component for your bunny. You have to insure presence of limitless amounts of hay for your bunny. But not all sorts of hay are good for your loved ones. Lets see what sorts of hay you can find out there on market.

There are two groups of hay: grass hay ans legume hay. Grass hay is perfectly harmless, and bunny should have limitless access to it. It provides lots of nutrients, and little calories. Legume hay, on the other hand, is rich in calories, and should be limited. It is mostly used for feeding rabbits for food market (we are not talking about those rabbits). Besides calories, legume hay is rich in calcium, which is not good thing either.

You may find few types of grass hay: Timothy hay and meadow hay (made of all different sorts of grass).

Also there are few types of legume hay: alfalfa, beans, peanuts, clover hay. (if you feed your bunny with pellets, it is better not to feed them with legume too).

It is important to provide 90% of daily intake by offering them hay. Rabbits will find fruits, legume, pellets more attractive than hay. If you try to give more other food, and less these grassy components, bunnies will start rejecting hay at some point. Don't let them choose what to eat. Becouse of their lack of judgment when it is about food quality, and their well being, it is your responsibility to take care of their diet.

Many owners prefer to give less hay to prevent contaminating the house with it. It is truth bunnies like to spread hay around the place, but there are ways to reduce that problem. When you offer too much hay, bunnies will eat the best of it, and leave the rest not to be eaten. That hay will soon be around the house. But if you try offering them 3 times a day lesser quantity of hay, they will eat more, and leave less of it not eaten. Also, putting   hay in litter box, or some other box should do nice job too. But be careful then. Bunnies pee and poop in the places where they eat. Having the food in box, it will get contaminated easily. So, try to change hay once a day.

In this what kind of food to feed your bunny to post, I will now write few lines about vegetables.

Vegetables are an other great source fiber for your pets. 

When you imagine rabbits, what sort of vegetables do you link them to? When I think of rabbits, I always think of carrot too. :) Well, aside of cartoons, in reality it is a bit different. Eating carrots, your bunnies take lots of sugar in. So, it is not good for abdominal flora, and the blood sugar levels. Instead of feeding your bunny with carrot root, you should give them carrot tops, and 1-2 slices of carrot root a day.

Lets start with a list of acceptable vegetables:

Basil Beet greens (tops) Bok choy Broccoli (mostly leaves/stems) Brussels sprouts Carrot tops Celery Cilantro Clover Collard greens Dandelion greens (NO pesticides) Endive Escarole Green peppers

Kale Mint Mustard greens Parsley Pea pods (the flat edible kind) Peppermint leaves Radicchio Radish tops Raspberry leaves Romaine lettuce (NO iceberg or light colored leaf lettuce) Spinach Watercress Wheat grass

Mmmmmm... :)

Kale, mustard greens, and spinach are rich in oxalate, which can accumulate in the system and cause toxicity over the time.

Vegetables are important for improving chewing habits of your bunnies. Give them every day a different vegetable to chew to make them use different chewing motions, helping that way teeth grinding.

Some authors recommend giving wet vegetables to your bunny. Some others say it can softer their feces. one thing is sure, you have to wash vegetables up well, so no pesticides remain on it. 

Vegetables will provide lots of vitamin, fiber, nutritients and water for you bunny. It is health and low in calories, which is good. If you ask me, the best to feed them with is a salad and carot tops. 

Gastrointestinal (GI) Stasis In Rabbits; Why Is My Rabbit In Pain?

Today's topic is GI stasis in rabbits. Do you have a playful rabbit, that suddenly stopped playing? Is your rabbit silent, depressed and does he reject to eat? Does everything indicate your bunny is in pain? "Why is my bunny in pain", you must be asking yourself.

One of the reasons could be gastrointestinal stasis in your rabbit.

Before I continue writing about on this topic, I suggest you to read previous posts about what kind of food to feed your bunny with or, to simple start reading from the beginning: bunnies as pets. And now, lets talk about GI stasis in rabbits, and why is your rabbit in pain.

