CHOOSING THE RIGHT HAY FOR YOUR RABBITS HEALTH
By: Andrew Massaro
Hay is the most important element in your rabbit's diet, but not all hay is the same. Hay is made from the cutting and curing of grass, such as Brome or Timothy grass, or certain legumes, such as Alfalfa. The importance of hay in a rabbit's diet is due to it's high content of long-strand fiber. Rabbits, like horses and certain other animals, are Hindgut Fermenters. This means that they process less-digestible plant matter, such as cellulose, in a portion of their intestines called the cecum. The cecum contains a veritable bacterial soup, which when in a state of healthy equilibrium is able to efficiently process materials the rabbit would otherwise be unable to digest. Also, fiber maintains digestive health and "regularity" in rabbits as it does in humans. This is even more important for rabbits, though, due to their grooming behavior. Rabbits clean themselves by licking their fur, like cats. Unlike cats, they are unable to regurgitate hairballs, which means they must pass the hair as waste. The long strands of fiber in hay stems provide the roughage necessary to push these hairballs through the digestive system. If this process fails to take place, the rabbit's gastrointestinal tract will become blocked, and the rabbit will die of starvation. This is one of the most common causes of death for domestic rabbits.
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