What to feed your rabbit at Christmas

We might sometimes overindulge at Christmas, but it’s best to keep your rabbits' meals the same as normal. That’s because too much rich food – or a sudden change in diet – can upset their delicate digestive systems.

Healthy food for a rabbit should include:

• 85% unlimited hay and grass
• 10% vegetables and herbs
• 5% pelleted feed

It’s OK to feed your bunnies treats over the festive season, but remember these should only make up 5% of their daily calorie intake. Here are three homemade ideas to get you started.

These delicious biscuits are high in calories, so only feed them as an occasional treat.

You will need:

• Half a carrot
• Half a courgette
• Half a banana
• Handful of your rabbit’s normal pellet feed
• Handful of rolled oats
• Drinking straw
• Sisal rope

Instructions:

1. Grate the carrot and courgette, mash the banana, and crush the pellets.
2. Add the rolled oats and mix.
3. Use a rolling pin to roll out the mixture until it’s 1-2mm thick.
4. Use biscuit cutters to make Christmas-themed shapes, or carefully cut the mix into strips with a knife.
5. If you want to hang the biscuits up, use a drinking straw to poke a small hole in the top of each biscuit.
6. Bake at 120-150ºC for a couple of hours, or until they are completely dry.
7. Remove the biscuits from the oven and allow them to cool.
8. Use sisal rope to hang the treats in your bunnies’ run for them to eat.
   

These fun toys look like Christmas crackers but will make sure your rabbits eat their greens. In addition to meeting their basic nutritional requirements, hay keeps your rabbits busy and keeps their digestive systems healthy. Adding a variety of greens every day also mimics the different plants rabbits graze on in the wild.

You will need:

• Toilet roll tube
• Handfuls of fresh hay
• Spinach
• Brussels sprout tops
• Kale

Instructions:

1. Stuff a toilet roll tube with a few handfuls of fresh hay and leafy greens, such as spinach, Brussels sprouts tops or kale.
2. Make sure the hay and greens are poking out of the ends of the toilet roll, fluff them out and you have a bunny cracker!
   

Keep your bunnies away from your Christmas tree, which can upset their stomach if ingested. Instead, make your bunnies their own tree using twigs, and decorate it with their favourite fruits and vegetables.

Supervise your rabbits while they’re eating the fruit, so they don’t accidentally eat any of the string holding the decoration together. Afterwards, your rabbits can enjoy nibbling the twigs, to help keep their teeth healthy.

You will need:

• Applewood or willow twigs
• String
• A shoebox or small cardboard box
• Small chunks of your rabbits’ favourite fruits and vegetables.

Instructions:

1. Bind the twigs with string, using the largest stick as the main ‘trunk’.
2. Stick the ‘trunk’ of your tree through a hole in the cardboard box to keep it steady.
3. Thread the fruits onto string, then hang on the tree for your rabbits to find and enjoy

Rabbits are herbivores, so you might be tempted to give them some leftover cooked greens. But these aren’t suitable as food for rabbits, as they’re too soft to wear down their teeth. This includes peas, which can cause digestive problems for rabbits.

If you want to give your rabbits extra vegetables, set some aside before cooking.

Vegetables glazed with honey and other sweet sauces can lead to life-threatening colic for rabbits. That’s because the processed sugar can create a fatal build-up of gas in rabbits’ stomachs.

The same is true for the sauces used for Christmas dinner. Cranberry sauce is high in soluble sugars, so can be fatal for rabbits. If you’re making fresh cranberry sauce, save a few berries before cooking, and give these to your rabbits as a treat.

These foods might be in your house all year round, but if you’ve got visitors, it’s worth reminding everyone that the following foods can be poisonous to rabbits:

• Allium vegetables, including chives, garlic, onions and shallots
• Avocado
• Chocolate
• Fruit pips
• Mushrooms
• Potato leaves
• Rhubarb
• Sugary, processed foods

If your rabbits eat any of these foods or seem otherwise unwell over the holidays, speak to your vet immediately. For peace of mind, rabbit insurance can help cover the cost of any emergency treatment. If you’re a Petplan customer, you can also use Pet Expert Chat and connect with vets, behaviourists and nutritionists 24/7. Simply log into your My Petplan account and go to My Support.

In addition to avoiding certain foods, remember to supervise house rabbits at Christmas time. Wrapping paper, ribbon, low-lying human snacks and open fires can all be hazardous.