Strawberries For Rabbits: Feeding Guide, Nutrition & Facts

Opposed to traditional theories, your pet rabbit’s balanced diet is not just too limited to carrots and lettuce. And like other pets such as cats and dogs, you want to ensure that your lovely rabbits won’t stay on their conventional diets, like hays such as orchard grass, oat hay, brome, and timothy.

Your rabbit pet also needs to consume fresh vegetables and small amounts of fruits to become healthier. It is the main reason that other rabbit lovers give their pets more than hay. As bunnies love fruits and vegetables for their dessert, such as strawberries.

Yes, your rabbit can eat strawberries because they are a healthy fruit. They can work wonders to keep your rabbit pet’s nutritional balance and coat healthy. If you give your rabbit some fresh strawberries, they will like it because this fruit is juicy and has a sweet taste.

Moreover, Your rabbit will also enjoy munching on fresh strawberries in the summer to keep them hydrated since the fruit is rich in protein and fiber, the key nutrients your rabbit needs. Other foods that can be fed to your rabbit include:

If you want to know more about the food your rabbit can and cannot eat, Read this article: The Definitive Guide To What Foods Rabbits Can & Cannot Eat

Although giving your rabbit food, like fruits, every day is a good idea; you should note that hay and grass should be the primary source of your pet’s diet. Because this will keep the rabbit full and stop them from becoming overweight. In addition, you should also be aware that large amounts of this fruit can be harmful to your pet too.

Health Benefits

Strawberry is a great addition to your rabbit’s staple food and diet because it contains many nutritional benefits for your pet. Here are some of the benefits for your rabbit.

Fiber

Eating strawberries helps your rabbit get the additional fiber that its body needs daily. This fruit will prevent constipation and improve the function of your rabbit’s digestive system.

Vitamins and Minerals

Strawberries can give your rabbit more vitamins and minerals to help your pet stay healthy. These minerals include calcium, potassium, and vitamin C.

Antioxidants

Strawberries are rich in antioxidants. This will help your rabbit lower the levels of free radicals in its body. According to some studies, a high count of free radicals can affect your rabbit’s body cells and organs. And eventually can lead to heart disease and cancer.

Strawberry Leaves

One question floating around now is whether your rabbit can also eat strawberry green tops. The answer is yes. You can feed your rabbit strawberry leaves. Like other pets, when introducing your pet to something new, you should wait to give your pet a large amount of food.

While your pet is still new to the green tops, strawberry leaves should not be prepared as their main course, but just the desert as their digestive tract still familiarizes their food.

If your bunny undergoes such a problem when eating the strawberry tops, it means that they aren’t into the leaves, and you should stop giving them as early as possible.

Benefits of Strawberry Leaves

You may not know about it, but strawberry leaves offer many benefits. Strawberry leaves are much healthier and good for your rabbits than the fruit. Like other berries, strawberries are loaded with good phytochemicals and micronutrients.

Also, according to some studies, the leaves are rich in antioxidants and vitamin C. These nutrients serve to maintain the overall fitness of your bunnies. Moreover, it can help prevent the growth of life-threatening or chronic diseases that may come to your pet’s wellness.

Health Risks

As discussed above, strawberries and their green tops, known as the leaves, contain great antioxidants and vitamin C, responsible for guarding the rabbit’s imposed metabolic waste products identified as free radicals.

Free radicals are normally produced in the rabbit’s body when they do their usual functions, such as digesting food, muscle stretch, and breathing. They are normal. However, though they are common with the usual body functions, they can produce severe difficulties. Because they carry a great charge, your rabbits tend to be very reactive and immediately respond to these bits that build up in their body.

Some of these reactions are not life-threatening. However, other reactions may tend to produce damage to their cells that can eventually reduce the cell function, and the worst part is to kill the cell itself.

When the activity of these free radicals damages the cells, it can generate some of the unlikely diseases to your rabbits, such as genetic mutations, which continuous ailments or chronic illnesses can follow.

Therefore, free radical activity involves a broad spectrum of unlikely conditions for your rabbits. It can cause arthritis, and heart disease, which is followed by dementia, and memory loss.

Conclusion

Strawberries and their leaves are beneficial for your rabbit’s diet. They are known to be high in fiber and low in calories, which are certainly perfect for your pet but in moderation.
The strawberry leaves are rich in antioxidants that can combat various ailments. Adding it to your pet’s diet will make them enjoy a healthy lifestyle out of worry about foreseen diseases.
The fruit and the leaves should not be given as the rabbit’s main dish. Your pet can eat strawberries as their dessert.
Consider giving them strawberry leaves with other leafy green foods and parse amounts of fruits and vegetables to ensure that your rabbit will be happy and grow perfectly healthy with zero or fewer problems to their digestive tract.
When you find your rabbit to show any signs of problems in eating strawberries despite feeding them in moderation, it is best to consult an expert to prevent any problems in the future.