Proper food is important in prevention of
GI stasis in rabbits.

Gastrointestinal anatomy of rabbits:

Rabbits GI tract is very similar to the one in humans. But there are some differences. Rabbits use coecum besides the stomach to process their food. In coecum, food rich in fiber, is kept for some time. There, the same food is being fermented by bacteria (resident flora of rabbits GI). 

Rabbits resident GI flora is different than in humans. They don't use Lactobacillus colonies to ferment the food, but other types of bacteria. 

It is important to keep the number of resident bacteria on same level. If bad bacteria outnumber the good ones, it can cause GI problems. Bad bacteria produce lots of gas, which bloats bunny's belly.

Main causes of GI stasis in rabbits:

• wrong diet programme (lack of hay and other fiber rich food in bunny diet) to check what does bunny food pyramid look like check it here: bunny food pyramid.
• Foreign body in the rabbits GI tract.
• Other diseases (pain can trigger GI stasis).

Symptoms of GI stasis in rabbits:

Main symptom of GI stasis is lack of appetite. You will notice that, suddenly, your bunny is withdrawing into his corner (cage). He is loosing weight, and refuses to eat anything. This is mostly caused by bloat from the gas produced by growing bad bacteria in the intestines. Cause of this gas, your bunny feels like his stomach is full, and thus he is loosing appetite.

Of course, your rabbit is in pain too. Distended stomach can be very painful. With rabbits in pain, you can hear their pain (they grind their teeth loudly)

If you try to rub their belly, you will feel it is distended, and not soft as it was before. You bunny will react too. 

You will also see their poop is missing, or the droppings are very small. This is one of the most important signs. If there is stasis, it is obvious that droppings will be missing. 

Pathology:

In case of lack of fiber in bunny's diet programme, we are talking about GI flora dis balance. Hay is important to keep the number of good bacteria constant. If you are feeding your bunny to lots of pellets and giving him little or no hay or vegetables, in some time, GI stasis is imminent. GI motility is very important here too. It is known that rabbits fed on pellets and no hay have slow GI motility. When GI motility slows down enough to allow gas to accumulate, and to allow excess amounts of water to be absorbed, at that time problems start. 

Not only that gas is preventing food to go on, but also, the water resorption causes digested masses to go to dry and compact. This, with hair in the stomach can lead to forming hair balls, that can completely block the passage. Gas accumulating is causing bloat, and the pain coming from distension. Dry food and hair masses are blocking the passage, and the extended and full GI is telling bunny that he is not hungry. The water intake is also stopped, so dehydration is one of the signs. And it can lead to the death of the bunny.
Your bunny is in pain, and dehydrated and he is loosing weight.
GET HIM TO THE VET!
For more info on bunny language, follow the link.

Pain can cause GI stasis too. The most common reason is pain from molar spurs growing into gums or tongue (see bunny teeth care). In this case pain and starving is leading ti GI stasis. You have to know that even 24hrs without food, can cause major health disorders in rabbits. The process is the same as when they don't eat fibers, just faster.

Treatment of GI stasis in rabbits:
Fifty percent of these conditions, can be treated only by putting rabbit back to fiber rich diet. Tummy massage is useful too. BUT YOU MUST TAKE YOUR RABBIT TO THE VET if your rabbit is in pain. No matter what the possible condition could be.
Metoclopramid and cisaprid are good procinetic drugs. They will improve peristaltic.Hydratation is key in recovering!

I hope this post about GI stasis in rabbits was helpful, and that you have found what you were looking for. And remember, if your bunny is in pain, GI stasis is only one of the possible reasons. Seeing vet is best choice to solve the problem. Every condition is treatable, if discovered in time. 

Feel free to ask anything you want, and to join the blog so you don't miss next posts.
Thank you for your time.

