BenBun Snarfs Punkie-Pellet Mush Balls
(Photos courtesy of his Mom, Sharon)
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Ahead of time:
1. Divide a can of pureed pumpkin (the label should read "Ingredient: pumpkin.") into ice cube trays, or drop the puree from a tablespoon (about 15 mL) onto a baking tray and freeze; store frozen portions in an air-tight container.
2. To prepare one day's feedings for a five-pound rabbit, place 1/2 cup of your bunny's favorite pellets in a lidded food container and add water until the pellets are just submerged. They will soak up liquid quickly and can be used within an hour, but you may find it easier to prepare a full day's portion at once. Doing this every 24 hours helps me track Ben's total daily consumption. Leave closed container in the refrigerator and you will have soft, moist, pellet fluff, ready to measure and mix. Keep chilled and discard unused fluff after 24 hours. If your rabbit is underweight from recuperating you may want to use an alfalfa or alfalfa-timothy blend pellet for caloric value.
Preparation:
To prepare a portion for about a 5 pound (2.27 kg) bunny, defrost a cube of pumpkin (about 1 tablespoon), stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons of softened pellets, and add water to obtain desired consistency. Gently warm mixture over low heat for a minute or two while stirring (a heat-proof spatula works well). Adjust wet/dry ingredients to obtain a consistency that your bunny enjoys. BenBun now likes his mush fairly loose and wet, but when I first made this recipe for him he preferred a drier texture that I finger-shaped quickly into balls.
Variations:
You may be making these for a bunny who has had dental surgery and is experiencing difficulty eating, so he may need extra energy as well as flavor to tempt his appetite and maintain healthy bodyweight. Recuperation after illness can deplete a lot of calories. To the basic pumpkin/pellet mix, you might add finely shredded carrot, apple, or a 1/2 teaspoon of unsweetened applesauce, mash a slice of banana. In an emergency, babyfood pureed veggies, bananas or peaches can be substituted. Alfalfa leaf and powder are sold in health stores and can be added to enrich a timothy-only pellet base.
Regarding texture and flavor, watch to see what your bunny likes and needs and, most importantly, what she eats.
Serve food in a bowl that fits your bunny's face. Mini-lop Ben's flat, round incisor-less face needs a wide, shallow dish about 4-inches in diameter with a sloped low edge for pushing food against so that he can grasp it with his lips and tongue. Watch your bunny eat and you will be able to determine a shape and size that is easy for him to manage.
Update:
I developed this recipe a few years ago when Ben lost weight recuperating from difficult incisor surgery, when he could still chew hay with his molars. Then he needed a calorically dense formula. Now, at age eleven, Ben has lost some molars and he no longer has the ability to chew hay. If your rabbit can not chew hay which had been an important and large part of his diet, this formula based on fortified pellets may be too rich and too low in fiber to maintain health. Check your bunny's fecal output and watch for excess cecals for guidance. BunnyBytes sells five-pound bags of unfortified, milled, pelleted hays from Sterett Brothers Hay Company. Unlike pelleted rabbit diets, these contain no nutritional supplement chemicals or minerals. They are made for horses who require a soft mash and they offer tremendous fiber supplement to homemade soft foods for rabbits. I tried many kitchen devices to grind/chop/cut hay into fine particles, but nothing was as effective as these milled pellets. Now the inclusion of this pelleted hay into Ben's daily mush meals consistently offers him adequate fiber to support GI health. For Ben's daily diet I replace about one half of the fortified rabbit pellets with hay-only pellets. This ratio maintains his weight and his fecal output is comparable to that of a hay-munching bunny.
If your bunny can no longer eat hay, your veterinarian may recommend an accelerated schedule for exams. A young bunny on an adjusted diet may need professional care to support proper occlusion and to prevent or manage dental spurs or points.
