Key Points
- Hay is the basis for a healthy diet in small herbivores, and should make up a significant proportion of the diet.
- Hay serves as a source of long-stem fiber.
- Indigestible or insoluble fiber stimulates gut motility and maintains healthy gut flora.
- Alfalfa hay is generally recommended for growing small mammals.
- Most adults benefit from a diet based on grass hays.
Insufficient dietary fiber can turn a happy, healthy rabbit into a HUGE, potentially catastrophic, clinical problem. Read about the basis for a healthy diet in Hay: Feeding Small Herbivores, reviewed by forage extension specialist, S. Ray Smith . . .
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References
Anderson T, Hoffman P. Nutrient composition of straw used in dairy cattle diets. Wisconsin Team Forage; Focus on Forage. 2006. Accessible at on March 31, 2011. http://www.uwex.edu/ces/crops/uwforage/StrawFOF.htm
Cheeke PR. Rabbit Feeding and Nutrition. Orlando, FL. Academic Press, 1987.
Harcourt-Brown F. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann; 2002.
Irlbeck NA. How to feed the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) gastrointestinal tract. J Anim Sci 72 (E. Suppl): 343-346, 2001.
Oftedal OT, Baer DJ, Allen ME. The feeding and nutrition of herbivores. In: Wild Mammals in Captivity: Principles and Techniques. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press; 1996. Pp. 129-137.
Quesenberry KE, Carpenter JW. Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents: Clinical Medicine and Surgery. WB Saunders. St. Louis, Missouri, 2005.
Sanson GD, Kerr SA, Gross KA. Do silica phytoliths really wear mammalian teeth? J Archaeological Sci 34(4):526-531, 2007.
Taylor RW. How to judge jay quality visually. University of Delaware Cooperative Extension. 1998. Available at http://www.ag.udel.edu/extension/agnr/pdf/af-13.pdf. Accessed on March 31, 2011.
Ullrey DE. Hay quality evaluation. Nutrition Advisory Group Handbook Fact Sheet 001 July 1997. Pp. 1-10.
Vough LR. Evaluating hay quality. Fact Sheet 644. University of Maryland Cooperative Extension. Available at http://www.ccerensselaer.org/Libraries/Ag/hay_quaility.sflb.ashx. Accessed on March 31, 2011.
Pollock C. Hay: Feeding small herbivores. March 29, 2011. LafeberVet Web site. Available at https://lafeber.com/vet/hay-feeding-small-herbivores/