2DK2HDHMNSSU

What Kind of Food To Feed Your Bunny With?

Hi, dear reader.

Yesterday I was writing about litter training. It is giving head-ache to new bunny owners. And I hope my advices were helpful to you.

If you have missed last posts, it is the best you start from the beginning:
bunnies as pets,
litter training.

"What do you want from me???" :)

Today I will write something about food that is good and bad for bunnies.
In general, bunnies will eat everything you give them. They will even show more interest for food that is BAD for them (such as chocolate- they love it, but it is poison for them). That is why you need to know basics about their nutrition, so you can be sure food you have been feeding them with is good for them.
What kind of food to feed your bunny with?
Lets start with bunny food pyramid:

Bunny food pyramid

As you can see from the food pyramid, the main food, your bunny should always have on menu, is hay. Timothy and meadow hay should always be there for you bunny. They can eat it in unlimited quantity.
More about hay you can find in the post Hay and Vegetables to Feed Your Bunny.
Water is the most important substance in bunny's life. We all know the value of water. In this case water also helps bunnies digest their fur hair, they ingest by licking themselves. By doing it, they take lots of hair in their digestion system. All that hair can cause many problems. The greatest of them is Ileus. That means passage in their digestion system has been blocked, and is life-threatening. Water prevents them going into Ileus. So, make sure, there is some water around them all the time.

On the next step on the food pyramid, there is vegetables. It is great source of vitamin, fiber and water. Fresh and green vegetables are the best. Some authors say that we should be feeding them with wet vegetables, and others claim dry is the best. The one thing is sure: vegetables should be well cleaned! Avoid feeding them with too much vegetable that has lots of sugar in it (carrot and other roots).
More about vegetables you can find in post Hay and Vegetables to Feed Your Bunny.
In second part of What kind of food to feed your bunny with post I will write few lines about pellets and fruit. Stay tuned!

Pellets.
Rabbit pellets, known for their ease of feeding and rapid weight gain, were originally developed for the rabbit "livestock" market, where rabbits are raised for their meat or fur and not intended to live out their potential lifespan. For house rabbit, that are expected to live 10 or more years, it is preferable and vitamin rich diet.
Pellets are rich in calcium, and many of them are rich in sugar and fat. Calcium can cause many health problems (urine sludge, heart conditions), and sugar and fat lead to obesity. FAT RABBIT IS NOT A HAPPY RABBIT! There are different pellet products, and you can choose ones that are low in previous mentioned ingredients. More about pellets you can find here.

What you have to know about fruit is that fruit provides lots of vitamins for your pet, but, lots of fruit in their diet is bad for having sugar in it. You pet will love fruit. Apple and banana is my Gary's favorite food. So I like to use it as reward for his good behaviour. I do feed him with apple often, I must admit (2 slices per day), but I don't give banana to him that often. The main reason is a sugar. So I give it once per week. Pineapple and papaya juice is good for digestion. It prevents condition of Ileus. Fruit provides lots of water for your rabbit, so that is one big plus too. But, I will repeat: be careful. Tu much sugar, can cause abdominal flora dis balance, which can be lethal. More about fruit you can find here.

What kind of food to feed your bunny with? Well, treat is not one of that food. Treats, as sweets, are rich in sugar and fat. So, better not to use it. Better treat is fruit (apples, pineapples, banana). Few raisins can do great job too. Use treat only during learning lessons as a reward. Later, give some treat to your bunny once per week. And remember: FAT BUNNY IS NOT HAPPY BUNNY!
On the other hand, there are some sorts of snacks and treats which can be offered to your pet. I suggest to check those out here: Organic Snacks for Your Pet Bunny.

For any question, feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer to it. Thank you for reading my blog.

Next time I will talk more about bunny habits and behaviour.

Did you like it? Did you find it useful? Please, leave a comment, and share ideas, thoughts, ask something, or  give a critic.

Thank you.

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