Showing posts with label Rabbit Product Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rabbit Product Review. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Daisy Denies That The Carnival Crops Veggie Wedges Are Delicious, Sinking Them Completely!


The Good: Inexpensive, Made with decent ingredients
The Bad: Daisy refused to eat them, which says quite a bit!
The Basics: Critter Ware's Veggie Wedge two-pack is given the cold shoulder by Daisy, completely sinking the product!


Daisy, as my review of the Combo Chews ( here!) illustrates, loves cecil and loofa-based treats. So, when I was recently buying treats for my animal children, I figured the Carnival Crops Veggie Wedge two-pack was a pretty safe bet. After all, Daisy loves loofa treats and the other part of the treat reminded me of the Critter Cubes (reviewed here!) she enjoys. This safe bet, however, has turned out not to be. Daisy has studiously avoided the Veggie Wedges for the past two months, making it quite clear that she is not a fan.

The Veggie Wedge pack consists of a pair of treats that are half loofa, half compressed alfalfa, seagrass and corn meal. The two wedges look roughly like orange slices with the loufa being the rind. The half-circle wedge is 2 1/2" long by 1 1/4" wide and ¾” thick. The loofa and grass treats are designed to be played with and chewed by small animals. After taking one small nibble on the compressed grass portion when it was first put in her cage, Daisy has not returned to have more of this “treat” again.

With a guaranteed analysis that declares this treat has at least 5/7% crude protein and .9% fat, but no more than 47.9% fiber and 2.5% moisture, there is nothing bad in these treats. Despite the nutritional benefits, the fact that Daisy will not snack on this even when her bowl is empty and she clearly wants food makes it a moot point.

The Veggie Wedge is entirely safe for rabbits and help foster healthy teeth and gums. Or, it would if Daisy actually used it. Given how she refuses to play with or eat this, the Veggie Wedge is a vastly better theory than it is an execution, making it impossible to recommend.

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
Ware Manufacturing 30" Chew Proof Rabbit Cage
Super Pets Natural Lava Block Chew Toy
LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food

1/10

For other pet product reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Daisy Is Already Getting Into Her Super Pet Natural Lava Block Chew!


The Good: Great for rabbit teeth, Fits perfectly on the Treat-K-Bob, Inexpensive
The Bad: Daisy ignores the wood pieces entirely.
The Basics: Super Pet's Natural Lava Block is a worthwhile chew that it keeping my rabbit occupied even now!


A few days ago, I was out picking Myah up some treats and I am, truth be told, the type of pet parent who tries to keep things even between all my “kids.” So, in addition to picking up some treats for our cat, Gollum, I went shopping for something special for my most finicky family member. That would be Daisy, our black dwarf rabbit. On the advice of a sales person at the local pet shop – who also has a dwarf rabbit – I bought her the Super Pet Natural Lava Block for her Treat-K-Bob (reviewed here!).

The Natural Lava Block pack consists of a single block that essentially resembles a pumice stone. The gray cube is 1 3/4" on all six sides with 3/4" wooden treats stuck to four of the sides. The wooden treats are small squares and hearts that the rabbit, presumably, chews upon after they are done with the primary block. Daisy is not. In fact, even as she has shredded her Lava Block (with enough rapidity that I have some issue with calling this a value!), she has studiously ignored the wood pieces in her cage. And Daisy is a girl who usually loves sticks! The Lava Block is easily mounted on the Treat-K-Bob as it has a single hole through the center that easily fit on the metal dowel.

This is defined on the packaging as a treat, but I think it occupies a weird place between treat and toy as Daisy happily knocks it around to keep herself interested in the Natural Lava Block in addition to consuming it.

The Natural Lava Block is entirely safe for rabbits and help foster healthy teeth and gums. Because Daisy really attacks this, it is very easy to recommend, but there is not much to say about it. Daisy pulverizes it such that it becomes a fine dust which she leaves in discrete piles within her cage. I tend to clean it up with her litter and that’s it. Daisy’s oral health is maintained well utilizing the Natural Lava Block and given that her existence is basically the limits of her cage while I clean up our house for the move, I feel pretty good about the expense to help her break up the monotony of her daily life.

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
Ware Manufacturing 30" Chew Proof Rabbit Cage
Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes
LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food

8/10

For other pet product reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage Has Been A Home To Both Our Rabbits!


The Good: Durable, Easy to clean, Fairly comfortable for rabbits
The Bad: Door bends fairly easily
The Basics: Both Rowe and Daisy lived happily in the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage, making it very easy to recommend!


I try to provide some balance with my pet product reviews, despite the fact that I have vastly more dog product and cat product reviews than I have reviews of products for rabbits. So, today as I was considering what I might write about, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I had not yet reviewed the cage my rabbit lives in. In fact, both the late Rowe and Daisy, the rabbit I have now, shared the same cage. Both rabbits occupied (at different times) the same Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage.

The Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage is a metal wire style cage that measures 30” long by 16” tall by 17 1/4” deep. The sides of the 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage are white and they are powder-coated, which resists chipping off or other wear when a rabbit chews upon it. This style of cage features a pull-out tray (3/4” deep) underneath a fine grate with a much higher gauge wire and 1/2" spaces between them. This is the surface upon which the rabbit sleeps and it is too narrow for them to stick their toes in between.

The cage is accessible by a door in the front of the cage. The door folds down and gives you and your rabbit access to the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage. The door makes it fairly easy to clean the cage and to feed your rabbit additional food. The door on the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage moves easily, but it also warps fairly easily. After about a year of opening and closing the cage daily, the door on our cage has begun to warp and no longer lays in a single plane when it is open or closed.

In a similar fashion, the grate at the bottom of the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage wears and warps over the years (mine has been in pretty steady use for three years now). However, even with the warping and wear of the bottom grate, the tray at the bottom of the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage easily slides in and out of the main cage. This allows one to easily change the litter or paper in the tray below, upon which the rabbit urinates and poops. The grate may easily be cleaned off with an old toothbrush, which breaks off any stuck-on rabbit poop. The nice thing about the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage is that its steel construction will not rust, making it exceptionally easy to clean.

