Did you know that too much calcium in a rabbit’s diet can cause problems? Most rabbits will naturally expel excess calcium from their body in their urine but aside from underlying health issues, as they age, a rabbit’s body will find this harder to do. This can lead to health issues such as kidney or bladder stones and bladder sludge.
In consultation with you rabbit specialist veterinarian you may be advised to change your rabbit’s diet to a low calcium diet and the daily amount to keep your rabbit restricted to.
Recommended for maintaining a low calcium diet:
Daily hay feeding:
- Unlimited Timothy or oaten hay
- A handful of meadow, orchid and/or botanical hay for variety
Daily vegetables:
- Add a mix of herbs and vegetables (see list) - recommended in controlled amounts are chard, celery leaves, carrot tops and Asian greens
- Minimise or avoid feeding spinach, kale or parsley
Treats and pellets:
- It is recommended for treats; one blueberry every 2-7 days
- No pellets in their diet unless it has been recommended by your vet and 1 teaspoon a day unless instructed otherwise
Calcium content per 100g
Vegetables in red are too high in calcium and should not be fed:
- Spinach/mustard 210mg
- Turnip greens 190mg
- Dandelion greens 187mg
- Parsley 138mg
- Kale 135mg
- Watercress 120mg
- Beetroot leaves 119mg
- Mustard greens 103mg
- Chicory greens 100mg
- Gai Lan/Chinese broccoli 100mg
Vegetables continued:
- Okra 81mg
- Choy Sum 69mg
- Letter, loose leaf 68mg
- Coriander 67mg
- Endive 52mg
- Swiss chard 51mg
- Broccoli 48mg
- Celery 40mg
- Bok Choy/Pak Choy 40mg
- Green beans 37mg
- Cos lettuce 36mg
- Carrot 36mg
- Lettuce, Butterhead 32mg
- Alfalfa Sprouts 32mg
- Asparagus 21mg
- Pumpkin 21mg
- Beetroot 16mg
- Cucumber (with skin) 14mg
- Red Capsicum 9mg
- Green Capsicum 9mg
- Tomato 5mg
Fruits (to be fed sparingly as part of a balanced diet):
- Raisins (seedless) 49mg
- Orange (no peel) 40mg
- Lime (no peel) 33mg
- Blackberries 32mg
- Kiwi 26mg
- Lemon (no peel) 26mg
- Papaya 24mg
- Raspberries 22mg
- Cherries (no stone) 15mg
- Strawberries 14mg
- Tangerine (no peel) 14mg
- Apricots (no stone) 14mg
- Grapefruit, white (no peel) 12mg
- Grapefruit, pink or red (no peel) 11mg
- Pear 11mg
- Cantaloupe 11mg
- Grapes 11mg
- Mango 10mg
- Watermelon 8mg
- Pineapple 7mg
- Apple (with skin) 7mg
- Cranberries 7mg
- Banana 6mg
- Honeydew melon 6mg
- Blueberries 6mg
- Casaba melon 5mg
- Nectarine (no stone) 5mg
- Peach (no stone) 5mg
- Plum (no stone) 4mg
