Ok, hear me out! I’ve been taking care of two orphan wild rabbits for the past week (mother was killed by the neighbor’s cat). I went to the store and picked up some Timothy hay with fruit mixed in (Goji berries, pineapple, papaya, and something else) and also got some Mazuri rabbit pellets for them. These guys are super duper close to leaving the nest to be out on their own. Which leaves me with this little bag of Timothy and fruit and almost all of the 5lb. bag of Rabbit pellets. The rabbit pellets are mostly alfalfa anyway so I wondered if it would be safe to give to the horses (just as a little treat…maybe a handful a day)? I don’t see anything in that would be harmful but ya never know.
I’d say no as there just might be something in the bunny food that isn’t good for a horse. How about donating it to a local rescue? Lots of animal rescues also wind up taking in domestic rabbits. Package it up in a big ziploc & you can even write off the donation!
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Can you list the ingredients on here? 
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I would say a couple handfuls a day is okay for the horses. If you notice their ears elongating, back off to one handful.
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[QUOTE=LarkspurCO;4356478]
I would say a couple handfuls a day is okay for the horses. If you notice their ears elongating, back off to one handful.[/QUOTE]
:lol:
Here’s the list of ingredients and analysis
Ingredients: Dehydrated alfalfa meal, ground soybean hulls, wheat middlings, cane molasses, dehulled soybean meal, ground corn, soybean oil, dicalcium phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, salt, calcium carbonate, dl-methionine, choline chloride, dried yucca shidigera extract, magnesium oxide, vitamin A acetate, folic acid, cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, dl-alpha tocophyeryl Acetate (natural source vitamin E), calcium pantothenate, nicotinic acid, riboflavin, cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12), manganous oxide, zinc oxide, ferrous carbonate, copper sulfate, zinc sulfate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, sodium selenite.
Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein (min.) 15.0%, Crude Fat (min.) 2.5%, Crude Fiber (min.) 20.0%, Crude Fiber (max.) 24.0%, Calcium (min.) 0.80%, Calcium (max.) 1.30%, Phosphous (min.) 0.50%, Salt (min.) 0.75%, Salt (max.) 1.25%, Vitamin A (min.) 8000 IU/lb., Vitamin E (min.) 20 IU/lb., Ash (max.) 9.0%.
I can’t fathom there being something in rabbit food that would hurt a horse. But what do I know.
What about the fruit in the hay? Anything that a horse can’t have listed in those fruits?
[QUOTE=jaimebaker;4356519]
:lol:
Here’s the list of ingredients and analysis
Ingredients: Dehydrated alfalfa meal, ground soybean hulls, wheat middlings, cane molasses, dehulled soybean meal, ground corn, soybean oil, dicalcium phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, salt, calcium carbonate, dl-methionine, choline chloride, dried yucca shidigera extract, magnesium oxide, vitamin A acetate, folic acid, cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, dl-alpha tocophyeryl Acetate (natural source vitamin E), calcium pantothenate, nicotinic acid, riboflavin, cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12), manganous oxide, zinc oxide, ferrous carbonate, copper sulfate, zinc sulfate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, sodium selenite.
Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein (min.) 15.0%, Crude Fat (min.) 2.5%, Crude Fiber (min.) 20.0%, Crude Fiber (max.) 24.0%, Calcium (min.) 0.80%, Calcium (max.) 1.30%, Phosphous (min.) 0.50%, Salt (min.) 0.75%, Salt (max.) 1.25%, Vitamin A (min.) 8000 IU/lb., Vitamin E (min.) 20 IU/lb., Ash (max.) 9.0%.
I can’t fathom there being something in rabbit food that would hurt a horse. But what do I know.
What about the fruit in the hay? Anything that a horse can’t have listed in those fruits?[/QUOTE]
Not so sure it is always good to just fathom there not being something harmful in it, you know? Could you fathom there being anything in there that might harm a sheep? There is. Copper Sulfate. A cow can take 10 times the amount of copper a sheep can before becoming toxic so therefore a cattle feed could certainly kill a sheep. I don’t know how much copper sulfate there is in the rabbit food you have so don’t know if it would, but copper is very toxic to sheep. Just using as an example of how easy it could be to feed something that one would assume to be fine and have it not be. This is why feeds are usually animal specific.
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No idea about it being good or bad for horses, but it’s not very high-quality bunny food. Ground corn isn’t very nutrionally healthy for a rabbit, and timothy hay isn’t even listed as an ingredient. Molasses is the 4th ingredient, which means there’s a lot of it.