The wire frame of the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage has slats and supports that appear to be of a standardized distance. I have used support products from several different manufacturers and they all easily fit in the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage.

Ultimately, the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage is an easy-to-use, simple rabbit house that is easy to accessorize. Both Rowe and now Daisy seem to love living in the Ware Manufacturing 30” Chew Proof Rabbit Cage.

For other rabbit care products, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Ware Manufacturing Treat-K-Bob
Chin-Chiller
Ware Salt Licks

8/10

For other pet product reviews, be sure to visit my Pet Product Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the pet products I have reviewed!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Monday, May 14, 2012

Our Two Reviewing Rabbits Love Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes!


The Good: Rabbits LOVE them, Very healthy, Inexpensive in bulk
The Bad: None that I can find
The Basics: Both Daisy and Rowe found Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes to be the ideal, store-bought, rabbit treat.


The two rabbits I have had have been completely different. Outside the fact that my wife wanted them, it would be virtually impossible to confuse Daisy – our tiny black dwarf rabbit who we’ve had for well over a year and a half – and the late Rowe, a bigger brown and black rabbit who was only in our life for six months, but delighted us and chased around our cat, Gollum. Whereas Rowe loved Timothy Hay (reviewed here!) and despised Bermuda Grass (reviewed here!), Daisy becomes absolutely manic for Bermuda Grass and loathes Timothy Hay. The two rabbits seldom agree on anything (even though they never met).

Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes are one of the few things that both rabbits share an absolute love for. We only bought Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes once for Rowe, but she loved them and when we got Daisy, they were the first treat that Daisy exhibited a strong preference for. While both rabbits share a love of freshly picked dandelions, Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes is the only store-bought rabbit treat both rabbits consume with eagerness and a consistent delight. That makes Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes perfect in my book!

The Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes are such a simple treat, it is almost surprising how much both rabbits love them. Sun Seed Critter Cubes are, as their name implies, small cube-like treats that are super-compressed ingredients that the rabbits must gnaw on to access. The average block of Critter Cubes is 3/4" long by 1/2" tall by 1/2” wide. Unlike many blocks or cubes for small animal consumption, the Sun Seed Critter Cubes are smooth. Their edges are also slightly rounded, so there is no danger that your small animals will cut their gums on them.

Whenever I put the Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes in Daisy’s food dish, she runs right over for them. Who would have guessed that a treat made primarily of ground yellow corn, soybean meal and ground wheat could be so enticing to little mammals? Apparently, Vitakraft figured it out! I have no problem giving these to Daisy as there is nothing bad in them (though the ingredient list becomes an odd mix of vitamins and preservatives near the end that, frankly, I cannot decipher). Despite the preservatives, these are very healthy for rabbits. With their guaranteed analysis indicating that Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes have at least 22% crude protein and 6% fat, and no more than 15% moisture, these are a treat that one can be proud and happy to feed their small animal.

Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes are available in many forms, the most common online appears to be a 2 lb. bag. A 2 lb. bag would last me quite a while; I get Daisy these cubes in bulk at a local pet store and mix them in with her regular food (though, I do believe that she would be just as happy to eat only these!). Because Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes are such a dry food, it is highly recommended that you have an adequate water supply available for your rabbit when you give them these.

If your rabbits are like Daisy and Rowe (who, frankly, could not be more different for both being rabbits!), then they will love Vitakraft Sun Seed Critter Cubes!

For other rabbit treats, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Peter's Nature Treats Apple Slices
Penn-Plax Pumice Chews For Small Animals
Combo Chews

10/10

For other pet supply products, be sure to visit my Pet Product Review Page for an organized listing of all the pet products I have reviewed!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sunday, March 4, 2012

LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food Is An Average Staple Food For Pet Rabbits.


The Good: Nutritious for rabbits, Relatively inexpensive, My rabbit eats it, Packaging keeps it fresh
The Bad: Not at all the most exciting food/never Daisy’s first choice.
The Basics: LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food is a decent staple food for rabbits, but not a food that is going to excite your beloved bunny!


It takes a lot to love Daisy. Daisy, for those who are not regular readers, is the black dwarf rabbit my wife and I bought two Octobers ago to replace our beloved rabbit Rowe, who was with us for way too short a time. Unfortunately, Daisy was pregnant when we bought her (unbeknownst to her or the pet shop from which we bought her). Following giving birth to a stillborn two Christmases ago, Daisy became irritable, handshy and an all-around pain in the ass. Still, I try to get her treats and good rabbit food. When I am feeling cheap or unloved by Daisy, I get her LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food.

There is nothing wrong with LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food; it’s just comparatively inexpensive and wholly bland. LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food is just a dry pellet food and Daisy eats it, but it is never her first choice.

LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food are a very simple pet food, devoid of any flash or flavors. The five pound bag runs us about five dollars locally and the food itself are gray pellets that look like compressed meal. The pellets are roughly cylindrical and are 1/8” in diameter. They are, at longest, half an inch long and many of them are broken to be quite a bit smaller. LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food easily passes the muster of our rabbit's taste test. By that, I mean that our finicky Daisy eats them. She also eats the Purina Rabbit Chow we purchased in bulk when we have that, but she is never enthusiastic about either.

Nutritionally, the LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food gives Daisy very basic nutrients. The pellet food is made primarily of wheat middlings, soybean hulls, and dehydrated alfalfa meal. The food has a guaranteed analysis which includes at least 13% crude protein and 3% crude fat, but no more than 22% crude fiber and 12% moisture. Daisy's size and shape have not changed significantly since we started feeding her this food.

It is exceptionally important that rabbits who are fed LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food Pet Rabbit food have constant access to clean, clear water as this is a dry food. It is also worth noting that LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food 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 Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food Pet Rabbit food does not require any special care or handling. This rabbit food is dispensed from the five pound bag into a dish for the rabbit with no preparation steps necessary. The bag is resealable, but I am at a loss as to how one would know when this is not fresh!

LM Animal Farms Classic Pet Rabbit Food may be boring, but it keeps Daisy alive and that’s an essential element of any pet food. This is an excellent staple, but nothing more.

