Burgess Pet Care

Small animals make great pets. In the UK alone there are around 3 million small animals kept as pets, ranging from rabbits and guinea pigs to rats and ferrets. Rabbits make up around half of this figure and they are in fact the 3^rd most popular pet behind cats and dogs.

Despite their popularity rabbits and rabbit food are still very much misunderstood. The PDSA recently declared a “Diet Disaster for UK Bunnies” as many owners continue to feed a diet lacking in fibre and packed with sugary, unhealthy muesli and muesli style mixes.

Rabbits need to eat lots of fibre in their diet and they can get this by eating fresh greens and leafy green plants. Luguminous plants such as alfalfa would form a staple part of their diet in the wild. Hay should be offered to your pet rabbits on a daily basis and they would typically consume as much as their own body size in hay every day. Yet, in truth around 42% of owners either do not feed this or do not even understand that hay should be offered as food.

Keep Chewing

Each small furry has different dietary requirements, but rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats and chinchillas all have one thing in common and this is the fact that their teeth are open rooted and grow continuously throughout their life. To help keep their teeth in good shape these animals need to be provided with food to gnaw on; Excel Gnaw Sticks are perfect for this!

Leafy Greens

In addition to hay and nuggets you should offer your fibrevore a variety of leafy fresh vegetables; leafy fresh greens in particular are great. Good options include parsley, kale, spinach and romaine lettuce. Veg high in starch, such as potatoes should be avoided.

Vitamin C

A guinea pig should not be fed nuggets intended for rabbits. Guinea Pigs cannot make their own vitamin C and this can lead to conditions such as scurvy. You should therefore feed specialist guinea pig food in addition to hay/grass and vitamin C rich vegetables.

A rabbit that is left alone all day in a hutch or cage is unlikely to have a happy, healthy and fulfilling life. As a responsible owner there are a number of things that you can do to help to keep your rabbits healthy and we would love to share some of our tips with you…

Enrichment could be anything that helps to encourage your rabbit’s natural behaviour in the wild. You can make a number of toys at home that are inexpensive but can provide your bunnies with hours of fun.

Paper Bags

Rabbits love to dig and chew old paper bags. Try stuffing a brown paper bag with hay, sprinkle some healthy rabbit snacks inside the hay and let your bunny enjoy some good old foraging time. You will find your rabbit has a whale of a time digging and throwing the bag around in search of the tasty treats.

Cardboard boxes

Cardboard boxes also offer lots of fun. Some rabbits love a good old gnaw on the cardboard (just make sure it is not laminated or has any colour printing on it). Try cutting a hole in the side of a large cardboard box and then filling it with hay. Your bunny will enjoy using this as a bolt hole whilst eating his way through the hay. If you are really creative you could even try making an obstacle course out of cardboard boxes and plastic tubing.

Cardboard Tubes

The tubes from inside kitchen or toilet rolls can also be used. Try filling a tube with hay or vegetables and watch your bunny throw the tube around for hours. You can also hang them up so your rabbit needs to reach up to nibble on the hay.

Plastic Tubes

Plastic tubing can also be great fun. You may find you can get hold of some unwanted tubes from a local builder or building supplies store. Plastic tubes make super tunnels that your rabbits can hide in and explore. You need to make sure though that the tunnels are clean and free from sharp edges.

Strong Cardboard

If you find your house rabbit likes to gnaw on your furniture then you should try and get hold of some strong cardboard tubing, like the kind you get in the middle of a role of carpet. Your local carpet store may be happy to give you a tube for free. You can place this in the area your rabbit likes to chew, such as behind your sofa and allow him to chew on the tube instead, plus he will enjoy running through the tube and popping out the other end!

Digging Area

All rabbits love to dig, so why not try providing yours with a dedicated digging area. Fill a planter with soil and hide tasty treats or rabbit food under the surface.

There are lots of other things that you can do that will enrich your pet’s life so improvise. As long as the enrichment is safe and promotes the rabbit’s natural behaviour it will help to improve your rabbit’s quality of life. If you have any other suggestions please do share them with us…

A willow ball stuffed with Excel Fresh Forage is tasty and fun!

Did you know that similar to a cow your fibrevore (rabbit, guinea pig or chinchilla) ferments fibre to get its required daily nutrients? But of course your tiny little friend does not have the stomach capacity of a cow and so needs to operate a different system. This system is based on eating LITTLE and OFTEN, consuming sufficient quantities of fibre for good, healthy nutrition. But as with all living creatures, what goes in must come out…

Keeping your fibrevore’s digestive system moving is VITAL!

