There has been many questions lately regarding the best rabbit food to purchase. We are truly blessed and should be grateful that we now have a wide range of varieties to choose from compared to just four (4) years ago when all we have are the locally milled pellets. I have nothing against the locally milled pellets except for the occasional sand that I tasted before giving the pellets to my rabbits.
When given the choice to choose which rabbit food to use for my rabbits, I usually ask myself what should be the purpose of the rabbit food, whether it is for pet purpose or for commercial purpose. To further help me answer that question, I ask myself how many rabbits do I have?
For most of us, we are pet owners at the end of the day. We usually keep one or two lovely pet rabbits at home as companion animals. We spend a lot of time with them and most importantly, we give them our best. That in itself speaks the volume that you need and will help you answer the question as to which rabbit food to use.
We also need to understand the functions of the many rabbit food brands in the market right now.
When I was at the ARBA Convention in Indianapolis last year (and I did mention it as well), what I witnessed was that, although raising rabbits is a hobby there, it is also a part of the agriculture industry. What I mean by agriculture industry is that, some of the rabbit breeds are raised for meat and other functions. And the point to take away is that, rabbits are raised by the HUNDREDS in the USA.
When they are raised by the hundreds, breeders do not buy 1kg or 2kg of rabbit food per month, they purchase in bulk like 50 bags of 50lbs (approx. 22.6kg) of feed at one time. There are also a large varieties of rabbit feed for the purpose of agriculture and each has got its own special formula. I cannot deny the fact that some of these feed are formulated with good quality and ensures the needs of the rabbits on them are met (or exceeded).
In Malaysia, some of the brands are repackaging of certain commercial rabbit feed imported in 50lbs bags. The problem does not lie in the feed itself but these repackaged feed is being sold at inflated prices. Just imagine a 50lbs bag in the USA may cost anywhere between USD$ 15 to USD$ 18 per bag and converted it would be between RM 39 and RM 65. These bags are then repacked into 22 x 1kg packets and sold for between RM 24 to RM 60 per packet!
On the other hand, pet rabbit food are specially formulated for the pet rabbits and the ingredients used are much more superior in quality. The prices truly justify the true value of the feed in terms of quality. That is the difference between premium and ULTRA PREMIUM brands. When you pay RM 28.50, you get what RM 28.50 is worth and that is exactly how much it would cost for good feed.
Today, in helping us to decide, let’s ask ourselves the following questions:
1. How much do we love our pet and if they deserve better?
2. Do we pay ULTRA PREMIUM prices for commercial rabbit food?
As far as I am concerned, I am still a pet owner given the number of rabbits raised here is not by the hundreds and even if I have hundreds of rabbits, they all deserve the VERY best.
Tru-Luv Rabbitry: Quality Holland Lops in Malaysia 