Is it safe to feed a rabbit Guinea pig food?

Question

I just bought my rabbits food from the store, the big 8lb bag, and when I got home, I realized it said Guinea Pig instead of Rabbit. It's made by the same people that do the rabbit food, hence the confusion. Can I use it or would I be better off returning it and getting the rabbit food. Comparing the two bags, it looks like it has most of the same stuff in it.

Thanks!

Answer 1

yep!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 2

you should probaly should return it to be on the safe side. A rabbit needs diffent vitamins the guninea pigs.Plus you would feel bad if something happened to your rabbit because you didint give it the correct food.

Answer 3

Yes. The difference between rabbit and guinea pig food is that the latter contains vitamin C. Guinea pigs (like humans) are one of the few animals that can't synthesize their own vitamin C. Excess vitamin C is just urinated out, so rabbits can eat guinea pig food, but not the other way around.

Answer 4

Yes.  Really the only difference between a quality rabbit pellet and a quality guinea pig pellet is that the guinea pig pellets have vitamin C added (because unlike rabbits guinea pigs can not synthesize vit. C themselves and must get all of the vit. C they need from their diet).

Now if your rabbit food includes seeds...then you need to throw it out right now.  Rabbits and guinea pigs were designed to eat grass and other similar forms of vegetation.  Seeds and grains are too high in fat and protein and can throw off a rabbit's normal gut flora.  Seed and grain based diets are linked to obesity, malnutrition, and GI stasis (a potentially deadly condition where the GI tract stops moving...this can be caused by the gut flora being "out of whack").  

Rabbits need a limited quantity of a high quality pellet (about a tablespoon per pound of body weight), an unlimited amount of grass hay (such as timothy hay...NOT alfalfa hay, alfalfa is a legume and MUCH higher in protein and calories than grass), and a large handful or two of green leafy vegetables (such as kale, collard greens, romaine lettuce, mustard greens, turnip greens, etc) per day.

Answer 5

yes, although you cannot feed a GP rabbit food.

You can get into this excellent source of rabbit information without signing in;

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/r...

Also for information that is mostly medical, try looking at this site, again, no sign in needed:

http://medirabbit.com/

If those are not enough help, or you are still unsure, try this group -you have to join, it is for serious inquiries and people who want to learn more about pet rabbits: is owned by one of the ask the expert people; is one of the oldest bunny forums online:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/etherbun.h...