The Good: Nutritious for rabbits, Relatively inexpensive, My rabbit loves it, Packaging keeps it fresh
The Bad: There are larger, more environmentally sound packages.
The Basics: My little rabbit Rowe chooses Vita-Vittles Pet Rabbit food over fresh greens, hay and other store-bought rabbit foods, making it a perfect rabbit food.
As loyal readers of my Pets reviews know, right before Easter, my wife and I got a new addition to our family, a little rabbit named Rowe. Rowe started out as a little energetic handful who distracted me while I wrote by climbing along the heat vents and getting behind everything in my work room. Now, she is big enough that I only feel comfortable picking her up with two hands and I attribute that, in part, to a steady diet which has included LM Animal Farms Vita-Vittles Pet Rabbit Diet.
Vita-Vittles Pet Rabbit Diet is a pet food for rabbits and I originally balked at buying rabbit food at all, but have come to see the value of Vita-Vittles both in my rabbit's health and growth and in my rabbit's happiness. My partner and I live at a house that has pretty extensive gardens outside, so every morning, Rowe gets a very full bowl of dandelions. This seems to satisfy her tastebuds, but it wasn't until my partner - who has had rabbits before - started feeding Rowe hay each day and the Vita-Vittles that our little bunny exploded in size and with energy. While Rowe initially seemed content to chew only on dandelions and hay, from the moment we added the Vita-Vittles to her diet, she has held out for having that food dish refilled!
Vita-Vittles initially appear to be a very standard pellet-style rabbit food. Most of the food in the little five pound bag is cylindrical, manufactured pellets in a brown-olive green color, averaging 3/8" long and 1/8" in diameter. The rabbit nibbles these and sucks them in and so long as one keeps a dish filled with them, the rabbit always has food and they are able to feed themselves whenever they get hungry.
What separates Vita-Vittles from other rabbit foods is the addition of dried corn and "Vita-Bits." These colorful pieces - the dried corn is individual corn kernels, the Vita-Bits are 3/8" diameter discs and blobs in yellow, orange and green - are mixed in with the standard rabbit pellets and offer an easy visual contrast to the regular food. They are also just like the marshmallows in Lucky Charms are for children, with greater nutritional content. Rowe picks the Vita-Bits and corn out of the Vita-Vittles first and, truth be told, she does it rather rapidly the moment we pour her food into her dish, even if she has just eaten fresh greens or hay.
So, Vita-Vittles easily passes the muster of our rabbit's taste test. She shows a clear preference to Vita-Vittles over the Purina Rabbit Chow we purchased in bulk.
Nutritionally, the Vita-Bits seem to give Rowe additional vitamins and minerals which the standard pellets lack. Vitamins like D3 and B12 are apparently necessary to a rabbit's health and growth, but not in the same quantities as the nutrients which the rabbit gets from things like wheat middlings, dehulled soybean meal, and dehydrated alfalfa meal (which are the primary ingredients in this rabbit food). The nutritionally balanced formula of LM Animal Farms Vita-Vittles Pet Rabbit Food which has a guaranteed analysis which includes at least 17% crude protein and 2% crude fat, but no more than 16% crude fiber and 12% moisture allows rabbits who have room to exercise and play to grow rapidly, without becoming obese. In fact, combined with a diet of fresh greens and hay, Vita-Vittles makes for a very balanced diet and our not-so-little Rowe is proof positive of that!
It is exceptionally important that rabbits who are fed Vita-Vittles Pet Rabbit food have constant access to clean, clear water as this is a dry food. It is also worth noting that Vita-Vittles is noted to possibly contain peanut dust, so those humans with a peanut allergy may have to consider their own health when feeding this food to their rabbit.
Rather nicely, LM Farms Vita-Vittles Pet Rabbit food does not require any special care or handling. This rabbit food is dispensed from the bag into a dish for the rabbit with no preparation steps necessary. The five pound bag is resealable, which keeps the food fresh. While the package notes that for extended storage it may be refrigerated, the five pound bag's contents do not seem to go bad without refrigeration, even after a month (which has depleted our bag about a quarter of the way.
So, when asking the question "What should I feed my rabbit?" (or bunny!), LM Farms Vita-Vittles makes for a solid choice both for a pet rabbit's nutrition and taste needs.
For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
Pets International Clearwater Bottle
Super Pet Flat-Bac 16 oz. Water Bottle
Kaytee Fiesta Gourmet Food For Rabbits
9/10
For other pet products, please check out my index page!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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