Rabbit Nutrition: The Numbers

Purina Rabbit Chow Garden Recipe
 NATURAL, COMPLETE NUTRITION FOR ALL BREEDS OF RABBITS AND BUNNIES OF ALL AGES
Purina® Rabbit Chow™ Garden Recipe™ Natural AdvantEdge™ rabbit food is a fun-to-eat, wholesome blend of pellets, nutritious vegetables, fruits and seeds formulated for all breeds of rabbits and bunnies at all ages. It’s the fun way to feed your rabbits the very best!



GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein (Min)....................................................
Crude Fat (Min)..........................................................
Crude Fiber (Min).......................................................
Crude Fiber (Max)......................................................
Calcium (Ca) (Min).....................................................
Calcium (Ca) (Max)....................................................
Phosphorus (P) (Min)..................................................
Salt (NaCl) (Min)........................................................
Salt (NaCl) (Max) ......................................................
Vitamin A (Min)..........................................................
14.00%
2.00%
18.00%
22.00%
0.670%
1.10%
0.40%
0.20%
0.70%
3,500 IU/lb
INGREDIENTS
Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Ground Soybean Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Carrot, Sunflower Seed, Papaya, Whole Oats, Cane Molasses, Ground Oat Hulls, Wheat Flour, Timothy Hay, Celery, Monocalcium Phosphate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Soybean Oil, DL-Methionine, Iron Oxide, Copper Sulfate, DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Calcium Pantothenate, Nicotinic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin, Yeast Culture, Biotin, Dried Aspergillus Niger Fermentation Extract, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Dried Yeast, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Ferment Product, Dried Yucca Shidigera Extract, Cholecalciferol, Cobalt Carbonate, Manganese Sulfate, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Selenite.


     This nutrition label is straight from Purina's website, and they are arguably the largest producer of rabbit feed in the United States. It is known that animal food companies will buy the cheapest ingredients, regardless of source, that meets their standard of nutrition. This means that one day you could be buying pellets made of mostly alfalfa, and another day you could be buying pellets made of soybean. 



     In 1982, the Peace Corps published a pamphlet about rabbit nutrition, breaking it down simply by the type of rabbit (pregnant, resting, lactating) with nutrition profile that rabbit needs. Like people, rabbits need protein, fiber, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. 
     If you were to use this to formulate your own feed, you would need to adjust the amounts for the size of your rabbits. Normally this would be measured by weight, and one kilogram is approximately 2.2 pounds.
     Overall, protein seems to be the largest limiting factor for rabbit production, as most of the minerals and fiber can come from the addition of a good quality hay. Some plant proteins are readily absorbed by the animal's digestion, others are not, and this needs to be taken into account when mixing a feed.

Girl Builds Pond, Part Seven

Papyrus, Cannas, 'Fruit Punch' Mint, Taro.

Rant: Don't Read If You're Faint of Heart

     I don't usually have personal drama because after knowing what nutjobs most people are I limit my interaction with strangers in my personal life, outside of work and school that is. And am happier for it.
     But today, I noticed that all four of the hubcaps are missing off my car. They were there about two weeks ago when my dad helped me top up the tire pressure. Since I hate driving, I have maybe driven only twice since then. I quickly secured up the locks on the rabbits in the backyard.
     I don't understand why I am such a target. Is it because I live alone? Are my neighbors jealous because I have central air? Is it all crazy exes that I've dumped because they haven't treated me well? I did swear off former military guys and firefighters because they are all crazy and treat women like shit. I don't feel like I am beautiful or smart enough to make another woman so jealous as to do something like this, but anything is possible. I have a big mouth, maybe I upset someone? Maybe someone hates paramedical practitioners? I'm not working at the moment. Are people jealous of my amazing garden? How can they see it beneath all that grass?
     I seriously doubt someone stole them for their own use. My tires are ridiculously small and flimsy, they have to be special ordered from the tire store because they sams and walmart don't carry them. The hubcaps, are, of course, correspondingly tiny.
    I was just teased about the new clothesline, that someone might come up and steal my laundry from my carport. I laughed it off. Sure, that person should probably be the first one I suspect, but he would have nothing to gain from vandalizing me.
     So, WTF? FML.