Abstract
Dietary composition and presentation impacts on the behaviour of animals, and failure to provide asuitable diet can lead to reduced welfare through the development of poor health, the inability to expressnormal behaviours and the development of abnormal behaviours. This study assessed the effects of twocommonly fed pet rabbit diets (extruded nuggets with hay (EH) and muesli with hay (MH)) alongside hayonly (HO) and muesli only (MO) on the behaviour of 32 Dutch rabbits observed over 17 months. Increased time spent feeding was observed in the groups fed ad libitum hay (HO, EH, MH) compared to the MO group (P < 0.05). A corresponding high level of inactivity was observed in the MO group compared torabbits receiving hay (P < 0.05). In the groups provided with hay a preference to consume hay in a natural grazing posture was observed. The higher activity levels and absence of abnormal behaviours when hay was fed support recommendations that forage should form a significant portion of the diet for domestic rabbits.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 86 - 92 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Volume | 169 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Print publication - 2015 |
Bibliographical note
1029896Keywords
- Abnormal behaviour
- Behaviour
- Feeding
- Hay
- Rabbit