For other rabbit foods and treats, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
KT Bermuda Grass
Vita-Vittles Rabbit Food
Kaytee Fiesta Gourmet Food For Rabbits

5/10

For other pet supply reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Monday, January 23, 2012

Peter’s Nature Treats Apple Slices For Rabbits Are A Decent, But Baffling, Treat For Rabbits.


The Good: Daisy loves them, Very healthy.
The Bad: Vastly more expensive than the human equivalent
The Basics: Save your money on Peter’s Nature Treats Apple Slices; you can get bulk food apple slices for your rabbit for far less money!


A few days ago, I had to pick up dog and cat food and I zipped out during my lunch hour to pick it up from our local pet supply store. I went there because I like supporting small businesses and they were cool enough to send me a coupon good for money off my entire purchase and I was in a super-thrifty mood that day. But as I loaded the cart up with goodies for Myah and Gollum, I thought of poor Daisy. Daisy unexpectedly enjoyed her Fruit Chews (reviewed here!) that I picked up for her for the recent holiday. But, I felt bad that I was getting stuff for the other two animals, but not Daisy. So, I grabbed a bag of Peter’s Nature Treats Apple Slices for Daisy, hoping she might like them.

Daisy loves them.

Daisy is a two year-old black dwarf rabbit who has been irritable for about a year now. She became asocial when, on the first Christmas she was part of our family, she abruptly had a stillborn. My wife was irked at the pet shop (ironically, the same one I picked up the Apple Slices at), whereas I was just happy to finally have proof that Daisy was a girl. Since then, though, Daisy has been rather handshy and skittish and I have felt bad. My solution to her behavior – which requires us to keep her in her cage most of the time – is to express affection through treats. On that front, the Peter’s Nature Treats Apple Slices certainly deliver!

Peter’s Nature Treats Apple Slices are exactly what their name implies. The 1 oz. orange plastic bag houses approximately twenty dried apple slices of various sizes and shapes. They are universally about 1/8” thick and an almost orange color. They are soft and they smell only faintly like apples. The moment I remove one from its bag and present it to Daisy, our handshy rabbit will bound over – in her cage or when she is out on the floor – and grab it away from us. When she starts chewing one of these Apple Slices, she does not stop until she is finished, even if she has to carry the Apple Slice to another room!

With only dehydrated apples as an ingredient, Peter’s Nature Treats Apple Slices are 100% natural and are great for the nutrition of a rabbit. With a minimum of 1% crude protein and crude fat and no more than 8% crude fiber and 18% moisture, Peter’s Nature Treats Apple Slices are remarkably good for rabbits. Rather surprisingly, the sealed bag would last a little over a year, as the bag I recently purchased has an expiration date of February 2013! While being very good for rabbits, I have noticed that Daisy hits the water pretty hard as soon as she is done devouring one of these treats, so I highly recommend making sure your rabbit has an adequate water source available to them prior to giving them these Apple Slices.

So, if these are so healthy and Daisy loves them so much, why am I so down on Peter’s Nature Treats Apple Slices? It’s all about the money. Peter’s Nature Treats Apple Slices run $4.50 for a 1 oz. bag at my local pet store. I was in a hurry when I bought them; I was on my lunch break and my boss is pretty . . . loud about workers who take more than the thirty minutes they are allotted. So, I grabbed something I thought she might like and I got back to work. But $4.50 for 1 oz. of dehydrated apples?! Was I crazy?! Is Peter’s? For $8.99 at the local grocery store where they have an awesome bulk food section, I can get a full pound of dried apples. Yes, for the price of two bags (less, because as a human food, I wouldn’t be charged tax!), I can get Daisy eight times as much of the treat she loves. Why would I ever pay for this version again?

The answer, of course, is that I will not. But if you don’t have a great grocery store like Wegman’s around you – or if the price of bulk dried apples is ridiculously expensive where you are – I could see why Peter’s Natural Treats Apple Slices would be a good idea. Daisy loved them and with how they make her momentarily sociable, these could be a great treat for your rabbit as well!

For other rabbit treats, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
KT Bermuda Grass
Ware Salt Licks
LM Timothy Hay

4/10

For other pet products, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Daisy Surprised Us By Absolutely Loving The Penn-Plax Pumice Chews!


The Good: Daisy loves them, Great for the dental health of rabbits, Inexpensive enough
The Bad: Difficult to attach to the cage/keep attached
The Basics: For the winter holiday, Daisy received a package of Penn-Plax Pumice Chews which she immediately indicated were a preferred treat of hers!


With the holidays behind us, one of the true delights for me is how I get to bring joy to the lives of others. This holiday season, I think I might have only brought real joy to my wife and to Daisy, our pet bunny. With my frequent reviews of products for Myah – our new Siberian Husky – and Gollum – our little black cat – it is pretty easy for my readers to forget we even have a rabbit. And yet, Daisy has been with us over a year now and on Christmas Eve, she was very social with my mother-in-law and my hope is that Daisy has come back alive as a pet. For the past year – since she gave birth to a stillborn last Christmas Day – Daisy has been antisocial and sullen. Yet, I knew my wife and I were spoiling one another, Gollum and Myah, so I made sure to pick Daisy up some holiday treats as well.

The new treat for Daisy was the Penn-Plax Pumice Chews. Honestly, I saw them when I was at the pet store, they were on sale and they were less expensive than the spongy gourd-like luffa treats Daisy likes that I had planned to buy her. I opted for these because they were cheap, looked a lot like the other things Daisy likes and because I recalled that it was Rowe who did not like salt licks (reviewed here!). I figured this might be a happy medium between the luffa treats and a salt lick.

It is a rare thing I get to say in relation to Daisy (or any other pet), but I was right! Daisy immediately went for the Pumice Chew when I put it in her cage, even before she sniffed the block food that she has loved consistently since we picked her up! Before bed on Christmas, I checked in on Daisy and she had about one-fourth of the Chew left, making this an instant hit with her. When I moved the remaining fragment from the floor of her cage to her bowl, she leaped for it immediately and continued eating it!

Penn-Plax sells their Pumice Chews on a blister pack with four chews. Each pack comes with one each of a white, red, orange and yellow chew. The Pumice Chews are hard, rough blocks 3/4” tall and 1 3/4” wide. They are octagonal and have a 7/16” hole through their centers. They smell like apple and strawberry, though any scent from them fades pretty fast. By the second day of having the package open, the scent from the remaining Pumice Chews was virtually imperceptible. Daisy’s first experience was with a white one.

