Minerals are vital to your bunny’s health and vitality. Most of the minerals they find are in their food; however, some have to be added as supplements. We will go through all of the minerals here that are important and I will mention the ones that you may need to consider supplementing.
Nitrogen
Rabbits must have a high-fibre diet. Most of their food contains two types of fibre: insoluble (indigestible) and soluble (digestible). The insoluble fibre is passed out of the rabbit quite quickly, but the soluble fibre is passed into the caecum to be re-digested.
Insoluble fibre has a high content of nitrogen. So, if you feed your rabbit a lot of indigestible fibre, the rabbit will start producing higher levels of nitrogen in the caecum.
High levels of nitrogen gas increase the amount of bacteria and can cause GI stasis due to the swelling of the caecum.
To counteract the high levels of nitrogen, the rabbit must have a lot of soluble fibre in it’s diet, which can only come from fresh grass.
Salt
Sodium is not salt.
Salt is a mixture of Sodium (40%) and Chlorine (60%) and is known as NaCl.
For many years, it was believed that rabbits needed about 0.2% of salt in their daily diet, which is now considered to be incorrect. That amount is too low.
However, rabbits with a high salt intake get metabolic and digestive issues. A high salt intake is anything over 0.4% of their daily diet.
It is important to give your rabbit some salt in its weekly diet as it will help with absorption and blood regulation.
Leading rabbit dieticians, vets and livestock experts are advising to give salt in herbivore diets. Only in tiny quantities. Salt is necessary for animals to function properly, but too much can cause many issues.
Salt Licks
Never give a rabbit a salt lick, as it may ingest too much salt. Yo must be very careful with the amount of salt you give your rabbit.
About Salt
Salt should be a part of your rabbit’s diet:
- it makes food tastier
- retains fluid in muscle tissue
- takes part in the sodium-calcium interaction of biological fluids in the body
- contains ions of minerals that are necessary for the normal functioning of body cells
No or low-salt diet leads to:
- deterioration of the coat
- slows down blood formation
- digestion and metabolic issues
- behavioural issues
- over grooming
Too much salt can kill your rabbit.
How can I tell if my rabbit needs salt?
If your rabbit licks things, like licking you, other rabbits eyes, rocks, sticks, the floor, anything… it is looking for salt.
Which salt?
You can’t just get any salt. It must be plain table salt, or pink Himalayan salt. The salt must not have any additives, and you must pay attention to the composition and method of processing of the salt.
Iodised salt contains iodine, and too much iodine can be harmful to the rabbit.
How much salt?
Depending on their age, weight and activity level, rabbits only need 1/16 teaspoon/kg. In Australia a single teaspoon is 5g.
So, if we had a 3.5kg rabbit, we calculate it like this:
- 5/16 = 0.3125
- 3.5kg * 0.3125 = 1.1g a week. So, that’s a bit under a 1/4 of a teaspoon a week. A 1/4 teaspoon is 1.25g.
How do I add salt to the diet?
You can sprinkle it on their salad greens after washing it, so that it soaks into the water on the leaves.
You can add it to their water.
You can squish a tiny portion of it into a piece banana.
How do I know if it’s too much?
When your rabbit stops eating the food with the salt on it, it knows that it has had enough salt in its diet for a couple of weeks. Give it about 10 day’s break and try again, if it still doesn’t eat the food with the salt, the rabbit is at it’s limit. Don’t force it to eat the salt.
Magnesium
The estimated amount of magnesium required for growth is 30-40mg per 100g of food.
Magnesium deficiency causes poor growth and hyperexcitability resulting in convulsions.
Inadequate or low amounts of magnesium (55.6g/100g of food) results in fur chewing, alopecia, blanching of the ears and changes to the shine and texture of the fur.
Magnesium is excreted in urine very much like calcium.
Calcium and Phosphorus
Calcium and Phosphorus work hand in hand in a rabbit’s diet.
Calcium and phosphorus are the main components of bone. Calcium helps with blood clotting and controlling the excitability of nerve and muscle tissue, and in the maintenance of pH equilibrium. Phosphorus helps cells, the ATP, DNA and RNA, and the phospholipids.
Bunnies absorb calcium from foods, and studies have shown that it is dependent on a carrier protein that transports calcium through the intestinal lining to the blood. This process is under the control of vitamin D.
The amount of calcium in the rabbits diet is clearly shown in their faeces and urine. This is an unusual trait in animals as most other animals excrete it as a bile. When a bunny excretes calcium in its urine, it usually means that there is a high amount of calcium in its serum level. Other animals with high dietary calcium usually secrete calcitonin from their thyroid, while rabbit’s less efficient way shows that they don’t excrete much calcitonin. That is because of vitamin D, it stimulates the calcium excretion in the urine.
Rabbits need between 0.4 – 0.8% of phosphorus in their diet.
Stick to a 2:1 ratio. Twice as much calcium to phosphorus. That way it will stay balanced.
Potassium
The estimated amount of potassium for growth is at least 0.6% of the diet.
When a bunny has a potassium deficiency, it results in muscular dystrophy. A deficiency os unlikely, except when the rabbit is only fed a high-grain diet.
Alfalfa and other forages are high in potassium.
If the rabbit has a high level of potassium in the diet (0.8-1.0%) it increases nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys).
Manganese
A deficiency of manganese in rabbits can cause maldevelopment of the skeleton – crooked legs, brittle bones, decreased weight, density, length, and ash content of bones.
To prevent deficiency, it is recommended that rabbits get 2.5mg/kg for adults, and 8.5mg/kg for growing rabbits.
Iron
When baby rabbits are born they have a large iron reserve, so the babies are not dependent on getting iron in the milk. As they get older, they have a high iron storage capacity in the liver.
Iron transfers in the blood and is changed into ferritin in the liver, which allows the body to use the iron when it needs it.
When given normal foods, a rabbit will not get an iron deficiency. Because of their iron storage, a baby rabbit will never get an iron deficiency. If bunnies do get an iron deficiency, it produces microcytic, hypochromic anemia.
Cobalt
Cobalt is needed for the synthesis of vitamin B12. Rabbits digestive tracts are efficient in using cobalt, compared to humans, rats or sheep.
Deficiency in cobalt, with a normal diet, is unlikely.
Copper
Bunnies need 3mg of copper per kg in their diet. While young rabbits need an extra 200ppm of copper to help growing.
A deficiency in copper results in anemia and greying of the hair. Bone abnormalities have also been noticed.
Molybdenum, another mineral, creates an iron deficiency, anemia and signs of toxicity. Rabbits can’t have too much or too little molybdenum in their diet, if the diet is normal.
Zinc
They conducted a study with young female rabbits, and gave them a diet containing the low dose of zinc (0.2ppm). The rabbits showed deficiency; they didn’t eat as much, low amount of red blood cells, weight loss, greying or loss of hair, alopecia, dermatitis, and reproductive failure. They can get sores around the mouth, wet matted hair on the lower jaw.
Selenium
Selenium helps animals get rid of peroxides in their tissues. Bunnies metabolise selenium through vitamin E, which prevents peroxide formation.
Iodine
Diets of rabbits should contain at least 0.2mg/kg of iodine. Excessive intakes can toxic effects and ultimately cause death.
A good quality pellet and proper diet should give your bunny most if not all of the required minerals in it’s daily diet.