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Rabbit Treats

How to Make Homemade Treats for Your Bunny

By Christina ClarkPublished 6 years ago 7 min read
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There are many different kinds of rabbit treats available at pet stores, Walmart, Target, and other such superstores. Some are made of yogurt, some made of seeds and nuts all stuck together with a chewy, sticky treat, some a mix of dried vegetables and fruits, and others chunks of gooey fruit bits. All of these may look like candy for rabbits and you're sure your furry friend will love them, and chances are they will. However, if you were to flip the treat bag over and look at the ingredients, would you really think purchasing such a treat would be a good choice? One of the first ingredients is always sugar, followed by all kinds of weird chemicals you can't even pronounce that are used to keep the treats from expiring for a long time. Now, you may not think twice before putting a snack with such ingredients into your own mouth, but what about your rabbit? Over the years we as humans have developed all kinds of unnatural, man-made substances to make our food look better, taste better, and last longer. We have, more or less, gotten accustomed to such ingredients. Our furry friends on the other hand, are not use to such poisoning substances and feeding them to your rabbit can be very unhealthy for them.

Because of this, I stopped buying factory-produced rabbit treats at the store and looked to my kitchen for a treat for my little bunnies. I have always been an avid baker and love to make cookies, cakes, muffins, and cupcakes for myself and my family. I always make these goodies from scratch using only natural ingredients. I thought to myself, why not create treats for my rabbit from scratch? They would be delicious and healthy! So that is exactly what I did.

I am going to teach you how to make your own rabbit treats, using ingredients you can find in your house or at your local grocery store. Feel free to experiment with different ingredients to find a cookie your rabbit loves. Lets start with a breakdown of basic cookie ingredients to figure out what rabbits can and what rabbits cannot eat.

Flour

Every basic baked goods recipe calls for it. Flour provides the basic structure for baked goods, binding all the ingredients together. You can't really make cookies without flour. But is flour okay for rabbits to eat? The answer is yes, in small amounts. Do not feed your rabbit flour all by itself. Even if he didn't hate it enough to eat it, it would not be good for him all on its own. It is safe, however, to put in a cookie for him. Whole wheat flour is a much better choice than regular all purpose flour. If, for whatever reason, you do not wish to put flour in the cookies, there are alternatives. Buzzing plain, store-bought rabbit pellets and/or plain oats in a coffee grinder or blender until dust is a safe, and perhaps a little more appealing alternative to flour for bunny treats. Be sure to use about the same amount of oat/pellet powder as you would regular flour.

Sugar

Besides making baked goods taste better, sugar helps baked goods stay soft and moist. Unfortunately for bunny treats, we don't even have the option as to whether to put sugar in the cookies or use a substitute. You shouldn't really even have to think about it to know that sugar would be a big no-no for rabbits. Believe me, we'll be putting other ingredients in that are packed full of natural sugars. As an alternative to sugar for bunny treats, I like to use honey. Be sure to purchase raw honey, not honey that has been pasteurized and processed. We're trying to stick with natural ingredients with no chemicals here. Even still, honey itself is a very sweet substance and you should not put very much of it into your treats. Just enough to get the ingredients to stick together and add a sweeter taste is fine.

Baking Powder and Baking Soda

These two ingredients work as leavening for your cookies. Basically what they do it to make the baked goods rise. For rabbit treats, this is not needed and should not be added at all. The resulting treats when you are finished baking them will be very flat, hard, and crunchy. This is just how my rabbits like it and just how yours will like them too!

Salt

Salt adds to the flavor in baked goods. In breads, it controls the fermentation rate of the yeast. Salt is good for a rabbit's diet, but it is not necessary. For the treats, I recommend leaving it out, unless your rabbit has a strong liking towards salt. If you do decide to add salt, be sure to only put in a pinch. A little goes a long way.

Dairy

Dairy, milk specifically, makes the dough in baked goods stronger and able to withstand baking. It also helps in keeping the baked goods moist. You should never, ever feed a rabbit dairy of any kind. Those yogurt drops you used to get at the store for your furry friend that he loved? Very bad. A rabbit's digestive tract is not built to process dairy. An adult rabbit does not have the right bacteria in his body to digest milk. It might not kill him, but it will make him very uncomfortable and sick, and may lead to a visit to the vet.

Oil and Other Fats

Fats provide lubrication of ingredients when blending. They also cause the baked goods to be fluffy and provide a nice, moist texture. As mentioned before, the treats are not supposed to be fluffy and moist. Besides, rabbits should not be fed any kind of oil or fat of any kind. That one is pretty self explanatory.

Now that you know what ingredients are good for rabbits and what to substitute for those that are not, you're set to make your own cookies! Of course, you can't use just ground oats and honey. That would not be very tasty. That is why I have provided a list of fruits and vegetables you can add to the cookies for a great flavor. It all depends on what your rabbits like and what you're willing to experiment with. Have fun baking!

For approximately 30 cookies, you will need:

  • 1/4 of a cup of finely ground rabbit pellets
  • 1/4 of a cup of finely ground oats
  • 1 tablespoon of honey
And one to three of the following (two is ideal):
  • 1/2 of a peach, plumb, papaya, or pear, pureed
  • 1/2 a large carrot, pureed
  • 1/8 cup of berries, pureed
  • a large piece of lettuce, shredded in blender
  • 1/2 a banana, mashed
  • 3-4 large spring radish roots, pureed
  • 2 tablespoons of peas, mashed
  • 2-3 tablespoons of squash, pureed
  • 1/2 an apple pureed (cut away the core, do not include seeds)
  • 1/4 cup of melon, pureed

Want to get fancy with your cookies? Try adding an herb or two!

  • 1/4 teaspoon basil, minced or flaked
  • 1/4 teaspoon dill, minced or flaked
  • 1/4 teaspoon mint, minced or flaked
  • 1/4 teaspoon parsley, minced or flaked
  • 1/4 teaspoon oregano, minced or flaked
  • 1/4 teaspoon sage, minced or flaked

Now that you have your ingredients chosen, it time to bake! First, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Mix the pureed fruits or vegetables and honey in a large bowl. Add ground oats and pellets to honey mixture and beat until well combined. I personally like to throw the whole ingredients in a blender one at a time and grind and mix them that way. It makes for a messy blender, but it gets the mixing job done well.

Kneed the dough in your hands for about two minutes. It may be pretty sticky, depending on what fruits and vegetables you decided to add.

Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper and lay another piece of parchment paper on top. You could just use flour to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin, but I highly recommend against it. Roll the dough so it is about an 1/8 of an inch thick. This is ideal, but if you want a thicker cookie for your bunny, roll it to about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Peel off the parchment paper and cut the cookies both horizontally and vertically. No need to pull them apart, this will just make it easier to break them apart when they're done baking. Make the squares about one square inch each. Of course, you can make them as big or small as you like, but this is the size I recommend.

Move the parchment with the cookies on it onto a cookie sheet. Let the cookies bake for 30-40 minutes. Check them to make sure they aren't burning! Turn the oven off and let them sit in the oven for another hour. This will ensure that they turn out nice and crispy for your bunny.

Remove from the oven rack and let them cool. They must be cooled completely before your bunny can try them.

Finally, break the cookies apart along the lines you cut before putting them in the oven. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge. These cookies will keep in the fridge for about three weeks, and in the freezer for about six weeks.

Be sure to not feed your rabbit these treats too often. There is, after all, a lot of natural sugars in them. One or two treats a day should be fine. Enjoy.

diy
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About the Creator

Christina Clark

Media production and accounting major at IUP

Eighteen years old

Art enthusiast

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