Also on each blister card is a plastic hook that looks like a little claw. The green plastic claw is 1 7/8” long by 1 1/4” wide by 1/2” thick. It has two parts. The front is essentially a pincer and that allows one to clip a single block to the clip through the hole in the center of each Chew. The back end is ribbed to allow one to attach the clip inside a bunny’s cage to allow the rabbit to chew the Chew from a raised position. I quickly discovered that the bars of Daisy’s cage were spread too far apart for this to work. So, I simply clipped the treat to the clip after I had already put the clip through a bar. This worked just fine.

With a Pumice Chew affixed firmly to the clip, sit back and watch your rabbit attack the Pumice Chew! Daisy seemed to gnaw at the Chew exclusively, though the packaging says some rabbits will scratch at it. Either way, this provides dental cleaning for small animals and Daisy was so vigorous with hers that her teeth are very clean, even a day later!

The Pumice Chew is just like a pumice stone one uses on their feet in terms of composition. The small animal gnaws at it and it powerderizes. This leaves a very fine powder at the bottom of the cage that does not seem to harm rabbits at all. However, the process of gnawing this toy/treat apart is often vigorous and this should be used in conjunction with water. Make sure your rabbit has plenty of water whenever you provide them with a Pumice Chew!

The only other note for the Pumice Chews is this: when your rabbit gets though a significant portion of the chew, it will fall off the clip. When that happens, the clip should be removed from the cage, lest your rabbit chew on the clip. While the Pumice Chew is fine for rabbits, the plastic clip can be very bad for a rabbit who gets bored and chews or consumes it. The Pumice Chew need not be attached to anything for the rabbit to enjoy, especially when it gets smaller from the rabbit playing with/eating it. As a result, it should be fine to remove the plastic clip whenever the Pumice Chew is no longer in it.

The Penn-Plax Pumice Chews bought me a second great day with my Daisy, which is a gift after a pretty irksome year with the girl! With the promise of more good days to come, this becomes a very easy product for me to recommend for rabbit owners who have a finicky little friend in their midst!

For other rabbit treats, please visit my reviews of:
Combo Chews
Ware Manufacturing Treat-K-Bob
KT Bermuda Grass

9/10

For other pet product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Daisy's Mixed-Bag Treat: The Super Pet Combo Chew Is Half Amazing, Half Worthless!




The Good: The loofah pieces, Fits perfectly on the Treat-K-Bob
The Bad: Daisy does not use the apple wood sticks at all.
The Basics: Super Pet's Combo Chew pack for small animals is only half used by my rabbit Daisy, making it a tougher sell than I would have liked.


As many of my loyal readers know, my wife and I have a dog, a cat (previously two) and a rabbit. Back in October, we suffered a real emotional setback when our rabbit, Rowe, died unexpectedly. But before Thanksgiving, my wife expressed a desire to add a rabbit back into our family and we picked up Daisy. When we did, I was eager to make sure we were treating Daisy well and not simply comparing her to Rowe. For me, part of the differentiation (despite Rowe being a brown and white mini-lop and Daisy being a little black dwarf rabbit) was in getting Daisy some new toys to play with. The first one we bought for her was the Super Pet Combo Chew pack for her Treat-K-Bob (reviewed here!).

The Combo Chew pack consists of sixteen pieces, eight of which are apple wood sticks, eight of which are loofah bits. Both the apple wood sticks and the loofah bits feature a 1/8" hole in the center so they may be easily mounted on the Treat-K-Bob. All of the sticks and loofah bits in ours easily fit on the metal dowel when we tried (though only eight at a time would fit given the Treat-K-Bob's length).

The apple wood sticks are the problem with the Combo Chew pack. The apple wood sticks are 3" long by 1/4" in diameter sticks made of apple wood. These are designed to help rabbits enjoy gnawing, which keeps their teeth from growing to an uncomfortable length for them. While Daisy is not much of a chewer, she has exhibited a strong antipathy toward chewing on the apple wood dowels. Instead, she chews cardboard, wood trim and a box we have in her cage with her, all of which are as thick or thicker than the apple wood sticks.

What saves this product are the loofah pieces. The pack comes with eight natural loofah pieces. Each one is a 1" by 1" square in a puzzle piece shape. They are brightly colored in individual colors, like yellow, red, blue, green and orange, which make them very easy to find. For some strange reason, Daisy has gnawed apart almost the entire green and blue ones, while playing more with the ones on the red/yellow end of the color spectrum. These loofah gourd puzzle pieces interlock to form a box, which Daisy enjoys tossing around and tearing apart (it can easily be rebuilt) and she has gotten hours of play and snack value out of them. When they get wet, they dry in a larger shape and Daisy enjoyed playing with the puffed up versions as well!

Both treat/toys are entirely safe for rabbits and help foster healthy teeth and gums. But because Daisy won't touch half of the contents of this pack, it is hard to enthusiastically recommend it. If one has a rabbit more into chewing, perhaps the apple wood dowels would make this a value. As it is, it's half a hit with Daisy and if I look to get her more, it will just be more loofah snack/toys and not this pack.

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
The Chin-Chiller
KT Bermuda Grass
Lixit Hay Rack

5/10

For other pet product reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Monday, December 6, 2010

A Final Tribute To Rowe: The Treat-K-Bob Endures For Many Rabbits!


The Good: Inexpensive, Durable, Simple
The Bad: Rusting already
The Basics: The Treat-K-Bob is an entertainment system for rabbits and small animals that is surprisingly cool!


Some months ago, the first rabbit that my wife and I had, Rowe, died abruptly – probably from an infection from a fight she had with our cat, Gollum. Since then, we’ve been in mourning and while I’ve been cautious about opening up again, my wife decided yesterday that she wanted a new furry friend. This is probably, in part, because I will be away so much with my new job starting next week. Either way, yesterday, Daisy came into our lives and one may expect a few new rabbit product reviews forthcoming then. Last night, though, as I pulled out all of the stuff we still had from Rowe in order to accommodate Daisy, I discovered there was a product that I had not yet reviewed of Rowe’s! That was the Treat-K-Bob from Ware Manufacturing.

