A rabbit’s diet should be built around unlimited grass hay, a daily rotation of fresh leafy greens, and only a small amount of pellets. Hay makes up the vast majority of what a healthy rabbit eats, with greens and pellets playing supporting roles. Getting these proportions right is the single most important thing you can do for your rabbit’s digestion, dental health, and long life.
Hay Is the Foundation
Hay should be available to your rabbit at all times, in unlimited quantities. It provides the fiber that keeps a rabbit’s digestive system moving and wears down teeth that never stop growing. Without a steady supply, rabbits are prone to gut slowdowns (called GI stasis) and painful dental overgrowth, both of which can become life-threatening.
Timothy hay is the best everyday option for adult rabbits. It’s lower in calcium and protein than alfalfa hay, which matters because rabbits absorb calcium extremely efficiently. Excess calcium gets excreted through urine, and over time, too much of it can lead to urinary stones. You’ll sometimes notice a white, chalky residue in your rabbit’s litter box. That’s normal calcium excretion, but it’s a good reason to stick with timothy rather than alfalfa for adults.
Alfalfa hay is appropriate for baby rabbits under about eight months old, since its higher protein and calcium content supports growth. Once your rabbit reaches adulthood, switch to timothy, orchard grass, or oat hay. If your rabbit is a picky eater, mixing two types of grass hay can help.
Why Hay Keeps Teeth Healthy
Rabbit teeth grow continuously throughout their lives, and the chewing motion required to grind down hay is what keeps them at a proper length. Grass hays contain tiny silica particles called phytoliths, which are harder than tooth enamel. As a rabbit chews, these particles create a consistent, even wear pattern across the tooth surface. Research published in PLOS One confirmed that diets high in silica-rich grasses produce uniform abrasion that essentially “overwrites” uneven wear, keeping teeth smooth and functional. Without enough hay, teeth can develop sharp points or spurs that cut into the cheeks and tongue.
Fresh Greens: Daily Variety
Offer about 1 cup of fresh greens per day for every 2 to 3 pounds your rabbit weighs. Rotate between several types to provide a range of nutrients and prevent any single mineral from building up. The goal is a mix of three to five different greens at each serving.
Greens you can feed daily include romaine lettuce, red and green leaf lettuce, cilantro, basil, dill, mint, endive, celery, cucumber, green pepper, chard, and zucchini. These are low enough in calcium for everyday use.
Some greens are higher in calcium and should only appear in the rotation two to three times per week: kale, parsley, spinach, dandelion greens, mustard greens, arugula, collard greens, watercress, beet tops, escarole, and fennel. Kale is particularly calcium-dense, so treat it as an occasional addition rather than a staple.
Introduce any new green slowly, one at a time, and watch for soft stools over the next day or two. If digestion stays normal, that green is safe to add to the regular rotation.
Pellets: Less Than You Think
Pellets are convenient, but they’re not essential for an adult rabbit eating plenty of hay and greens. Many rabbit veterinarians now recommend no more than 1/8 cup of pellets per 4 to 5 pounds of body weight per day. Some consider pellets more of a treat than a dietary necessity, since overfeeding them is one of the most common causes of obesity in spayed or neutered rabbits.
If you do feed pellets, choose a plain, timothy-based variety without added seeds, corn, or colorful bits. Those extras are high in sugar and starch and offer nothing a rabbit needs. Timothy-based pellets allow you to be slightly more generous with portions compared to alfalfa-based ones, but the difference is small.
Young rabbits under eight months can have pellets more freely, since the extra calories and protein support growth. Starting around eight to twelve months of age, begin tapering the amount down to the adult recommendation. This transition helps prevent weight gain as your rabbit’s growth slows.
Fruit and Treats
Fresh fruit is a treat, not a dietary staple. Limit it to about 1 tablespoon per 2 to 3 pounds of body weight per day. Apple slices (no seeds), blueberries, strawberries, banana, and papaya are popular choices. The sugar content in fruit is high enough that overfeeding can disrupt gut bacteria and cause soft stool.
Avoid commercial “yogurt drops,” seed sticks, and other packaged rabbit treats. They’re loaded with sugar and fat. A small piece of banana or a couple of blueberries will make your rabbit just as happy without the health risks.
Water Intake Matters More Than You’d Expect
A rabbit drinks roughly 120 milliliters of water per kilogram of body weight each day. For a 5-pound (about 2.3 kg) rabbit, that works out to nearly a full cup of water daily. Fresh water should always be available, either in a heavy ceramic bowl or a bottle. Bowls tend to encourage more natural drinking behavior, but some rabbits prefer bottles. Either works, as long as you clean and refill it daily.
Dehydration slows digestion and increases the risk of GI stasis, so if you notice your rabbit drinking less than usual or producing smaller, harder droppings, that’s worth paying attention to.
How Rabbits Digest Their Food
Rabbits have a unique digestive trick that explains why fiber matters so much. After food passes through the stomach and small intestine, it reaches a large pouch called the cecum, where bacteria ferment the fibrous portions that couldn’t be broken down earlier. The colon then sorts particles by size: large, indigestible pieces move forward and become the round, dry droppings you see in the litter box. Smaller, nutrient-rich particles get pushed back into the cecum for more fermentation.
The result of this second fermentation is a special type of dropping called cecotropes, which are soft, dark, grape-like clusters. Rabbits eat these directly (usually at night or early morning), and doing so is completely normal and essential. Cecotropes are rich in protein and B vitamins that can only be absorbed by passing through the digestive tract a second time. If a rabbit is prevented from eating its cecotropes, nutritional deficiencies can develop. If you’re regularly finding uneaten cecotropes in the cage, it can be a sign of overfeeding pellets or too little hay in the diet.
Foods to Avoid
Some common household foods and plants are harmful to rabbits. Rhubarb leaves are toxic. Potato eyes, shoots, and any green parts of potatoes should never be offered. Sweet potato, while not acutely toxic, is too starchy for a rabbit’s digestive system. Azalea, aloe, and many ornamental houseplants are dangerous if chewed.
Bread, crackers, pasta, cereal, chocolate, cookies, and anything processed for humans should stay off the menu entirely. These foods are too high in starch and sugar for a hindgut fermenter, and even small amounts can cause serious digestive upset. Iceberg lettuce is also a poor choice, not because it’s toxic, but because it’s almost entirely water with virtually no nutritional value, and in large amounts can cause diarrhea.
Adjusting Diet by Age
Baby rabbits (under about 8 months) should have unlimited alfalfa hay, free access to alfalfa-based pellets, and a gradual introduction of greens starting around 12 weeks. Introduce one new green at a time, waiting a few days between each new addition.
Between 8 and 12 months, transition from alfalfa to timothy hay and begin reducing pellet portions to the adult level of roughly 1/8 cup per 4 to 5 pounds. This is also the time to expand the variety of greens in the diet.
Older rabbits (over 5 to 6 years) generally do well on the same adult diet, but some lose weight as they age. If your senior rabbit is getting thinner despite eating normally, a slight increase in pellets or the reintroduction of small amounts of alfalfa hay can help maintain body condition. Monitoring weight every few weeks gives you an early signal to adjust.