# Goat feed for rabbits?



## Bruin50 (Apr 14, 2013)

I recently sold my goat and I have a bag of goat feed left. I dont want to see this bag go to waste. Can I give goat feed to my rabbits?


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## SherryB (Oct 10, 2012)

PLLEAASSE wait for someone who knows to answer your question. I think I saw a post on here a few days ago where someone's escaped rabbits ate the goat feed and they died. Now I'm not sure it was goat feed and maybe goat feed comes in medicated and unmedicated. The bag said something that made them believe it would kill the rabbits but since they were out running loose and they needed to treat the goats, they had no choice. Hang on to the feed until somebody who really knows gives you an answer.


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## SherryB (Oct 10, 2012)

Okay, I hunted up the post.... it was medicated sheep feed. The post is titled Meat rabbit pics. It is by MDKate dated July 10. It was on my page 3 of posts.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

'goat feed' is very vague. Pellets, medicated, whole grain? What's in it? 

Imo, no. I wouldn't chance it. Mainly because a simple digestive upset kills rabbits, and fast. They are hind gut fermentors and much more sensitive to feed changes than many other animals. Increase feed grains/molasses/rapidly fermented carbs in their diet, and some bacteria overgrow in their Cecum (which should be more concentrated on cellulytic bacteria that break down the cellulose in plant based feedstuffs). This causes dysbiosis and mucoid enteritis/bloat/death. If you fed it slowly and in such low amounts that it wouldn't cause problems, it'd probably go bad before you got through it all. Mixing other things into their feed will throw off the nutritional balancing that has already been done. And finally, rabbits with other feeds mixed into their rations are like a million times more likely to start digging in their feeders for the stuff they want. They will pick and choose, and that means a lot of feed wasted and dumped onto the ground as they dig for it. I never use anything like calf manna, BOSS etc for this reason, because every time I've tried in the past, I get SEVERAL new rabbits who dig in their feeders looking for more treats, and end up starving themselves and wasting a ton of feed. Nothing is more frustrating. I find they do just fine on a ration of rabbit pellets per day.

If you have chickens, I'd go that route. As long as it isn't medicated. Also to note, Rumensin (common in medicated goat feeds) will KILL horses - also hind gut fermentors. Makes me wonder if its not also deadly to rabbits, which are near identical in their digestive process, aside from the fact that rabbits consume cecotropes and horses do not.


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## Bruin50 (Apr 14, 2013)

I will get rid of the feed. Thank you for the replies.


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