The Treat-K-Bob is an exceptionally simple device, almost deceptively simple. It is a 6” long contraption which is basically a metal dowel with a clasp on one end and a bell on the other. It is made entirely of stainless steel and its purpose is clear: the Treat-K-Bob is designed to hold rabbit toys suspended so the rabbit may play and gnaw objects held on there and enjoy ringing the bell. I still remember Rowe ringing the bell at two or three in the morning as she would play at night.

The clasp end of the Treat-K-Bob is a 1” loop which has a twist clasp. Opening the clasp allows one to hang the Treat-K-Bob up over the crossbars in a standard rabbit cage. To insure it stays there, simply twist the clasp closed. No matter how vigorously a rabbit plays with the Treat-K-Bob, it will not come off the cage, unless the rabbit actually manages to break the cage. That is a very low risk.

The bottom of the Treat-K-Bob has a similar clasp. This allows the pet owner to remove the bell and the support disc at the bottom. Removing those two things makes the Treat-K-Bob into a pretty simple metal dowel upon which rabbit toys may be placed. Ware Manufacturing includes three wooden blocks which are brightly colored to go on the Treat-K-Bob and most manufacturers have toys which have holes in them so they may be placed on the Treat-K-Bob. When the goodies or toys – like the salt licks I reviewed here! – are on the Treat-K-Bob, simply twist the reclasp the bottom of the device onto the main dowel and, like the top, the rabbit will not be able to get it apart.

Rowe played with her Treat-K-Bob for the six months she was alive and last night, Daisy began playing with it, too. This is very durable and as long as one has blocks or other toys to put on it, rabbits actually seem to love playing with it!

My only note against the Treat-K-Bob was that there was some rust on Rowe’s and that surprised me. I suspect some of that came from being packed away, but the idea that the device could rust is troubling. Even so, this is a great, simply toy that will keep rabbits playing for as long as they have too much energy!

For other rabbit product reviews, please check out my takes on:
The Chin-Chiller
Pets International Long John Litter Tray
Vita-Vittles Rabbit Food

6/10
For other pet product reviews, be sure to visit my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Yes, It's A Little Marble Or Granite Block, But It Keeps Out Rabbit Cool, The Chin-Chiller Works!




The Good: It works, Generally inexpensive, Easy to clean, Durable
The Bad: A little smaller than I'd like.
The Basics: Near perfect for rabbits, the Chin-Chiller could be a little bigger, but offers a cooling surface for rabbits in their cage!


Yesterday, as I tried to pay homage to my little rabbit, Rowe, I made sure to get all of the reviews I had written off the site I am evacuating and into my blog. The only rabbit product review that did not get reposted on Rowe's death date was this one, the Chin-Chiller. Yesterday, as I cleaned out Rowe's cage while my wife was at work, I found myself considering this very simple device and it felt ridiculously cold in my hands. It was so solid and real and it left me thinking about the absence of little Rowe. If I had been more together yesterday, perhaps I would have buried the Chin-Chiller with Rowe as this quickly became her very favorite place to stay. Rowe would probably have rated this as a perfect product, she loved it so much. But I watched the way she would slide on it at times and the way her forepaws eventually hung over the edge because she got so big. I found myself wishing it were larger so Rowe could have been more comfortable on it. That's the only real drawback of this product. So, as I say good-bye to Rowe almost exactly a day after she passed on, I'm enthusiastically recommending the Chin-Chiller even if it is not a perfect fit for rabbits. I'm also opting not to change the original language of the review any farther. Thanks for reading!

As my wife and I get used to having a rabbit as a part of our family, we continue to find new (to us) products that quickly become indispensable to us. As poor Rowe, our mini-rex rabbit began to overheat in her cage, we went searching for something to keep her cooler. We discovered the Chin-Chiller, a product designed to keep rabbits, chinchillas and other small animals cool under the exact same circumstances as our Rowe has been suffering from.

The Chin-Chiller is a simple polished granite block. It is a 10" long by 6" wide by 1/2" thick white and black speckled granite block that is designed to cool small animals down by virtue of it simply being a rock that takes a lot to raise the temperature of. It may seem like a somewhat ridiculous idea, but it works. After about three hours from the first time we put our Chin-Chiller in the rabbit's cage, Rowe was flopped out on it, lounging comfortably. It has quickly become her favorite bedding area and during the hottest parts of the day, we find her there looking comfortable and relaxed.

There is no mystery to the Chin-Chiller: it is a granite slab. When Rowe first received it, she would still bathroom near it, but now she is very careful not to poop or urinate on the Chin-Chiller. There's nothing truly bad that happens when she does her business there; the Chin-Chiller is easy to clean off because it is polished to be nonporous. As a result, anything that gets on the Chin-Chiller may be easily wiped off with a warm, wet cloth.

The only real gripe I have about the Chin-Chiller, which is inexpensive when one considers the ability it has to keep small animals cool, happy and alive, is the size. As the name suggests, this product is ideally intended for chinchillas. As such, it is a little small for our rabbit, Rowe. Ideally, we would need two of these next to one another to get the full benefit for Rowe, but then we would also need a larger cage, given how much space these take up.

The packaging for the Chin-Chiller recommended getting two and freezing whichever one is not currently in use to have a reliably cold Chin-Chiller available at all times. I tried this with the one we had with Rowe and she would not throw herself atop the Chin-Chiller until it was a little bit warmer than freezing, so this might not be the ideal way to entice every animal.

That said, the Chin-Chiller is a ridiculously simple product that actually works exactly as it is supposed to. Who could ask for anything more?

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
Cozy 'N Fresh Pellet Litter
KT Bermuda Grass
Apple/Carrot Salt And Trace Mineral Lick

7/10

For other pet product reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

It Might Have Nutrition, But If My Rabbit Won't Eat It, It's Hard To Care!




The Good: (Apparently) nutritious
The Bad: Clumps too tightly, My rabbit refuses to eat it.
The Basics: When my rabbit, who usually tries anything once, avoided Kaytee Bermuda Grass, it became impossible for me to recommend it to others!