[I]Dehydrated alfalfa meal, ground soybean hulls, wheat middlings, cane molasses, dehulled soybean meal, ground corn, soybean oil
[/I]Good bunny food:
http://www.sweetmeadowfarm.com/pel_rabblend2.html
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Rabbit food is GREAT for horses. Everybody looksat my 8 gorgeous, hezlthyhorsesand comments on how theylook
Oops, hit the post button. I have been feeding my eight horses rabbit food almost daily 4 years and they are shining examples of optimum health. Their hooves are strong enough for me to go barefoot with them on Extreme rocks even lava and their coats are shiny and their eyes are bright and they’re full of energy and have no digestive problems what so ever. I prefer rabbit food to most of the horse Foods out there because it’s higher quality with more roughage and less fat and less grain. I would say not only is rabbit food safe for horses but it’s great for them. There is one catch, however, and that is I only feed the rabbit food that has Timothy Hay and no extra stuff I feed rabbit food that is made not from primarily soybean hulls and other stuff but mostly from hay and with no extra weird things like seeds and fruits. In reply to the original post, I would say that even though it does have a few extra things like fruit it would be fine to give them especially if you’re only giving it to them a few handfuls at a time. They would love it and probably benefit from a little bit of variety
Annnnnnnnd ten year old thread. This poster hasn’t even logged in since 2012. Pretty sure this query is no longer relevant 
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I’m a veterinarian. I sometimes joke about rabbits basically being small horses–they can only tolerate a few antibiotics because they’re hindgut fermentation tanks with legs, you can’t fast them before surgery or their GI systems go kaput, they’re anesthetic weenies…they even need their cheek teeth floated. TLDR: why the hell not? On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve been known to toss a handful of hay and pony pellets at my guinea pigs when I can’t be bothered to go to the shop and they’re out of foodies.
I confess to having bought (years ago) small bags of bunny hay for my horse. As a treat - for both of us. I had never seen Orchard grass hay - was delighted to finally, actually see what it looked like. My horse had COPD - so I wet it down for him. He loved it.
Question: I have been wondering - when searching for Timothy cubes - I find them in small (expensive) bags for bunnies. If Timothy can be made into cubes for bunnies - why not horses? 100 pct Timothy - no alfalfa. FWIW I’ve been feeding the Timothy Balance Cubes - 90 pct Timothy - 10 pct Beet pulp. The TBC’s are about twice as expensive per bag as any other kind of cube. (the cube is also balanced with vits/mins IIRC - but still…).
I know this is an old thread, but
Ingredients: Dehydrated alfalfa meal, ground soybean hulls, wheat middlings, cane molasses, dehulled soybean meal, ground corn, soybean oil, dicalcium phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, salt, calcium carbonate, dl-methionine, choline chloride, dried yucca shidigera extract, magnesium oxide, vitamin A acetate, folic acid, cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, dl-alpha tocophyeryl Acetate (natural source vitamin E), calcium pantothenate, nicotinic acid, riboflavin, cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12), manganous oxide, zinc oxide, ferrous carbonate, copper sulfate, zinc sulfate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, sodium selenite.
Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein (min.) 15.0%, Crude Fat (min.) 2.5%, Crude Fiber (min.) 20.0%, Crude Fiber (max.) 24.0%, Calcium (min.) 0.80%, Calcium (max.) 1.30%, Phosphous (min.) 0.50%, Salt (min.) 0.75%, Salt (max.) 1.25%, Vitamin A (min.) 8000 IU/lb., Vitamin E (min.) 20 IU/lb., Ash (max.) 9.0%.
I can’t fathom there being something in rabbit food that would hurt a horse. But what do I know.
What about the fruit in the hay? Anything that a horse can’t have listed in those fruits?
Take off the rabbit label and this could easily be a horse supplement, or even a feed (not well-fortified, but still). Most of these ingredients are found in high quality horse feeds, all these ingredients are found in many horses feeds, and there is nothing in here that is inherently harmful
As for the fruits - same, nothing harmful, and even the papaya is something that has gut health benefits
Even though ingredients are supposed to be listed in order by weight, that doesn’t mean there’s a lot of even the 4th ingredient. Weight amounts could drop off very quickly. For example, Triple Crown Senior has molasses as the 5th ingredient, yet is one of the lowest NSC feeds there are
Standlee makesTimothy cubes and even has them on Chewy
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Standlee doesn’t make timothy cubes, only pellets. Chewy stocked the pellets for a brief time last year but quit carrying them.
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Ontario Dehy makes a 100% timothy cube. I use them as a carrier for supplements. I wish I could find the balance cubes but none of the stores around me stock them and won’t order.
In my experience with raising rabbits , the feed was crazy expensive. If it is about the same as feed labeled for horses than why pay more for a rabbit on the cover and label???
