As you may already know, every species has its own nutritional requirements. Rabbits, for example, need to be fed an appropriate rabbit diet in order to live a happy rabbit life. Some foods are beneficial for species while others can be toxic for animals. There are foods that can in fact kill your rabbit and these foods need to be avoided. If you are not sure of which foods are toxic or harmful to rabbits we recommend reading this article, so that you don’t accidentally harm your animal.
Can rabbits eat bread? Well, if we think about it, rabbits instinctively eat plants in the wild. Therefore, giving them a man-made produces food could definitely be harmful to your rabbit. This is why, here at AnimalWised, we want to discuss whether or not bunnies can eat bread. In addition, we will be listing some other foods that are toxic to rabbits.
Can rabbits eat stale bread?
Did you know that a rabbit’s teeth never stop growing? This is why many people feed their rabbits specific foods, so that they can maintain oral health and keep their teeth from growing too long. For this reason, you may think that hard and stale bread may be a good option to grind down a rabbit’s teeth. This, however, is a myth! Bread will not help a rabbit maintain it’s dental health and can in fact be the cause of several rabbit health problems, including; obesity and stomach problems such as diarrhea. It is important to bare in mind that diarrhea in rabbits can result in the death of a rabbit, due mainly to extensive dehydration. If you believe your rabbit is in danger, we recommend taking a look at our article on; 5 Signs And Symptoms Of a Dying Rabbit.
Is bread toxic for rabbits?
There are many different types of animals and many different ways to classify them. One of the main ways we classify animals is by what they eat. This form of food classification includes; omnivorous animals, carnivores, herbivores, insectivores, hematophagous animals, and so on. Within this classification, a rabbit is a herbivore. This means that naturally in the wild, a rabbit will only eat herbs, vegetables and certain fruits. Even if your rabbit likes bread, it does not deter from the fact that bread is not beneficial for a rabbit’s health.
The stomach of all animals are capable of processing certain substances as well as rejecting the presence of others. This is exactly what will happen if you feed your rabbit bread, their body will begin to reject it. Bread is harmful to rabbits because it contains starch, which a rabbit struggles to digest. If a rabbit cannot digest a substance like starch, it will ferment and can cause serious health problems in your rabbit. Foods, such as starch, can cause diarrhea in rabbits as well as other rabbit stomach problems, like ulcers.
In addition, obesity in rabbits is a disorder that is directly related to the ingestion of bread. Obesity in rabbits can also carry additional health problems in rabbits and should be avoided.
Therefore, in regards to all of the above reasons, we strongly recommend that you DO NOT feed your rabbit bread, cookies, cakes or any other sweet treats. If you are wondering how else to feed your rabbit, take a look at our article on; Recommended Fruits and Vegetables For Rabbits.
Rabbit diet - Rabbit teeth health
If you’ve already been feeding your rabbit bread to help protect its teeth, don’t worry! Changing this dietary option for your rabbit is easy. Instead of bread, we suggest feeding your rabbit hay. Hay is highly recommended for the dental care of rabbits, because not only does it fulfill this function, but hay is also very healthy for rabbits and they can eat as much as they want (without worrying about obesity in rabbit).
We also suggest always keeping a portion of fresh hay inside your rabbit’s cage so that your rabbit can chew as much as it wants, whenever it wants. Remember that a rabbit’s diet should consist of granulated food made especially for rabbits. This rabbit feed should be complement by lots of fresh vegetables, sporadic pieces of fruit and plenty of water. However, if your rabbit has started to refuse eating hay, we recommend taking a look at the following article; My Rabbit Won’t Eat Hay.
Poisonous foods for rabbits
In order to make sure you do not harm your rabbit, we recommend taking a look at this list of forbidden foods for rabbits. Some harmful foods for rabbits include;
- Potatoes
- Sweet potatoes
- Garlic
- Onions
- Turnips
- Leeks
- Fungi
- Peas
- Broad beans
- Bananas
- Custard apples
- Figs
- Avocados
- Rice
- Bread
- Biscuits
- Walnuts
- Sugar cereals
- Corn
- Oats
To find out more about why these foods are toxic for rabbits and to see what else makes up this list, take a look at our article on; Poisonous Foods For Rabbits.
If you want to read similar articles to Can Rabbits Eat Bread?, we recommend you visit our Homemade diets category.