Since my wife and I added to our home - in the form of our little rabbit Rowe - I've been learning quite a bit about rabbits. In addition to being fluffy and cute, it is surprising what they will and will not eat. Rowe eats fresh dandelions, but not strawberries. She eats celery leaves, but not the stalks. And our rabbit Rowe eats Timothy Hay, NOT Bermuda Grass.

A few weeks back when our initial supply of Timothy Hay ran out, my wife and I eagerly went to the store to find more. There, we found Kaytee Bermuda Grass. My wife, still eager to spoil Rowe, picked up a bag of the dried grass and we brought it home for Rowe. We figured, in a worst case scenario, we could slip it in with some new hay if she did not like it. We were wrong. Not only does Rowe refuse to eat the Bermuda Grass, she avoids her hay tray when it is mixed in with the Timothy Hay or other snacks she does like!

Bermuda Grass is a dried grass and it is supposed to be a part of a rabbit's daily diet because it promotes regularity, helps provide essential nutrients and it makes rabbit poop dry, solid and compact (as proposed to wet, spreadable and large). With the inclusion of Bermuda Grass included into the rabbit's daily diet, the rabbit is supposed to have more manageable stool. However, it is impossible to get this benefit or the growth and other health benefits, if the rabbit refuses to eat it.

We only tried the Kaytee brand of Bermuda Grass so far and Rowe avoids it so studiously that we have no incentive to try buying other brands to see if it is just the Kaytee brand she does not like. As an objective test today, when I began writing this I brought down the (mostly full) 16 oz. bag and tore off a handful and placed it in Rowe's cage. She thumped. It is not a good sign when a rabbit remembers not liking a food!

Nutritionally, in addition to being loaded with vitamins and specific nutrients rabbits go for in the wild, Bermuda Grass is a balanced part of a rabbit's diet and promotes growth as it has at least six percent crude fiber and one percent fat. It has no more than 32 percent crude fiber and twelve percent moisture. As a result, it is very important to keep a rabbit eating this well hydrated.

The 16 oz. bag expires in two years, which given how little Rowe likes this is likely to actually last that long. Outside our rabbit not liking the Bermuda Grass, there are other drawbacks to this product. First, the bermuda grass is very tightly clumped, so it is very difficult to get it out of the bag and often it begins to break up just to get it out of the bag. Thus, while in the cage, the Bermuda Grass often breaks into small pieces and falls down into the grates in cages that have a tray. There can be quite a bit of waste and it is wasted as the rabbit frequently urinates on it, as it is comfortable for them. To prevent that, it is recommended that one buy a hay feeder for the cage for easy distribution. The only other potential problem is that humans who have rabbits and grass allergies may find themselves allergic to the Bermuda Grass. In that case, there are shots for you; keep the rabbit, your allergies aren't their fault!

Ultimately, though, it doesn't matter how good the product is supposed to be: if our rabbit refuses to eat it, I know I'm not recommending it. That trumps every other problem with the Kaytee Bermuda Grass.

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
Apple/Carrot Salt And Trace Mineral Lick
Cozy N Fresh Litter
Super Pets Long John Litter Pan

3/10

For other rabbit product reviews, please visit my index page!


© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Good For Rabbit Nutrition, But If The Rabbit Won't Use The Salt & Trace Mineral Lick… How The Ware Salt Licks Failed Me.




The Good: Benefits rabbits nutritionally, inexpensive enough
The Bad: Rabbit doesn’t use, so it’s pretty much worthless.
The Basics: Despite the important health benefits, my experience shows that rabbits ignore the Salt & Trace Mineral Licks, essentially making them worthless.


Value factors into every review I write, especially in the Pets category. Pets are expensive enough without buying things that the animal does not need. In buying our new rabbit, Rowe, I have been getting quite an education on the little critters, but sometimes that education runs smack dab into experience. For example, a “necessary” component of a rabbit’s cage is supposed to be a salt lick. So, my wife and I purchased the Ware Salt & Trace Mineral Lick because we wanted to do right by Rowe.

She hasn’t touched it. As a result, we have broken it up, tried to trick her into using it, but she won’t go near it.

The Salt & Trace Mineral Lick is a two piece food toy for rabbits and small animals which is designed to meet the rabbits need for salt and thus trigger them to drink water, hydration being very important to rabbits, especially small rabbits. Ours seems fine with drinking from her waterbottle without the salt lick. Whatever nutrients the salt and trace mineral lick are supposed to be providing her, she seems to get from her food and fresh dandelions we bring her each day.

As it is, though, the salt and trace mineral lick is a pair of solid blocks (think sugarcubes, but made of salt and in shapes) one which resembles a green apple about ¾” thick and 1 ½” in diameter and the other resembles an orange carrot. The carrot is about 1 ½” long and as thick as the apple. Both treats come with a hole through them so they may be hung on a Treak-K-Bob (sold separately). We hung ours for about a week before we noticed Rowe was not eating them, licking them or otherwise paying attention to the licks and we took them down. Since then, she has been content to ignore them on the bottom of the cage.

The salt and trace mineral licks contain at least 96% (but not more than 99%) salt and fractions of percentages of nutrients and minerals that rabbits need. These include manganese, iron, magnesium, sulfur, copper, cobalt, zinc and iodine. Rowe refuses to gnaw on these like she is supposed to, but has suffered no ill health effects as a result.

Ultimately, the Salt & Trace Mineral Lick is well made, but not enticing enough to be at all useful to us as new rabbit owners. One surmises that older rabbits might actually enjoy them, but right now, this is just an overpriced cage toy that our bunny doesn’t play with. And she never did . . .

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
Cozy ‘N Fresh Small Pet Litter
Super Pets Long John Litter Pan
Lixit Hay Rack

4/10

For other rabbit product reviews, please click over to my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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A Perfect Litter For Rabbits, "Cozy 'N Fresh" Lives Up To Its Name.



The Good: Smells good, Absorbs odors, Clumps well, Comparatively inexpensive, Rabbit uses it!
The Bad: None!
The Basics: A perfect litter for rabbits, Cozy 'N Fresh Natural Pine Bedding And Litter does all it promises to do affordably!


