Many novice rabbit breeders and lovers of these animals are sure that they eat any plant food. Moreover, cabbage, which is always associated with this rabbit. In fact, not all of its species can be fed to rabbits. Also, the mass of the product should be strictly dosed. Read on what types and volumes of cabbage can be given to rabbits.

Can rabbits be given cabbage?

There are several types of cabbage. It is available to us fresh and frozen. Before feeding it to rabbits, you need to understand what is possible and in what quantity. Cabbage is a juicy food, rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber. Consider why some of its species can not be fed rabbit-like, especially decorative.

Color

Cauliflower is more than ninety percent water. In addition, it has fiber, protein, potassium and vitamin C. The first component favorably affects the digestive system of rabbits. They can eat all the cabbage parts: leaves, stems, heads.

You can give a small amount of such food and look at the reaction of the animal. If it eats it with pleasure, the dose can be increased to 100 grams of young animals and up to 300 adults.

Rabbits perceive this vegetable as a treat. Cauliflower is given fresh, in frozen form it will not bring benefits.Bunnies enjoy eating boiled cauliflower. In this form, it is useful for their digestive system. Thanks to the glucoraphanin contained in it, the gastric mucosa will be in order, and the development of pathogenic bacteria will decrease in the gastrointestinal tract.

Important! Rabbits should not be given wet cabbage leaves, grass. This can cause bloating, as water promotes fermentation.

Beijing

Beijing cabbage has a pleasant taste and delicate texture. Rabbits eat it well. Often offered as decorative animals. But feeding with such a product should be approached with caution. Despite the fact that Beijing cabbage contains glucose, it is impossible to give a lot of medicinal components that increase the immunity of animals.In large quantities, it acts on the rabbit-like organism as a laxative. It is better to introduce it into the diet little by little, observing the reaction and feces of the animal. Just a few leaves a day.

As for young animals, it is possible to introduce this food into their diet only after reaching the age of four months.

Decorative rabbits eat this vegetable with pleasure because of the sweet taste that glucose contained in it gives. They are given the hard part of the sheet, not more than one every few days.

White-headed

White cabbage is popular and affordable. From time immemorial, hares have been fed both by the vegetable itself and by its residues. Most people think that the best thing for them will be the hard stump. In fact, this is a myth, and the stump of animals is not only not useful, but even harmful.It contains many minerals, aggressive substances, solid fibers, which the digestive tract is not able to digest. As a result, diarrhea and bloating occur in animals after eating the head of a head of cabbage.

Therefore, the place of white cabbage stalks in the compost pit, and not in the diet of rabbits. The same applies to the white leg of the leaf, which is located near the core. It has a similar effect on the animal’s body.

As a result, only sheets of vegetable can be fed with a hare shape, having previously cut off their white legs. Such a product can be eaten by youngsters up to three hundred grams in the summer and a hundred in winter, and for adults - up to a pound in the summer and half as much in the winter. Cabbage leaves should be clean, with no signs of rot.

Red-headed

Only one thing can be said about red cabbage - rabbits cannot eat it. The enzymes that it contains are harmful to animals. Vegetables cause digestive problems. Flatulence is guaranteed, possibly a disease such as stasis of the stomach and intestines.

Kohlrabi

Rabbit breeders note that animals eat kohlrabi with the greatest pleasure. It contains useful fiber, vitamin C, glucose, trace elements. In many respects, its nutritional value is higher than white. In addition, you can give both the vegetable itself and its leaves.

The latter can be dried for the winter and then fed as a silo. Young animals also love this cabbage variety, it is useful for their development. Kohlrabi can be given up to 300 grams of young animals and up to 600 adult animals.

Pickled

Rabbits are happy to eat sauerkraut. In summer, it is not necessary, and in winter it will become an indispensable source of vitamins for animals. There is more vitamin C in it than in lemon. It is not recommended to give such food every day, acceptable every other day.Due to the high salt content, the consumption of sauerkraut should be dosed. Adults give it from one hundred to two hundred grams per day. Young animals are half as much. It should be introduced gradually, observing the reaction of the animal organism.

Important! When feeding rabbits with sauerkraut, you need to leave them with more water than usual. The product causes intense thirst.

