Should you use Oxbow rabbit food?
If you’re in the market for some good dry food to give your rabbit, chances are you’ve come across Oxbow’s products.
This company manufactures a range of animal food, but our review today is focused on their Essentials Adult Rabbit Food.
In our Oxbow rabbit food review we’re sharing everything you need to know about the products.
Oxbow Adult Rabbit Food Review
Oxbow offers a range of dry food for rabbits depending on their age. The one I’m focusing on here is designed for adult rabbits.
Crafted in the USA, Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food is a special formula developed to fulfill the nutritional requirements of adult rabbits to help them stay healthy and thrive. This is done under the guidance of top veterinarians and nutritionists.
It’s not meant for feeding active, growing, pregnant, or nursing rabbits. During these stages of life, it’s better to go for the Oxbow Essentials Young Rabbit Food.
Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food is complete and balanced dry food with Timothy hay as the main ingredient to promote healthy digestion.
It also contains vital nutrients to encourage daily functions and overall performance.
Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food consists of uniform pellets to prevent selective eating associated with rabbit mixes and keep your bunny from missing out on important nutrients. It comes in 5-pound, 10-pound, or 25-pound bags.
It’s rich in fiber to support your herbivore’s digestive health and fortified with vitamins and minerals to provide optimum nutrition.
It is free of seeds, fruits, and miscellaneous pieces as well as artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.
Oxbow Adult Rabbit Pellets
Choosing a brand of dry food can be overwhelming with all the fancy terms such as ‘gourmet’ and ‘premium’ flying around.
If you want to get an accurate idea of how good a food is, check the nutritional analysis and ingredients list on the back of the bag.
Here’s what’s on the back of the Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food package.
Nutritional Analysis:
- Crude Protein min 14.00%
- Crude Fat min 2.00%
- Crude Fiber min 25.00%
- Crude Fiber max 29.00%
- Moisture max 10.00%
- Calcium min 0.35%
- Calcium max 0.75%
- Phosphorus min 0.25%
- Vitamin A (min) 10,000 IU/kg
- Vitamin D (min) 900 IU/kg
- Vitamin E (min) 190 IU/kg
The most important values to look for in the nutritional analysis are the fiber and protein content.
Healthy adult rabbits need a minimum fiber content of 18% and a protein content of around 14%.
Ingredients:
Timothy Grass Meal, Soybean Hulls, Soybean Meal, Cane Molasses, Wheat Middlings, Sodium Bentonite, Soybean Oil, Salt, Lignin Sulfonate, Hydrolyzed Yeast, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Yeast Culture, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate.
Keep in mind that the ingredients are listed according to the order of the proportion. The ingredient mentioned first is what the food contains most of.
In this case, it’s Timothy Grass Meal.
Should You Give Your Rabbits Dry Food?
Generally speaking, there are two major purposes for giving rabbits dry food:
- First, dry food compensates for the missing aspects of the nutritional profile of your bunny’s diet
- Second, it satisfies their taste buds
Both reasons are enough to give your bunny Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food, but here’s another one: it’s a great solution for rabbits who are picky and refuse to eat other brands or forms of food.
The pellets are smaller and softer, making them easier to chew. They’re also significantly fresher than pellets from other brands since it comes straight from the farm.
How To Feed Oxbow Rabbit Pellets
The fact this dry food is really tasty for rabbits means they have no issues working for it.
This gives you a wonderful chance to incorporate activities and rabbit toys into their daily routine.
For example, you can use the pellets as treats in a treat ball. As your bunny pushes the ball around, the food falls out and they can eat it.
You can also use this dry food as hand-fed treats for rewarding positive behavior.
That being said, if you’re trying to switch your rabbit from their current food to the Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food, here’s a plan to follow:
- Week 1 – mix 3 parts of the current food with 1 part of new food.
- Week 2 – mix 2 parts current food with 2 parts new food.
- Week 3 – mix 1 part current food with 3 parts new food.
- Week 4 – new food exclusively.
These pellets are also totally suitable for use in an automatic rabbit feeder.
They are free-flowing and unlikely to jam or block up.
How Many Pellets To Feed Rabbits
Your mature rabbit’s diet should consist of no less than 70% grass hay. The rest can be dry food.
The reason why dry food should make up a small portion of your bunny’s diet is that it packs a very high concentration of nutrients.
The recommended amounts for adult rabbits over the age of 1 are:
- 1 – 4 pounds = ⅛ cup per day
- 4 – 8 pounds = ¼ – ⅓ cup per day
- 8 – 10 pounds = ⅓ – ½ cup per day
- More than 10 pounds = ¾ cup per day
Keep in mind that these are general guidelines.
If your bunny is underweight or overweight, check with your vet and ask them for more specific portion sizes.
Oxbow Essentials
There you have it, a detailed Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food review to help you decide whether or not it’s right for your bunny.
Nutrition-wise, this dry food offers excellent quality. Budget-wise, however, it’s up to you.
If you own an average-sized bunny that eats ¼ cup daily, a single bag can easily last you a year – amazing value for money if you ask us!
Check out these other safe rabbit treats and make a mental checklist of these foods rabbits should NOT eat.