Spinach For Rabbits: Feeding Guide, Nutrition & Facts

Rabbits love numerous diverse vegetables aside from their primary diets, such as hay and pellets. That is because veggies can also provide your pet with vitamins and Fiber that enhance your rabbit’s fitness and wellness.

Knowing this, you might be motivated to fodder your bunny with any vegetable you have nearby. One of the safe and healthy veggies you can offer is spinach.

Spinach is one of the verdant greens that rabbits can eat. However, before giving it to your pet, make sure that you introduce it slowly for them to be familiar with the nutrients and the food itself since rabbits can sometimes become sensitive to their food intake.

Assistance of Spinach

There are many benefits of feeding your bunny spinach aside from being delicious. List down below the positive assistance that spinach can offer to your pet:

Spinach is rich in Fiber.

Spinach is rich in Fiber which is vital to bunnies’ foods because it helps your bunny have good digestion. It also improves the texture of your bunny’s poop. Poop is one of the indications that your bunny has a healthy lifestyle.

Spinach is made up of water.

Spinach contains 93% water in its element, like the watermelon. Food rich in water content can aid bunnies in staying hydrated.

Spinach is high in beta-carotene.

Beta-carotene is known to be a provitamin A carotenoid, which is an element that gives vibrant color to fruit and vegetable. Vegetations are one of the main bases of provitamin A, which brands them a significant share of your bunny’s food.

Oxalic Content of Spinach

The studies found that spinach has a content of oxalic acid, which is an antinutrient that can cause effects your rabbit’s health. Although small consumption of oxalic is not lethal, too much intake can result in bigger issues. Here are the influences that the high quantities of oxalates might take on your bunny:

The oxalic acid can meddle with other minerals that your bunny is getting, resulting in a decrease in mineral engagement.
It can affect the kidney’s function, leading to kidney stones forming that affect your rabbit’s urinary system.
The metabolism of your rabbit will be affected as well as its appetite.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported 100 grams of spinach to have around 647.2 to 1,286.9 milligrams (mg) of oxalates, which is fairly high. Baby spinach is supposed to have lesser quantities of oxalic acid.

Foods You Can’t Mix With Spinach

List foods that must NOT be mixed with spinach because of their high oxalate value when you feed your rabbit.

Beets
Mustard Greens
Parsley
Radish Tops
Sprouts
Swiss Chard

Types of Spinach

Salty spinach has shady, wavy greeneries that are wrinkled (subsequently why it is likewise named wavy leaf spinach).
Smooth-leaf spinach has flat, wide greeneries that are in the form of spades.
Partial-savoy spinach is a mixture of diversity with somewhat wrinkled and wavy leaves.

Spinach in Moderation

As a rabbit owner, it is sufficient to add diversity to your pet’s food to profit from its valuable nutrients without endangering its well-being. But when it comes to veggies intake for your bunny, spinach should be offered once every week, double at the greatest only. You don’t need to worry if you think it is small because your pet will still profit from the nutrients.

There are sufficient additional nourishments you can fodder your rabbit on their primary diets, such as pellets with alfalfa, celery, apples, and strawberries.

Spinach for Baby Bunnies

Providing spinach to your baby bunny is not advisable. Since they are more sensitive than adult rabbits, calcium, Fiber, and magnesium are what they need the most to have good bone growth and digestion development at this stage of their development.

If you think your bunny is old enough to be introduced to a new food, you should slowly present spinach greeneries in their food and keep an eye out for adverse effects.

Key Takeaways

Your rabbit can snack on spinach greeneries.
Spinach is rich in Fiber, a good nutrient your bunny needs for its sensitive digestion.
Spinach is a water-content veggie that is good for hydration.
Spinach contains Beta-carotene, which gives pigment to fruits and vegetables and acts as a Vitamin A.
Spinach is high in oxalic acid, meaning excessive feeding to your rabbit can cause health risks such as malnutrition and kidney problems.
Spinach is not advisable for your baby rabbits.