Rabbits need to be feed hay and grass daily. It needs to be the basis of a healthy diet.
It is important for:
Dental health
- The teeth are worn down by eating grass and hay.
Digestion
Rabbits have two processes of digesting. The fibre is vital to stimulate the rabbit's highly specialized digestive system.
Hay and grass, this coarse type of roughage is digested in the cecum (a part of the rabbit's large intestine) that partially digest the hay, which is then expelled as a specialized pellet called a cecotrope. This partially digested hay, or cecotrope is then ingested by the rabbit, where further nutrients can be absorbed.
Without this source of fibre, rabbits are prone to diarrhea and motility disorders, because the peristalsis (movement) of the gut is not stimulated enough, so it causes digested food to rot. A diet high in sugar will also promote the growth of bacteria in a sluggish bowel. This in turn can interfere with absorption of nutrients.
A sluggish bowel, can also lead to loss of appetite and thirst, resulting in dehydration and weight loss. This decreases the production of cecotropes, lowers the rabbit's well being, as it's nutritional needs are not being met.
Hairballs aka wool block
Maintaining healthy motility of a rabbit's gut is also necessary for the rabbit to pass hairballs. With a sluggish bowel, hairballs can remain in the rabbit's stomach, where, hastened by the increasing dehydration of the rabbit, the hairball hardens, creating the rabbit to feel bloated and full, further decreasing appetite, thirst, increasing dehydration, weight loss and this destructive cycle continues.
The best remedy to relieve a rabbit's unpassable hairballs is to offer the rabbit a diet only of fresh green hay with plenty of fresh water on hand. It takes three days for a rabbit to create more fecal matter. This is the best treatment for hairballs in rabbits and it is rare that a rabbit will require surgery, if offered a diet like this.
The following picture gives a great visual idea of how much hay is needed in a rabbit's diet.
image subject to copyright and courtesy of San Diego House Rabbit Society sandieograbbits.org
References:
University of California
Agriculture and Natural Resources
San Diego House Rabbit Society
PDSA
People's Dispensary for Sick Animals
AAHA
American Animal Hospital Association
Susan Brown, DVM
Midwest Bird and Exotic-Animal Hospital in Westchester, Ill.