When one gets a new animal, there is usually a learning curve as one finds products to properly pamper their animal with and they go through a period of separating the facts from the hype. In the case of our new rabbit, Rowe, my wife and I have done an amazing job of staying ahead of the curve by selecting products that work great the first time out. In the case of finding a great litter for Rowe to use, we hit it perfectly with our first try out when we picked up the twenty pound bag of Cozy 'N Fresh Natural Pine Bedding And Litter For Small Animals!

Having had a rabbit in the house before, I knew it was possible to litter train a bunny, but what surprised me was how very fast it could be done with the proper materials. While my mother trained her rabbit, Bunny, over the course of several months with cat litter in a box underneath her grate in her cage, my wife picked up a litter pan for Rowe and we put in Cozy 'N Fresh Natural Pine Litter. Within two weeks, Rowe was consistently hopping up into the litter pan to go to the bathroom. It was the only place she has urinated (outside the cat litter boxes when we let her out of her cage) since.

The Cozy 'N Fresh Natural Pine Litter is a clumping litter which appears to be supercompressed pine sawdust. The dust is compressed into tiny pellets (each one about 1/4" long and 1/8" in diameter. Opening the heavy plastic bag, the scent of a pine forest is instantly released, so the Cozy 'N Fresh smells good to people, not just rabbits!

Usage is as simple as pouring the pine litter into a litter tray and letting your animal do its business on it. Ours can go about five days before we need to change the litter and then we need to change it not because it smells, but because it has all been activated. This is a clumping litter which breaks down from pellets into a larger, more cohesive blob when it encounters the drenching wetness of animal urine. Once there are no more pellets, the urine does not soak into the litter and the animal is likely to stop using the litter box (it also gets their paws dirty if they step in that mash).

After seeing whether or not an animal uses the litter religiously, there are three criteria I tend to judge a litter on: odor management, ease of disposal and cost. Cozy N' Fresh smells like a pine forest and it retains that smell. It also absorbs all of the rabbit urine odor so our rooms do not smell at all like we have a rabbit. The Cozy 'N Fresh is perfect on odor control. As for ease of disposal, this clumps wonderfully, so it may easily be flushed down the toilet with no harm done to the pipes or the waste treatment process. Living in a rural area as I do, I've been composting the used Cozy 'N Fresh and it breaks down beautifully mixing in with compost to help new plants grow. However, I have noticed that the outdoor rabbits tend to hang around wherever I dump the used Cozy 'N Fresh, so if one does not like having outdoor critters, that might be an issue.

Finally, the Cozy 'N Fresh is fairly priced. Our first twenty pound bag cost us $10.99 at a local pet store and after three months, we're only about two-thirds through it. It remains fresh, odor absorbent and clean, which makes it a great value.

In short, the Cozy 'N Fresh Natural Pine Bedding And Litter for small animals is a perfect product that our rabbit has used consistently since the moment we first got it.

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
Super Pets Long John Litter Pan
Lixit Hay Rack
LM Animal Farms Timothy Hay

10/10

For other pet product reviews, please be sure to check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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A Near-Perfect Rabbit Product, The Long John Litter Tray Works!



The Good: Easy to clean, Inexpensive, Durable, Good design
The Bad: None inherent in the product, but rabbits may outgrow it way too fast!
The Basics: A surprisingly good device, the deceptively simple Long John Litter Tray is worth buying for small animals to get them litter trained!


Before rabbits came into my life personally, I had no idea that they could be litter trained, like cats. And yet, when I met my mother's rabbit, Bunny, Bunny finally earned her freedom from the cage when she began constantly using the litter box in her cage. It didn't matter where in the house she roamed or if her cage was moved, she would return to her cage to poop and urinate. Now that my wife and I have a rabbit of our own, Rowe, we are working to litter train her. One of the earliest victories we had in getting Rowe to use a litterbox was purchasing the Long John Litter Tray. This was a victory for a simple reason; Rowe was no longer able to urinate over the edge of her cage.

The Long John Litter Tray is basically a giant bowl that attaches to the side of a cage and owners fill with bunny litter and rabbits hop in and do their business there. The low lip on the front allows easy access from multiple angles and the high back acts as a splash guard which prevents bunny pee from going elsewhere in the cage.

Made of fairly thick (about ¼” thick) glossy plastic, the Long John Litter Tray is 9 1/2" long on the two straight sides and 7” deep, oriented like a nook in the corner of the cage. As a result, it has two straight sides which essentially line the corner of the cage before coming out to a curved dish where the rabbit stands. Attaching the litter tray is absolutely simple. All one needs to do is find two of the bars of the cage (which are laying horizontally) and slide the plastic hooks over them. Because of how the litter pan is shaped, the only possible way to attach this to the cage side is in the corner. This is almost idiot proof, save that one needs to leave the tray on the bottom of the cage; actually hanging the litter tray will cause the plastic hooks to snap when filled with litter or when the rabbit hops in. The hooks are intended to be a stabilizing measure which prevents the litter tray from being moved around the cage, not hanging it up.

I tend to recommend only filling the litter tray half full with litter because most rabbit litters expand when rabbits urinate on them. It is part of the clumping action that litters possess.

If, for some reason, the litter tray becomes dirty, the glossy plastic is exceptionally easy to wash and as a result, this product – which we found locally for $9.00 – is both inexpensive and easy-to-use. Since installing the litter tray, Rowe has used it every few hours and I need to empty it only once every three days. It does what it promises and our rabbit is on her way to an expanded measure of freedom as soon as we're sure she has mastered it!

Ultimately, this is one of those simple products which is pretty much idiotproof and when it works, it works. There's little else to say about the Long John Litter Tray, so if you're getting a rabbit this ought to be the first accessory (outside a water bottle) you purchase for it! Unfortunately, about two months after we bought Rowe and the litter tray, Rowe outgrew this and stopped using the Long John tray, making it worthless in her cage. Between that and the footprint in the cage – the space it takes up – it is hard to consider it an absolutely perfect product, though I initially thought it was!

