Rabbit Diet: Why Hay Is 80 Percent and the Pellet Myth That Kills Rabbits

The single biggest reason rabbits die young in pet homes is dietary mismanagement, and the cause is not malice. It is bad information packaged in colorful bags at the pet store. Most rabbit-care products are designed around the assumption that pellets are the primary food, with hay as decoration and greens as occasional treats. Modern rabbit medicine has reversed this hierarchy. Hay is the staple, greens are supplemental, and pellets are a controlled portion that prevents weight loss without driving the dental and digestive disease that excessive pellets cause. This guide walks through what a rabbit should actually eat, how the diet has changed in the past 15 years of rabbit medicine, and the foods that cause the most preventable rabbit deaths.

Why hay matters more than anything else

A rabbit’s digestive system has two requirements that nothing else in pet keeping shares.

Dental wear. Rabbit teeth grow continuously throughout life, 2 to 3 mm per week for incisors and similar rates for molars. The teeth wear down only through mechanical grinding of fibrous food. Without continuous chewing of high-fiber hay, the teeth overgrow, causing tongue lacerations, jaw abscesses, and pain that stops the rabbit from eating. By the time external symptoms appear, dental disease often requires surgical correction.

Gut motility. Rabbits are hindgut fermenters with an unusually delicate gut. Food must move continuously, and the right ratio of long fiber (hay) to soluble nutrients (pellets, greens) keeps things moving. Too few long fibers, the gut slows and stalls (GI stasis). Stasis is a medical emergency that progresses to death in 24 to 48 hours without treatment.

Hay solves both problems at once. No other food does.

What kind of hay

Hay is not interchangeable. Choose based on the rabbit’s age and weight.

Adult rabbits (over 7 months):

• Timothy hay (primary recommendation, low calcium, high fiber)
• Orchard grass (alternative for rabbits that refuse timothy)
• Oat hay (occasional variety, slightly higher carb)
• Meadow hay (mixed grasses, good for variety)

Young rabbits (under 7 months) and pregnant or nursing does:

• Alfalfa hay (higher protein and calcium, supports growth)
• Transition to timothy by 7 months

Senior rabbits (over 7 years):

• Mix of timothy and orchard for palatability
• Some seniors with dental disease need softer hay or hay cubes

Storage: Buy hay in 5 to 25 pound boxes for freshness. Bag-sized hay from pet stores is often stale and dusty. Store in a cool dry place, replace every 4 to 6 months.

Quantity: Free-feed always. The rabbit should have a pile larger than its own body available 24/7 and should refresh that pile completely every 24 hours.

Pellets: small portion, specific quality

The current pellet recommendation:

• Adult rabbit (5 to 6 lb): 1/4 cup per day
• Adult rabbit (7 to 9 lb): 1/3 cup per day
• Adult rabbit (10+ lb): 1/2 cup per day
• Young rabbit under 7 months: free-feed alfalfa-based pellets

Pellet quality criteria:

• Plain timothy-based pellets, not mixed seed-and-treat blends
• Crude fiber 22 percent or higher
• Crude protein 14 to 16 percent (adult) or 16 to 18 percent (young)
• No colorful pieces, no dried fruit, no nuts, no extruded shapes

Recommended brands: Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit, Sherwood Adult Rabbit Food, Small Pet Select 4th Cutting Pellets, Science Selective Adult Rabbit.

Brands to avoid: Any mix labeled as “gourmet” or “garden” containing colored pieces, sunflower seeds, dried corn, or peas. These mixes encourage selective eating (the rabbit eats the treats and ignores the pellets) and are nutritionally poor.

Fresh greens: variety more than quantity

Daily greens add hydration, vitamins, and palatability. The volume guideline is 1 to 2 cups per 5 pounds of body weight, split across 2 meals.

Daily rotation (choose 3 to 5 different greens daily):

• Romaine lettuce
• Red leaf lettuce
• Green leaf lettuce
• Cilantro
• Italian parsley
• Basil
• Dill
• Mint
• Dandelion greens (from pesticide-free yards)
• Carrot tops
• Endive
• Watercress
• Radicchio

Limited greens (2 to 3 times weekly, small portion):

• Kale (oxalates, calcium concerns)
• Spring greens
• Spinach (oxalates)
• Broccoli leaves
• Bok choy

Vegetables (small treats, not daily staples):

• Bell pepper (not green, ripe red or yellow only)
• Cucumber
• Snap peas
• Brussels sprouts
• Zucchini

Never feed:

• Iceberg lettuce (no nutrition, can cause diarrhea)
• Onion, garlic, leeks (allium toxicity)
• Avocado (toxic)
• Raw beans, raw potato (toxic)
• Rhubarb leaves (toxic)
• Bread, crackers, pasta (carbs disrupt gut flora)
• Yogurt drops, “yogurt treats” (rabbits cannot digest dairy)
• Seeds and nuts of any kind
• Chocolate

Fruit: treats only

Fruit is sugary and should make up under 5 percent of the diet. Use small portions sparingly.

Acceptable fruit (thumb-tip portion, every 2 to 3 days):

• Apple (skin yes, seeds no)
• Banana
• Strawberry
• Blueberry
• Raspberry
• Pear
• Melon
• Pineapple

Avoid: dried fruit (sugar concentrated 3 to 5x), fruit juice, fruit-flavored treats sold for rabbits.

Water

Fresh water available 24/7 in a heavy ceramic bowl (rabbits drink more from bowls than from sipper bottles). A 6-pound rabbit drinks 50 to 150 ml of water daily, more in summer. Water bottles are acceptable as a backup but a bowl is the primary source.

Cecotropes: not droppings to clean up

Rabbits produce two kinds of fecal material. Dry round droppings are waste. Cecotropes are soft clusters of partially digested food that the rabbit eats directly from its anus, usually in early morning. Cecotrope consumption is essential for B vitamins, microbial protein, and gut health.

A diet too high in pellets or fruit produces soft cecotropes that the rabbit cannot eat properly, leading to soiled fur, fly strike risk, and nutritional deficits. A balanced hay-first diet produces firm cecotropes that the rabbit cleans up before owners even see them.

Signs of diet-related problems

Watch for these warning signs and consult an exotics-experienced vet:

• Decreased fecal pellet size or quantity
• Soft fecal clumps stuck to fur near the tail
• Loss of appetite for over 6 to 8 hours
• Hunched posture, hiding, teeth grinding
• Decreased water intake
• Weight loss

GI stasis develops rapidly and is the most common rabbit medical emergency. A rabbit that has not eaten in 12 hours needs same-day veterinary attention.

This is general dietary guidance based on current rabbit veterinary practice. Always work with a rabbit-experienced exotics vet for individualized recommendations, especially for senior, overweight, or chronically ill rabbits. See our rabbit hutch setup and care guide and our methodology for related rabbit-care content.

Frequently asked questions

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