Choosing the best pellet food for rabbits is one of the most important things you can do to keep your rabbit healthy and active. The first thing you want to look for in a good pellet food is that it meets a rabbit’s nutritional requirements. You also want to avoid low-quality pellets that use high carbohydrate fillers. In addition, you want to get pellets that use organic ingredients, or at least pellets that are made in the the USA and use locally sourced ingredients.
We recommend Sherwood Pet Health Rabbit Food (Buy Online) as a staple food, and Tropical Carnival F.M. Brown’s Gourmet Pet Rabbit Food (Buy Online) if you want to add a little variety to your rabbit’s diet.
Best Pellet Food for Rabbits
Best Rabbit Food Reviews
Sherwood Pet Health Rabbit Food, Adult Timothy Blend
Sherwood Pet Health Rabbit Food (Buy Online) is the best rabbit pellet brand on the market. This food is grain free and soy free which will make it easier on your rabbit’s digestive system. All the ingredients in this food are also sourced in the USA, and the pellets are manufactured in a facility located in America.
The primary ingredients in this food are alfalfa hay, timothy hay, safflower, and flax. These pellets will also act as an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. Some of the most important minerals that have been added to this food include calcium, phosphorous, manganese, and salt.
The calcium added to the food helps a rabbits urinary health by reducing the amount of “sludge” in their urine. The sludge commonly found in a rabbits urine is primarily made up of renal bicarbonate. This sludge can build up and slow down a rabbits urinary tract, which will eventually lead to a reduction in urine output.
When you feed your rabbit a high calcium food like Sherwood Rabbit Food it will limit the build-up of renal bicarbonate, and it can even help reduce litter box odors.
Sherwood Rabbit Food has an excellent balance of macronutrients, so it can be used as a staple in your rabbit’s diet. This food contains 14% crude protein, 5% fat and 24% fiber, and on top of that, it has been fortified with 0.7% calcium and 0.4% phosphorus.
All in all Sherwood Pet Health Rabbit Food is one of the best rabbit food pellets you can get if you want to improve your rabbit’s digestion, and to make sure they stay in peak health over their lifetime.
Oxbow Bene Terra Organic Rabbit Food
Oxbow Bene Terra Organic Rabbit Food (Buy Online) is the best rabbit food if you want to avoid pesticides and other harmful chemicals in your rabbit’s diet. This rabbit food is one of the few rabbit pellets that you can buy that is certified by the USDA to be 100% organic. That means you can be sure that all the ingredients in this food have been grown using natural organic fertilizers, and if any pesticides were used that they meet the USDA organic standards.
Oxbow Bene Terra Organic Rabbit Food will also serve as an excellent staple food in your rabbit’s diet. It has a good balance of macronutrients since it contains 12% protein, 2% fat and 25% fiber. In addition, it is fortified with essential vitamins and it contains a wide array of chelated minerals.
Some of the more important minerals that have been added to this food include calcium, phosphorous, and copper. This food has also been fortified with vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and omega 3 & 6 fatty acids.
In the past, it was hard to find a commercially produced organic rabbit feed. Either you had to source your own organic ingredients and make your own rabbit food from scratch, or you just had to settle and feed your rabbit a standard commercial diet.
With Oxbow Bene Terra Organic Rabbit Food you get all the convenience of a pellet food with the added health benefits of feeding your rabbit organic ingredients.
Tropical Carnival F.M. Brown’s Gourmet Pet Rabbit Food
Tropical Carnival F.M. Brown’s Gourmet Pet Rabbit Food (Buy Online) is one of the most complete rabbit foods on the market. Besides the standard hay and alfalfa, you would expect to find in most rabbit pellets this food also contains a mix of seeds, nuts, fruits, and grains.
The fruits in this food are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, and they also contain healthy phytonutrients. Some of the fruits you’ll find in this food include papaya, pineapple, banana, raisins, and apples.
Tropical Carnival F.M. Brown’s Gourmet Pet Rabbit Food also has a good mix of vegetables added to it that will stimulate your rabbit’s palette. Your rabbit will enjoy having more than hay in their diet, and they will absolutely love chewing on the dried carrots.
You can feed your rabbit this food as a staple, although it can be a little too rich in carbohydrates for some rabbits. The macronutrient profile of this food is pretty good though since it contains 14.5% crude protein, 5% fat and 22% fiber, and it’s also fortified with 0.6% calcium and 0.45% phosphorous.
If you want to provide your rabbit with a varied and nutrient-dense food, then Tropical Carnival F.M. Brown’s Gourmet Pet Rabbit Food will work well as a treat, or you can even use it as the primary food in your rabbit’s diet.
Kaytee Fiesta Rabbit Food
Kaytee Fiesta Rabbit Food (Buy Online) contains a blend of healthy ingredients, and it is relatively affordable so it won’t bust your budget. This food contains all the ingredients a rabbit needs like hay and alfalfa. While at the same time it contains a wide assortment of seeds, vegetables, fruits, and grains in order to round out your rabbit’s diet.
Kaytee Fiesta Rabbit Food is also one of the few rabbit pellets that have added probiotics and prebiotics to help maintain your rabbit’s digestive system.
The probiotics are made up of natural bacteria that will live in your rabbit’s intestines. These bacteria make it easier for your rabbit to absorb nutrients, and they can even help if your rabbit is prone to diarrhea.
This food is also fortified with natural antioxidants that enhance immune health and reduce oxidative stress. The antioxidants will scavenge free radicals in your rabbit’s blood and tissues before they can cause any damage.