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
Lixit Hay Rack
LM Animal Farms Timothy Hay
LM Animal Farms Vita-Bits Rabbit Food

8/10

For other products for rabbits, please click on over to my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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You Don't Get Much More Basic Than The Lixit Hay Rack!




The Good: Easy to clean, Durable, Organizes cage well, Inexpensive
The Bad: None…
The Basics: Perfection by default, the Lixit Hay Rack does exactly what it promises in providing a cleaner, more manageable way to dispense hay into a rabbit’s cage.


In the annals of exciting products to own and review, one suspects there are few products that one could write more about or with more enthusiasm than the Lixit Hay Rack. Okay, that might be overstating it, but the truth is, for those who have rabbits, a Hay Rack quickly becomes a necessity and I can find no fault with the one we purchased for our new rabbit, Rowe!

As I noted in my review of LM Animal Farms Timothy Hay (click here for that!), hay is an essential part of a rabbit’s diet. However, left to their own devices, rabbits will nest in hay and urinate all over it and then eat it, which is pretty gross by any standards. As well, most young active bunnies will make a crazy mess out of hay as they not only love eating it, but they seem to enjoy throwing it around. The solution is simple: a hay rack. The Lixit Hay Rack is essentially a big plastic chute which attaches to the outside of a rabbit’s cage and allows for easy dispensing of hay into the cage.

Made of fairly thick (about ¼” thick) glossy plastic, the Lixit Hay Rack is 10 ½” wide x 5” tall x 4 ½” deep, extending outward from the outside of the cage. Attaching the Hay Rack is absolutely simple. All one needs to do is find two of the bars (which are oriented vertically) and slide the Hay Rack’s plastic guide over them. This basically pulls the hay rack toward the bars and basic friction keeps it attached. Then, one simply adds hay to the chute through the open top. The rabbit walks over to that wall of the cage lifts their head up and pulls the hay through the bars of the cage. It is that simple. Because there are no complicated fasteners, the hay rack does not stop working and the only way it seems like it might ever warp is by overfilling the hay rack constantly, though that would risk breaking the tabs right off.

If, for some reason, the hay rack becomes dirty, the glossy plastic is exceptionally easy to wash and as a result, this product – which we found locally for $6.00 – is both inexpensive and easy-to-use. Since installing the hay rack, Rowe has generally wandered over to it every few hours and pulled out a little more than she needed. However, we have considerably reduced the waste from when we were just putting handfuls of hay into her cage. Now, she pulls out some, but does not roll around in ALL of her hay. The result is a cleaner cage and a cleaner area right around the cage!

Ultimately, this is one of those simple products which is pretty much idiotproof and when it works, it works. There’s little else to say about the Lixit Hay Rack, except that if you have a rabbit, it might be best to start off the experience of owning the rabbit and feeding it hay by having this on the cage from the beginning. It sure beats getting frustrated at a bunny’s natural instinct to play in hay nd then buying one just to keep sane!

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
LM Animal Farms Vita-Bits Rabbit Food
Pets International Clearwater Bottle
Super Pet Flat-Bac 16 oz. Water Bottle

10/10

For other pet product reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Hey! It's Timothy Hay From LM Farms And Rowe Loved It!



The Good: Great nutritional value, My rabbit devours it, Generally responsible bulking, Relatively inexpensive
The Bad: None, truly.
The Basics: Our rabbit Rowe loves Timothy Hay, it keeps her regular and clean and provides her with vital nutrition, making it a perfect product to recommend to rabbit owners!


Rabbit owners: let's talk about poop. If you own a rabbit and let the rabbit out its cage, no doubt, you end up with pellets everywhere. I have a new game around my house, which is to see if I can pick up little bunny Rowe’s rabbit droppings before our geriatric dog, Mitzie, comes along and cleans them up for us. If you don't let your rabbit out because of rabbit poop, there's a good chance it is because it is not laying nice, dry compact turds, but rather wet poop which can smear and stain fabrics and get into rabbit fur. There is a simple solution, I have learned from getting my very own rabbit: Timothy Hay.

Timothy Hay is a dried grass and it is an essential part of a rabbit's daily diet because it promotes regularity, helps provide essential nutrients and it makes rabbit poop dry, solid and compact (as proposed to wet, spreadable and large). With the inclusion of Timothy Hay included into the rabbit's daily diet, the rabbit not only had better, more manageable stool, it promotes growth and overall health by providing important nutrients to the rabbit.

We have tried three brands of Timothy Hay so far and Rowe clearly prefers LM Animal Farms, which is more green than the brown hay that other companies seem to have. Rowe rushes to the door of her cage when we bring the 20 oz. bag down to her level. She eats this before all other foods, save banana chips and she frequently seems more energetic afterward.

Nutritionally, in addition to being loaded with vitamins and specific nutrients rabbits go for in the wild, Timothy Hay is a balanced part of a rabbit's diet and promotes growth as it has at least six percent crude fiber and two percent fat. It has no more than 33 percent crude fiber and fifteen percent moisture. As a result, it is very important to keep a rabbit eating this well hydrated.

The 20 oz. bad lasts about a month giving our Rowe about a handful each day and that leads to the only two drawbacks of the product. For rabbits, the drawback is that the Timothy Hay often breaks into small pieces and falls down into the grates in cages that have a tray. Thus, there can be quite a bit of waste and it is wasted as the rabbit frequently urinates on it, as it is comfortable for them. To prevent that, it is recommended that one buy a hay feeder for the cage for easy distribution. The only other potential problem is that humans who have rabbits and grass allergies may find themselves allergic to the Timothy Hay. In that case, there are shots for you; keep the rabbit, your allergies aren't their fault!

Out of the three brands we have tried so far, LM Animal Farms had the longest pieces which come out of the bag in the most manageable clumps, the least grass dust and the clear preference from our rabbit. That makes it perfect as far as I am concerned and the only thing I would recommend over the 20oz. resealable package would be a larger one, if LM Animal Farms made it!

For other products for rabbits, please check out my reviews of:
LM Animal Farms Vita-Bits Rabbit Food
Pets International Clearwater Bottle
Super Pet Flat-Bac 16 oz. Water Bottle

10/10

For other pet product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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