Fibrevores require 2 different types of fibre, which we call digestible and indigestible. Digestive fibre offers essential nutrients and the indigestible fibre keeps the digestive system moving. However, fibrevores cannot get all the nutrition they need from the fibre they eat as it passes through their gut. They therefore need to consume it again.

Have you ever noticed that your fibrevore has 2 types of dropping? The sticky droppings, often found in sticky clumps, are called caecotrophs. Your pet will actually eat these caecotrophs, from which they extract essential nutrition as the digestible fibre passes through their body for the second time. You have perhaps noticed that this happens mostly at night?

This behaviour evolved in the wild, where fibrevores eat little and often throughout the day, re-processing their caecotrophs when hidden away at night in their burrow.

The Burgess Excel range of rabbit food, guinea pig food and chinchilla food ensures that your fibrevore maintains good digestive health as it contains the optimum balance of vitamins, minerals, nutrients and added prebiotics whilst being high in beneficial fibre.

Your rabbits need to be offered the maximum amount of space possible to ensure they lead a happy life. If you have a large, secure garden then why not create a rabbit paddock for your rabbits? A rabbit paddock makes a great alternative to a hutch and run and offers your furry friends more of an opportunity to behave as they would in the wild.

Here are our tips on how to create a rabbit paddock:

• Corner off the desired area using picket fencing and mesh wire. Make sure that the fencing is placed up to half a meter below ground level so your rabbits have less of a chance of burrowing their way out. Make the height of the enclosure as high as possible – rabbits love to jump; a binkie is a sure fire way to know your rabbit is having fun!

• Make the area as big as possible. Around 7m square is a good minimum starting size. Cover it with mesh so it is predator proof.

• Think about the landscape of the paddock. If you can create it around a tree or shrub then fantastic. Rabbits are prey animals and will feel safe and secure if they have lots of places to hide. Make sure that the plants within the paddock are not harmful to rabbits. You can read up on this by clicking here.

• Place a hutch within the paddock where the rabbits can go to shelter, hide and sleep if they want to. If the space allows then a wooden wendy house or even a garden shed are a great alternative to a hutch.

• Grow some rabbit friendly food within the hutch. Rabbits love to nibble herbs, nettles and dandelions in addition to grass and hay. Get green-fingered and if you have children encourage them to do the same.

• Provide a digging area and lots of foraging toys – rabbits love to dig and forage. It is a natural behaviour which keeps them mentally stimulated. Fill a plastic container with soil or sand or hide snacks such as Excel Nature Snacks within a box full of hay.

If you have any other ideas you would like to share with us, or any photos of your rabbit paddock then please get in touch. We would love to hear from you!

There are two major health problems seen in rabbits which can be avoided if you feed a good diet and offer plenty of exercise in conjunction with regular health checks.

Dudley, enjoying his daily hay

Dental Problems

You rabbit’s teeth grow continuously throughout his life. They grow between 10-12cm each year. Vets report that three quarters of all rabbits that they see have problems with their teeth – the most common problem being overgrown molars and spurs which can cause extreme pain and in some cases, death.

This problem generally occurs because the rabbit is not eating sufficient amounts of hay on a daily basis. Hay is a naturally abrasive, fibre rich food that helps to wear down the teeth. By feeding sufficient amounts of Excel Herbage you can actively combat this problem.

Common symptoms are:

• Excessive drooling
• Loss of appetite

Check your rabbit’s teeth on a weekly basis and visit the vet for a dental check up every 6 months as you will struggle to check their back teeth.

Obesity

When a rabbit is kept as a pet it will probably be much less active than in the wild. Being overweight is therefore a big risk. Obesity puts pressure on the rabbit’s heart and joints and can create “bed sores” on the hind legs. Some obese rabbits find it hard to clean themselves and this can lead to flystrike. Also, if they cannot reach their bottoms they cannot re-ingest caecotrophs – the sticky droppings they need to eat as an essential aid to survival.

Prevention is better than the cure so make sure you ask your vet about your rabbit’s ideal weight. Have him weighed regularly to make sure he falls into the target weight range. And make sure your rabbit has as much time exercising outside the hutch as possible.

If your rabbits do become overweight you should seek the advice of your vet. Burgess Excel Light Nuggets are a calorie controlled food that may help.

You must never withhold food from your rabbit. Rabbits must always have fibre in their digestive systems at all times. If their digestive system stops moving, rabbits will die.

Burgess Pet Care are staunch advocates that no single rabbit food can be classed as “complete”.  A rabbit has a complex digestive system which requires two types of fibre; digestible and indigestible and to help owners  incorporate this fibre into their pet’s daily diet Burgess Pet Care created the Excel Five Step Feeding Plan.

The Excel Five Step Feeding Plan is the UK’s Number One vet recommended food for rabbits and provides them with the perfect daily balance of fibre and nutrients.

