Rabbits are docile creatures and almost everyone loves them. Some people are crazed by the appearance of rabbits and have multiple of them as pets. Rabbits do not have a high life expectancy.
This is why as an owner of such fragile creatures; one must think they need to know about all that there is to know about them in order to keep them safe and healthy. Hence arises the question about giving them processed human food.
In this case, peanut butter is in the question of such human processed food. Keep reading below to know more about rabbits’ diet as well as if they can consume peanut butter or not.
Can rabbits eat peanut butter?
Rabbits cannot eat peanut butter. Peanut butter is high in fat. High in fat food should be avoided at all costs for rabbits. Because of how rich of a food peanut butter is, it will not be good in any way for the rabbits. Instead of that, it will only serve to give the rabbits a bad stomach ache.
Table of Contents
Peanut butter and other nuts like walnuts are high in fat. These are necessary to be avoided when selecting food for our rabbits. These are creamy exotic human processed snacks that have no beneficial attributes for the rabbits.
Domestic Rabbits:
These rabbits are different than the ones we see on the tv. We think all rabbits are the same due to how popular of an animal they are.
However, they have the so-called plumper cheeks and very wide round-shaped eyes as well as floppy ears. The usual things a domestic rabbit would need in its diet are only hay and grass.
Sometimes they will also eat leafy greens and some pellets. However, they do not eat any food that is processed by humans. Peanut butter for example is a rich food that is also made by us humans.
If they were to eat such a heavy rich food, they will not feel good or be able to digest the food properly. This will in turn cause digestive problems and stomach aches that will not harm them but rather be unhealthy to their health.
Baby Rabbits:
Baby rabbits grow fast if they get the food they need. They get the required nutrients they need from their mother’s milk and soon they start drinking solid hay. This process starts when they are at least 2 weeks old.
Peanut butter to these babies at such young age is going to be harmful even to the point where it will be risky for their health. Baby rabbits will start eating hay and pellets by week 4, but they still will not be able to take the consistency of peanut butter.
Peanut butter is so smooth and sometimes chunky that when baby rabbits try to eat them, they will surely choke and lose life. This is why we should not give the baby rabbits any peanut butter whatsoever.
Wild Rabbits:
Many people think that rabbits look similar be it the wild or domestic. However, domestic rabbits are the ones that never have floppy ears. They also tend to have long, narrow faces.
Wild rabbits normally have a diet of weeds, clover, wildflowers, grasses along with vegetable plants and flowers. They do not eat any processed foods that are made by humans.
Something like peanut butter will only upset their stomach due to how foreign the element is to them.
Is peanut butter good or bad for rabbits and bunnies?
Rabbits do not eat peanut butter normally. However, if we happen to give them such luxury, they will eat them. But, doing such will put their wellbeing major risk.
This is because rabbits should not eat peanut butter under any circumstances as they provide no nutrition to the creatures. Furthermore, consuming peanut butter will cause both long-term and immediate adverse effects.
Here is a list of the reasons why we should not feed our bunnies or rabbits peanut butter.
High In Fat:
Peanut poses digestion issues due to the high fat in its content. Our little fluffy friends do not possess the capability of digesting fats the same way we can do.
Furthermore, their organs breakdown when there’s a large quantity of it. Excessive fat will ultimately result in diarrhea and successive dehydration.
High-Calorie:
It is not unknown that peanut butter contains a high number of calories, even when it is in small quantities. Even we humans are careful about how much to eat in one sitting.
Peanut butter can insinuate obesity in a rabbit and other weight issues. Furthermore, peanut butter does not have any nutritional value for rabbits. Thus, it cannot be rewarding to take the risk either.
High In Sugar:
These days peanut butter is not all genuine. Most of them have added flavors. They become high in sugar due to their formula of adding sugar in unprecedented numbers.
When a rabbit or bunny ingests such high sugary element, it can make them experience stomach aches, gas, diarrhea, and other much more serious issues down the line.
High In Salt:
With the added sugar for flavor, also comes the salt as well. These are a regular addition to the peanut butter formula. For our little fluff balls, they do not need salt whatsoever.
Thus, consuming such things will lead to furthermore health complications.
Other Harmful Contents:
Apart from the four major aforementioned points there are furthermore reasons why peanut butter is not good for rabbits and bunnies. Such as the components like phosphorous, calcium, and acid.
Not only are these not ideal for the rabbits but also, they are not something that the rabbits need.
All of these contents in the peanut butter ensure issues such as problems in the urinary tract of them or even something serious like a bladder infection.
What happens if a rabbit eats peanut butter?
Rabbits are creatures that are sensitive to almost all types of food that are not seen in their diets. They cannot take most of the food we eat as their stomach is rather fragile than ours. The main thing is that they cannot process fats as we do.
Peanut butter on the other hand has a lot of fat and that in turn makes their stomach upset. Excessive of it will insinuate diarrhea, gas, stomach aches, and further dehydration.
Sometimes there are cases where the rabbits will simply choke on the smooth and chunky peanut butter. Therefore, in no case is peanut butter good for rabbits and we should avoid giving them any in any circumstance.
Can rabbits eat peanut butter crackers?
It is essential that we maintain the intake of calcium/phosphorous, acid as well as carbohydrates the rabbits consume as a responsible pet owner. We are not supposed to feed our fluff balls food that is high in carbohydrates.
Foods like crackers for example are high in carbohydrates. Furthermore, peanut butter is also not good for them and now if it is a peanut butter cracker then that becomes out of the question. So they cannot eat them.
Can rabbits have peanut butter and jelly?
In the aforementioned paragraphs, we have discussed multiple how and why peanut butter is not good for our bunnies that are so sensitive creatures. Food items that we make are stuff that is high in fats and other sugars as well as salts.
These are things that our little fluffy friends do not need at all. They will only cause more harm than good to them. The same goes for jelly, as they contain preservatives and a high concentration of sugar.
Thus, we should not feed our rabbits any of peanut butter and jelly items. To be honest we should not feed them anything that essentially is made by us.
Final Thoughts
Rabbits are sensitive creatures that mostly rely on grass and hay to maintain their body. They do not need anything else to take nutrients from. Their digestive system is drastically different from ours and will face the excessive amounts of fat, sugar, and salts present in peanut butter.