Diets as good as the wild

Just as with humans the health of our small animals, whether rabbits, cavies, rats or mice, is largely dependent on the quality of food that we give them.  Rabbits in particular have a very significant requirement for high fibre diets.  To this end hay is a very important component of most rabbit foods.  But is hay what a rabbit will eat in the wild?

It is certainly true that wild rabbits live largely on grass and other small ground cover plants.  And hay is simply dried grass.  So what happens to hay during that drying process and what are its implications as a rabbit food? 

Towards high summer the grass plants are preparing the way for their next generation.  All their efforts are put into providing the best environment for their seeds to develop and grow in the next year.  The leaves and stem of the plant, which have been working very hard to turn sunlight into energy for the past few months, will become largely redundant over the winter.  So, as the plant dries off, many of the biochemical components are no longer required.  Protein levels drop dramatically.  Many vitamins disappear completely.  And a great deal of the minerals in the leaves are returned by the sap back into the ground.  The seeds then fall off and eventually the leaves form organic compost as they rot into the ground.

Half way through this process your friendly farmer has cut this dried grass and baled it up into hay.  As a result of the natural processes just described, this hay is substantially less nutritious than the grass that it had been a few weeks earlier.  However, being dry it can be stored for later use with low risk of becoming mouldy.

The concept of supplementing small animals' diets is based on the belief that the animals will be healthier and breed better if fed a diet that in its nutritional composition more closely resembles moist green lush plants than dried plant material.

The key components to replace are the vitamins and minerals that were lost in the natural drying process.

Function of vitamins
Vitamin	Function	Common problems when short
Vitamin A	Ensures proper formation of membranes throughout body	Susceptibility to infections. Particularly gut, eyes, respiratory and reproductive.
B group vitamins	(Includes B1, B2 (riboflavin), B6 (pyridoxine) B12, choline, folic acid, niacin, pantothenic acid.) Ensure proper use of energy within the body. Nerve function	Lethargy, poor appetite, fits
Vitamin D3	Absorption of calcium and its control in the body.	Soft bones, poor teeth, weak nerves and muscles
Vitamin E	Anti-oxidant, prevents blood toxicity, reproductive functions	Wasting, kidney disease, low fertility.
Vitamin K	Blood clotting, energy storage	Haemorrhage, over eating
Vitamin C	Tissue repair	Scurvy

 

Vi tamins are involved in a very large range of functions with the body.  From a practical point of view it is easiest to look at vitamins as providing assistance with the management of energy within the cells and so it is common for animal keepers to report an increase in the vitality of their stock when they start to feed vitamin supplements.  It is the B group vitamins that are mostly responsible for this.  As the B group vitamins are soluble in water they are quickly flushed out of the body in the urine.  This means that this group of vitamins should be given on a daily basis.

Vitamins A & E are largely responsible for maintaining the animal's health.  Vitamin A helps cell membranes to form correctly and properly formed cell membranes are much more effective at fighting off infections than membranes formed without enough vitamin A present.  Vitamin E is involved in dealing with removal of toxic material from the blood stream.

Finally vitamin C, which is involved in cell repair, is only really important for cavies.  Like humans, cavies have a particularly high requirement for vitamin C.  Almost all other animals manufacture plenty of vitamin C for their normal daily requirements.

The table accompanying this article gives a slightly more detailed account of the functions of different vitamins.

Unlike vitamins, minerals are not able to degrade.  However during the drying process many are lost back to the soil and others change form becoming less easily absorbed by the animal's digestive system.  In lush green plants many of the minerals are tied up with much more complex molecules.  A good example is the magnesium in chlorophyll.  When eaten in this form the amino acids and sugars that the minerals are attached to improve the availability of the mineral to the animal.  Using a unique technology that we call 'Rapisorb', Dr Squiggles Daily Essentials mimics the natural form of minerals in lush green foods.  Daily Essentials is also a comprehensive multi-vitamin supplement and it is simply added to the drinking water.

Alternatively you can use Dr Squiggles Essentials Plus. This is an on food supplement which contains all the vitamins and minerals of Daily Essentials plus amino acids for rapid fur growth and our unique "Flourish" herbal blend  which stimulates the immune system, creates an excellent environment for beneficial gut bacteria. Flourish also has a restraining effect on protozoal parasites like coccidia.

One mineral that we do not include in our daily supplements is calcium.  This mineral is vital for good bone structure, quality teeth and equally importantly for good nerve and muscle function.  Rabbits have a remarkable capacity to absorb calcium from their food.  Most other animals are not so lucky.  So we recommend adding Calcivet to the diet once a week.  Again the availability of calcium in this unique product makes supplementation more frequently than this unnecessary unless the animals are breeding. 

The Role of Various Minerals (a brief and incomplete summary)
Selenium	With vitamin E, selenium is involved in growth, fertility and cancer control.
Iron	Carrying oxygen in the blood.
Cobalt	Red blood cell production, nerve function (with vit B12).
Manganese	Sex hormones and fertility, nerve function, blood and bone formation, vitamin and enzyme function.
Copper	Haemoglobin production, bone, fur and skin, nerves and enzymes.
Zinc	Growth, skin, claw and fur formation, wound healing, enzyme and vitamin activity, digestion, proper formation of reproductive organs in young animals.
Magnesium	Nerve and muscle function, bone growth, temperature control.
Iodine	Thyroid function, maintaining good condition of arteries.
Sulphur	Feather quality, protein quality, fertility.
Calcium	Nerve and muscle function, female health, young animal growth.