Hay, grass and readigrass

We are fortunate enough to live withing walking disance of fields and woods and during these months, tend to feed bertie a lot more natural grass, dandelions, Plantain, bramble leaves, nettles, that kinds thing.

Because of this, I have never fed Bertie Readigrass, and I wondered if anyone could please tell me which is the most beneficial to pet Rabbits, hay, grass and readigrass, and why.
I have always assumed that natural grasses would be best, but after a couple of recent tummy upsets (I do wash it all in a vinegar solution, rinse and dry it, before he eats is) if there is something I need to consider about this. Thanks

Readigrass isn't a hay substitute but can be fed as a treat. It is often too high in protein & calcium to be fed liberally as hay should be and can lead to weight gain and conditions such as bladder sludge and stones in excessive amounts.

I have two bunnies who will not eat hay under any circumstances and they have a handful of Readigrass each per day. This isn't ideal and I have to monitor their urine closely for signs of excessive calcium deposits. For these two though, weight gain is an added bonus as they lack body condition.

Between hay & grass I would have thought that hay would be the safest to feed and probably the most beneficial to dental and intestinal health as well due to it's texture and fiber content.

Thanks Sooz, he still gets a lot of hay, but he really likes his wild food too
I wasn't sure if it may be responsible for his recent gut upset, and couldn't find any info on why people use Readigrass, so that's been helpful

Our pairs have a small amount of Redigrass between them, alongside dried herbs at bedtime. This is the one 'meal' that all six bunnies pile into so it is a useful pointer to a problem if they are not interested in it.

Sixer wrote:Our pairs have a small amount of Redigrass between them, alongside dried herbs at bedtime. This is the one 'meal' that all six bunnies pile into so it is a useful pointer to a problem if they are not interested in it.

What a great way to monitor your buns, I have heart attacks with one, I couldn't handle six

U/D I got a bit concerned that Berts was missing out on his grass, after a week of ice so I got a bag of readigrass a couple of days ago. He loves it! I'm only giving him a gripful with each meal, but he tucks straight in. When the normal grass returns, I'll go back on that

I feed Readigrass as a treat with their supper, as it encourages them to forage, they also get fed plenty of hay, and in the summer gets some grass.

I feed mine readigrass as a treat (when I remember to) and the love it, though would always give fresh grass (from my own garden) instead if it was available

I had heard it was high in calcium so asked Frances Harcourt-Brown, who is treating Artie for bladder sludge, if it was okay to give him in the circumstances. She said that anything that was less than 1% calcium is okay, it would be a good food for him to have in moderation. He had a cystotomy in last April and will need his bladder expressing regularly to control his problem, and should be kept on low calcium foods, so I was really quite shocked that she said it was okay after everything I'd read before. Fortunately though he is a really good hay eater so I don't need to give him loads of readigrass to get him eating enough fibre.

Edit to add: Artie's problems weren't caused by high calcium diet and he hadn't had any readigrass before his operation as I hadn't 'discovered' it at that time.

Jay wrote:U/D I got a bit concerned that Berts was missing out on his grass, after a week of ice so I got a bag of readigrass a couple of days ago. He loves it! I'm only giving him a gripful with each meal, but he tucks straight in. When the normal grass returns, I'll go back on that

I've never had a rabbit that wouldn't eat Redigrass, also found it can be great for getting rabbits who are suspiscious of hay to try it by mixing the two together, eventually you can withdraw the grass.