The fruits and vegetables in this food will also serve as an important source of nutrients that a rabbit needs in their diet. The fruits, seeds, and vegetables have been milled down into a powder and formed into pellets. This can be helpful if your rabbit only eats pellets, or if you don’t want to risk disrupting their digestive system by adding whole seeds and grains to their diet.
Kaytee Fiesta Rabbit pellets also promote healthy chewing behaviors, so they will help maintain your rabbit’s dental health. The pellets also come in a mix of sizes, shapes, and colors which can help keep your rabbit interested in eating the pellets.
Kaytee Fiesta Rabbit Food is a complete rabbit food since it contains 14% protein, 4% fat, and 11% fiber. This food also contains 0.3% calcium and 0.6% phosphorous. In addition, this food also contains essential fats like omega 3 fatty acids to help promote skin and hair health.
Oxbow Garden Select Fortified Food
Oxbow Garden Select Fortified Food (Buy Online) is the best rabbit pellet if you prefer all natural ingredients. These pellets are certified GMO free, and they contain a perfect balance of alfalfa and grasses that will help your rabbit grow and flourish.
Even though this food isn’t certified organic it is verified by the nogmoproject.com to be completely GMO-free. In some cases, GMO crops can be healthier since they tend to have less herbicide residue, and they don’t have pesticides incorporated into the plant’s tissue.
This food contains timothy hay, oat grass, oat hulls, barley, peas, and tomato as its main ingredients. It also has a good mix of added vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin D, Vitamin E, and Biotin.
Oxbow Garden Select Fortified Food for Rabbits has a good macronutrient balance since it contains 12% protein, 2.5% fat and 18% to 22% fiber. This food is also fortified with 0.35% calcium and 0.25% phosphorous.
If you need an all natural rabbit food that is free of GMO ingredients and is made in America then you can’t go wrong with Oxbow Garden Select Fortified Food for Rabbits.
Science Selective Rabbit Food Review
Supreme Selective Fortified Rabbit Food (Buy Online) is a great food if you want to feed your rabbit a nutritionally balanced high fiber diet. This food is specially formulated to be gentle on your rabbit’s teeth and their digestive system. That makes it a great choice for older rabbits, or for rabbits who have trouble eating other brands of commercial pellets.
Supreme Selective Fortified Rabbit Food also contains a good mix of healthy ingredients that will help keep your rabbit in peak condition. The pellets are made from dried alfalfa meal, whole wheat, peas, flax, and beet pulp. They are also fortified with vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin E.
Supreme Selective Fortified Rabbit Food is also an excellent source of fiber since it has a 25% crude fiber content that is mostly made up of soybean hulls. This food also contains 12% protein, 2.5% fat, and it has 0.6% calcium and 0.4% phosphorous.
How Much Pellets to Feed Rabbits?
You should feed a rabbit about 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup of pellets for every 6 pounds of body weight. You will also need to feed your rabbit fresh foods like leafy greens and vegetables to round out their diet. In addition, you also want to make sure that your rabbit is still eating hay since the fiber in hay will help improve their digestion.
What Nutrients Do Rabbits Need?
Protein
A rabbit should eat a food that contains at least 8% protein in order to meet their amino acid requirements. That is just the bare minimum and you should try to always give them food that has at least a 12 to 14 percent protein content. Moreover, Female rabbits that are lactating will need to eat food with 17 to 18 percent protein in order to maintain their milk production.
Fat
Most rabbit food usually contains less than 5% fat, and it is not uncommon for a rabbit pellet to have a 2% fat content. This is fine in most cases, but rabbits can handle up to 25% fat in their diet.
If you keep your rabbit outside in cold weather you might want to add some healthy fat to their pellets. This will give them more energy to stay warm, and it can help them put on an insulating fat layer.
Rabbits that are nursing will also require more fat in their diet in order to produce enough milk for their kits.
Fiber
Fiber is vital for digestion, and it also provides valuable nutrients when it is broken down by bacteria in a rabbits intestines. If a rabbit isn’t eating enough fiber it can cause the passage of food in their intestines to slow down and become compacted.
If your rabbit’s intestines become compacted it can end up being fatal since most rabbits will stop eating and drinking when this happens. That’s why it’s important to feed your rabbit a high-fiber pellet, and you should make sure they always have access to hay and other sources of roughage.
Vitamins
Rabbits have very efficient intestines that are good at extracting vitamins from most of the foods we give them. That means most rabbits will get enough vitamins from their regular food, but you can give your rabbit supplements if you think they need them.
Some important vitamins that rabbits need include vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin E. You can also give them B vitamins, but in most cases, the bacteria in their gut will already produce enough of those vitamins.
Minerals
Rabbits tend to need more calcium and phosphorous than most other minerals. Any excess calcium in their diet is quickly and efficiently excreted in their urine, where you might notice it as white mineral deposits in their litter.
If a rabbit isn’t getting enough calcium in their diet their urine can turn a dark color, and it will have a more pungent odor.
A calcium deficiency can also cause renal bicarbonate to form in their urinary tract which can eventually lead to health problems. That’s why you should always make sure to get a rabbit pellet that has been fortified with calcium and phosphorous.
Your rabbit will also need to get enough magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, sulfur, zinc, selenium and iodine in their diet. Most commercial pellets will usually have enough of these minerals, but if you think that your rabbit isn’t getting enough minerals you can always get them a salt lick.
