How can you not give your adorable pet rabbit at least some treats? Did you perhaps think of biscuits? Wait for a second, we need to figure out first if this is an acceptable treat.
After a meal or a fun time in the backyard, we often reward our pets with treats. But do we take into account their nutritional value? Well, we often choose to neglect that fact.
Here’s a simple question: can rabbits eat biscuits?
Well, your rabbit might be better off without a couple of biscuits in its diet. Stay tuned to the end of this article and find out which treats are dangerous for your rabbit and if biscuits are one of them.
Can Rabbits Eat Biscuits? Not Recommended
It must be hard to resist your cute little pet rabbit. Sometimes you just don’t care and decide to give it a treat, even if it’s eaten (a lot) before. This is generally not a good idea. Keep in mind that your rabbit is a herbivore and that your choice of treats that are ALLOWED is narrowed down.
So, sweets like biscuits are absolutely out of the question. Of course, the biscuit is a broad term. Let’s break them down into some basic categories.
- Plain biscuits
- Coffee biscuits
- Oats
- Wagon wheels
- Chocolate biscuits
With this, we just touched the surface. However, this shortlist is enough for us to continue with the next point, which is very important – and that is the side effects of biscuits.
Baking Soda/Powder
Biscuits, no matter the type, contain large amounts of baking soda or powder. This is a total disaster for your pet rabbit – herbivores shouldn’t even be around this substance.
Since this is basically an integral ingredient, it can cause severe kidney problems with your rabbit. Remember that this is a strong ingredient and that even we can feel nauseous.
Baking soda, when it’s mixed with calcium, can make the treat too sweet. In this case, your rabbit might experience loss of appetite, nausea, or dry mouth. Dryness encourages a lot of hydration, which then leads to bloating.
The baking powder alone can cause bloating. Your rabbit doesn’t need to drink excessive amounts to bloat. They just need a couple of bites of this treat, and their stomachs will immediately start to bloat.
Bloating caused by baking powder often leads to constipation. This means that your rabbit will have trouble with the overall digestion of food. This develops into other stomach and digestive problems that are much more serious. When you think about it, it’s kind of crazy how such a “light” ingredient can cause so many difficulties with your pet.
Sugar
Whatever our pets consume, whether they are treats or fruit – it is essential to check sugar levels. Especially in small animals such as rabbits, this can have devastating effects. In that name, let’s list the most common ones.
I think the first and most noticeable side effect of sugar is gaining weight. You might need a couple of weeks of eating biscuits, but your pet rabbits need much less. Also, once they gain weight, they become lazy, and losing those extra pounds is harder than it seems.
Too much sugar can also contribute to a higher risk of heart disease. If your rabbit gets its paws on too many biscuits at once, it may be looking at heart failure. Although these treats are small, they can cause horrible problems like this, for example.
Just like too much sugar is not good for your skin, it’s detrimental to the rabbit’s coat as well. If you notice some rashes or that your rabbit is itching all of a sudden, it might be because of the high sugar content in biscuits.
This can severely affect the coat and sometimes even lead to hair loss. Sugar reduces energy levels, actually. And while younger rabbits should be full of energy and ready to run around your backyard all day long, giving them treats might provoke the opposite effect.
Your pet will become lazy, unwilling to play with you, and once this turns into a habit – you’re in trouble!
Carbohydrates
Of course, these foods will be loaded with carbohydrates, and they are very harmful to the body and can cause many side effects.
First, they can cause fatigue. It is a false belief that a larger amount of carbohydrates adds to the energy, when in fact, it does the opposite. The more carbs your rabbit has ingested, the more tired it will be.
These low-energy treats should be replaced with healthy greens or meals that are rich in vitamins, and that will give your rabbit the energy it needs. NOTE: one of the good choices is parsley.
Further, one very important and long-lasting consequence of this source is tooth decay. Large amounts of carbohydrates have a very bad effect on the teeth, and rabbit teeth take a long time to develop.
If your rabbit has been in contact with biscuits and eaten them in larger quantities, after a while, you may notice that the quality of their teeth is declining. This can even lead to tooth loss.
Carbohydrates can also cause gas in your animal. This is not at all strange, and it happens because this food is too strong for your rabbit’s body. Of course, constant gas leads to bloating and constipation, so it would be good to watch the work of your rabbit’s stomach and whether it has shown any unwanted symptoms lately.
According to research, some people claim that carbohydrates are addictive. So there is a possibility that your rabbit will get hooked on this treat which is very bad for them.
How much is “too many biscuits” for my rabbit, and what happens when it eats the fatal amount?
Even a small biscuit can be detrimental to the health of your rabbit, and if you notice that your pet is approaching that treat – put it away! Excessive amounts can even kill your rabbit.
The advice would be to keep any kind of candy away from this herbivore.
What About Crackers?
Don’t get your hopes up because crackers are just as dangerous as biscuits. Although they are salty, they are in no way recommended. Some owners choose to crumble crackers and serve them to their rabbits as a treat – don’t do this because it’s a huge mistake!
Crackers can easily lead to obesity. But this is the smallest problem that can occur to your rabbit. With the help of a corrected diet, you can bring your rabbit’s weight in order.
However, if your rabbit constantly consumes this or eats a huge amount in one breath, you can expect more severe problems such as skin irritation, diarrhea, and even liver disease. This all happens thanks to the strong content of flour and carbs.
Other Dangerous Food
Biscuits are just one of the foods that should not be on the list for your rabbit. Here are the most critical foods that adversely affect the health of your pet:
Avocado
Consuming avocados can cause hypersensitivity – in the sense that rash reactions from excessive scratching appear on your rabbit’s skin. This is due to the strong substances contained in avocados to which your rabbit’s body is not accustomed.
Certain types of avocados, such as Mexican avocados, are especially dangerous for your rabbit because they can cause liver damage. This means that your rabbit will have severe gastrointestinal problems after consumption.
This is one of the severe consequences, and you should consult a veterinarian immediately. Too many avocados cause a severe allergic reaction – especially in the mouth. In the case of your rabbit, it is mouth irritation and tongue swelling.
This can make it much more difficult for your rabbit to continue eating and digesting the food.
Onions
This should be clear to the owner who has had a rabbit for a long time that rabbits must absolutely not even approach this food.
However, just because we don’t give them this to eat doesn’t mean that they themselves may not accidentally run into onions. Domestic rabbits, which are used to running around the garden, are especially exposed to this.
The toxicity of onions can be life-threatening to your rabbit. This vegetable can cause numerous intestinal inflammations, skin reactions, and heart failure.
Immunosuppression is another common outcome – this affects your rabbit’s immune system and disables it from protecting your pet from other possible diseases.
Pasta & Bread
This is very important to mention. Bread and excess pasta are the most common leftovers after lunch, and we often give them to our pets as food or do not inadequately dispose of them in the trash.
What happens if our rabbits find their way to these leftovers? Well, their metabolism suffers because this is too heavy a food to digest.
As in the case of onions, domestic rabbits are more exposed to these nutrients and therefore are in greater danger. So, a rabbit that eats a certain amount of pasta or finds a piece of bread will have problems with bloating, weight gain, and diarrhea.
