Rabbit Mineral Nutrition
What Minerals do Rabbits Need to be Healthy?
Calcium and Phosphorus
Rabbits are extremely efficient at absorbing calcium from their diet. In fact, rabbits are different than other mammals because they regulate their calcium levels by excreting excesses rather than limiting their absorption (which is why their urine is not clear). Because of this rabbits are sensitive to vitamin D3 which stimulates them to actively absorb more calcium and limit its excretion. Excess amounts of vitamin D3 has been used as a pest control poison for rabbits.
Phosphorous is expensive and low levels of it will increase urinary calcium loss in rabbits. For this reason it needs to be balanced with calcium levels, otherwise it will decrease growth rates and feed efficiency. A well balanced rabbit food should have at least 0.4% phosphorous in it.
Trace Minerals
Trace minerals are needed by enzymes that the rabbit uses to build tissues such as organs, muscle, and the nervous system. These include magnesium, zinc, manganese, copper, molybdenum, chromium, iron, sodium, chloride, cobalt, selenium, iodine, boron, and so on.
Research shows that higher levels of key metabolic minerals in rabbit food will improve the feed efficiency and health of growing rabbits.
However, simply adding these minerals in their inorganic salt form can cause problems in the absorption of other trace minerals. Inorganic minerals include those with "oxide" or "sulfate" suffixes (i.e. iron oxide or zinc sulfate).
The solution is the use of organic "chelated" minerals. Research proves that chelating minerals improves their efficiency and absorption because it effectively "neutralizes" the mineral preventing it from interacting with other minerals during absorption. Rabbits are healthier when their diet provides them with optimal mineral nutrition.
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