Frozen

Rabbits, of course, will eat the vegetable in frozen form, but it will not bring them any benefit. This applies to all cabbage varieties. We mistakenly assume that in the winter you can defrost broccoli, cauliflower and feed it. Animals will not receive anything other than the water this vegetable is rich in.

In addition, from a frozen product, digestive system disorders are possible.

Cabbage leaves

Rabbits with pleasure eat not only cabbage fruits, but also vegetable leaves. In season, they can be offered fresh in the same amount as the cabbage itself. Experienced breeders do not throw this product away, but dry it for the winter.

In cold weather, give dried leaves instead of silage. In winter, animals receive additional vitamins and minerals from dried cabbage leaves.

How to feed?

Rabbits eat three times a day. The food in each meal is different. Cabbage is not recommended as an independent meal. It is better to offer it in combination with other vegetables, herbs not more than once a day.

Young growth

Cabbage is useful for rabbits at any age. However, it should be given not earlier than one month, but preferably two months old. The rabbit's digestive tract during this period only learns to work properly.

Up to a month old, babies eat only milk. The remaining products are introduced into their diet in small quantities and gradually.

It is not necessary to start feeding rabbits cabbage early. It’s more correct to start a little by adding carrots, moistened compound feeds, high-quality grass or hay. If the kids absorb new foods well, you can give a little cabbage leaf.

You need to start with thirty grams per day, gradually increasing the dose. At the age of six months, the dose reaches three hundred to four hundred grams per day.

Did you know? The longest rabbit ears were nearly eighty centimeters long. This record was recorded in Kansas in 2003.

It is better to mix cabbage with other succulent food. So it will be well absorbed. It must be remembered that the vegetable contributes to the excessive formation of gases in the intestines, especially in young individuals.

Adults

Adult rabbits are given 600 grams of cabbage per day. It is given separately and as part of succulent feed. It is recommended not to exceed the prescribed doses. You can replace cabbage with one meal.

Both young animals and adults are given only high-quality vegetables: fresh, without mold and rot. The same goes for the silage from the leaves of cabbage, which feed animals in the winter.

Feeding other products

A rabbit cannot eat only cabbage. For a full life, he needs other feed. And some foods are unacceptable in the diet of rabbits. More on this later.

Which are useful?

Rabbit breeders try to diversify the menu of their wards.

They observe what they like, and based on this, make up a diet that should consist of green, juicy and roughage and must include:

• cereals, for example, oats, peas;
• hay or fresh clover, alfalfa, vetch, lupine;
• vegetables such as fodder beets, pumpkin, zucchini;
• fruits, for example apples, pears;
• compound feed.

If feed is the main part of the menu, then additional minerals and vitamins are not added. If the animal is fed with natural food, they must be added. This is especially important in the winter.Nursing rabbits and rabbits are sometimes given goat milk or a mixture for baby food.

What can not be fed?

There are products that can not be fed, namely:

• dairy products;
• Tomatoes
• bow;
• eggplant;
• cucumbers
• new potatoes;
• sugar beets;
• rice
• black and red beans;
• young peas;
• Exotic fruits;
• pastries;
• sweets;
• poisonous plants.

Did you know? At the rabbit – bifurcated uterus, so it can simultaneously carry two offspring from different males.

Useful Rabbit Feeding Tips

Animal health, longevity, and the ability to bring a lot of healthy offspring depend on proper nutrition.There are a number of recommendations for proper feeding, namely:

• you need to choose a diet that is suitable specifically for your animals;
• the menu can not be changed often, rabbits do not tolerate it;
• the diet should be varied;
• forbidden foods of these animals should not be eaten;
• rabbits should not be overfed;
• all products that you give to rabbits must be of high quality, without dirt, mold;
• animals should always have clean water in sufficient quantities;
• you must always remove the remnants of food in order to prevent its rot (this contributes to the development of pathogenic bacteria, and, accordingly, the incidence of animals).

Rabbits should always have vegetables in their diets. As for cabbage, they can be offered all its varieties except red cabbage. If you give it correctly and do not overdo it with the amount, digestion problems in your rabbits will not arise.