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Hay Cubes vs. Hay

22 9:43:23

Question
I know rabbits need to eat a certain amount of long grasses in order to maintain a healthy digestive tract. I'm wondering if oat grass and timothy hay cubes - the coarse 2" squares made for horses - qualify as long grasses?

Answer
Dear Joy,

Hay cubes are probably fine as a supplement for regular grass hay.  And if you can't get long strands of grass hay, then they're certainly better than nothing.  But--depending on the manufacturer--hay cubes are often pressed from quite short bits of grass.  Long strands are supposedly better for pushing things through the gut, though one could argue that rabbits chew those up pretty well.

Our rabbit nutritionist experts feel that long strands (as in whole hay) are required for good health, so I'll defer to them and agree.

Hope that helps.

Dana