Rabbit Nutrition - Need a bit of help with college assignmen

I have to talk about the nutritional requirements of rabbits, i have talked about their nutritional requirements and a balanced diet etc, with hay being the most important blah blah blah...

It says i have to comment on digestibility and palatability. I think i have covered digestibility, but im struggling with palatability. How are rabbit foods made more palatable?? Im struggling, because apart from their pellets, their food is all natural products. How are pellets made palatable? Is it the added flavours? ie the fenugreek flavour in Science Selective.

rump steak is good
but seriously does this help
http://www.thebrc.org/diet.htm

I'd actually make the point that a lot of the foods which domestic rabbits find quite palatable and would eat non-stop are exactly the things they should not be eating a lot of - fruits, sweetened treats, carrots etc.

Who can define what is acceptable to a rabbit's palate? You'd think hay would be pretty bland but there is enough of a trigger for most rabbits to eat a lot of it.

Well I think that we all know that fenugreek is palatable. Remember that you are thinking about diet generally not just pellets. So providing several different veg and herbs to give variety gives more interest in the food and make it more palatable. And a good smell make the food more exciting as well. Obviously in the wild bun eat a bit of this then a bit of that - if you watch mine in the garden you see them eating a bit of fuschia then a bit of rose then a bit of lemon balm then some lush grass and clover followed by some poor grass. So it is more natural to feed a rabbit variety. Rabbits also seek out different textures in their food to help wear their teeth. Palatability for rabbits is more than just taste.

Thanks Cheryl. What would you say about digestibility of food? I have talked about the caecum and how they are corprophagic to help explain why fibre is so important. Ive talked about excess sugar, starch and carbs and mentioned enterotoxemia (sp?). I know that information is right, but i dont think it is right in terms of digestibility of food.

Have you checked out http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html ? it contains some good info on why you should not feed rabbits seeds.

Hays vary in taste and texture. First cut hays have longer fibers and are sweeter to the taste. Rabbits usually prefer this 'first cut' of the season. Have you ever chewed a bit on the end of a hay stem? The different varieties taste quite differently. Try them. I always try a stem or two every new bag of hay we get just to make sure it hasn't soured. And no, I don't swallow the hay.

Rabbit food pyramid. http://www.reddoorshelter.org/rabbit_foodpyramid.pdf

This is good too: http://3bunnies.org/feeding.htm

Thanks Holly. Ive never tried the buns hay but i used to chew the haylage (sp?) when we had horses ...It was quite sweet though

Ive checked out the links, some are really helpful. I got the bunny part finished last night, ive included my own version of the food pyramid. Its supposed to be a poster/fact sheet, which i hate doing because i always feel i cant put enough detail in.

I read somewhere that rabbits like strong flavours so that might give you a line to follow.