Step 1  - Excel Herbage and Forage

Burgess Excel premium quality hay and grass foods are high in fibre and should for the bulk of your rabbit’s daily diet. Hay and grass is especially good for your rabbit’s teeth as they chewing action required helps to grind down teeth. Did you know that a rabbit’s teeth are constantly growing and if allowed to become overgrown can be incredibly painful and can lead to fatal complications?

Step 2 – Excel Nuggets

Burgess Excel Nuggets contain 100% natural, wholesome ingredients and include added vitamins, minerals and prebiotics. They are NOT a muesli style mix; because each nugget looks and tastes the same they do not encourage selective eating.

Step 3 – Excel Nature Snacks

The Excel Nature Snacks are healthy and packed full of fibre. They are ideal for rabbits as they promote emotional healthy by preventing boredom. They can also help the owner and rabbit bond because they can be hand fed. They can be given daily because they are packed full of goodness using only natural ingredients.

Step 4 – Fresh Greens

Rabbits should be offered fresh greens on a daily basis because they provide fresh nutrients and variety. However, you should pay attention to which foods you offer and the quantity you are providing. Keep quantities small; about a teacup a day is enough for an adult Netherland Dwarf Rabbit, whilst a large/giant breed will require substantially more. Good examples of fresh greens include kale, spinach and savoy cabbage. Root veg including carrots are high in sugar and should only be given in small quantities as an occasional treat.

Step 5 – Fresh Water

Fresh water should be made available each and every day. Make sure you check the water bottle and remember that it can freeze when cold outside.

Burgess are proud to have worked some of the UK’s leading small animal experts, including Francis Harcourt-Brown in order to develop the Excel Five Step Feeding Plan and to educate rabbit owners that muesli style foods are simply not healthy or complete. We know that this education needs to continue to help ensure rabbits are fed correctly and have long and happy lives. Through Rabbit Awareness Week and our Fight for Fibre campaign we hope to make a better life for our nation’s third most popular pet.

Rabbits require two types of fibre in their diet, indigestible and digestible. To ensure they extract as much of the nutritional value from their food as they can they re-ingest it, meaning it passes through their digestive system twice. Failure to provide the right kind of fibre can lead to illness or even death.

That’s why muesli type foods are such a problem. Rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas can become fussy eaters and will eat sweet foods as a way to get a glucose fix. As a result, they can pick out the unhealthy elements of the muesli and leave the rest.

This is called selective feeding and will inevitably lead to an imbalanced diet lacking in calcium, phosphorous and Vitamin D. Above all, this behaviour can lead to a lack of fibre. When taken with the fact that muesli type foods are commonly low in fibre to begin with, the problem is compounded.

Finally, the ingredients in muesli are high in sugar and starch. These are difficult for rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas to digest and can lead to health problems and obesity. For example, rabbits eat caecotrophs from their bottoms – obese rabbits often cannot reach the caecotrops which can lead to malnutrition.

No single rabbit food can be describes as complete. That is why we have created the Excel Five Step feeding plan, which encourages Hay (Excel Herbage/Forage), Nuggets, Nature Snacks, Fresh Veg and Fresh Water. For more information click here.

In the wild, rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas have a naturally fibrous diet consisting mainly of grass, with occasional herbs, twigs and bark. However, none of these natural foods are particularly rich in nutrients, which is why these animals have evolved specifically to be able to digest fibrous foods and extract all the nutrients they need.  It is therefore essential that as pets these animals are provided with the right diet.

That is why we have called these pets “Fibrevores”, as this name reflects their nutritional needs. The wrong diet will lead to health problems for these pets and can be fatal.

Rabbit, grazing in the wild

What is often not understood is that Fibrevores need two types of fibre in their diets – digestible and indigestible fibre. Burgess Excel call the correct ratio of these two types of fibre “Beneficial Fibre”.

The Burgess Excel Feeding Plan has been designed to offer your Fibrevore the perfect daily balance of fibre and nutrition. To find out more about the Excel Feeding plan please click here.

I just wanted to let you know how much my rabbit, Fudge, and my piggies, Jack, Jack junior & George enjoy the Excel food.  They have recently tried the new blackcurrant guinea pig food and seem to enjoy this just as much.  I wanted to attach a photo for you!  We only live in Hull so might come and have a look at the show in Harrogate next year.

Dear Naomi

Very many thanks for my huuuge treat box filled with all my favourite nibbles.

The box included far more than I ever could have expected and I feel this is extremely generous of Burgess.

Miss Una Bunny

I will look forward to eating them all – and try not to lose my perfect photogenic figure in the process!

Thank You

Your photographic model runner-up

Miss Una Bunny