Cardboard and bunnies

The RWAF recently posted their advice following some discussion online regarding the use of cardboard as enrichment for bunnies – cardboard boxes to play and sleep in, toilet roll holders filled with hay, extra insulation etc – and responded to the question of potential dangers…

The Facebook post by Richard Saunders, the RWAF’s Vet Specialist Adviser, expressed that cardboard has been used in this way for many years but if you observe your rabbit eating a lot of the cardboard, as opposed to just destroying it, that you remove it and consider getting your bunny checked. However the article points out that cardboard is in the gut, along with other indigestible materials such as fur balls etc – because the GI tract is moving slowly, not the cause of it to move slowly.

It’s ultimately all about good management: observing your bunnies’ behaviour and managing things that are not good for them. So if they’re eating carpet, wires, plastic or cardboard, these things should be tackled accordingly to protect your bunny. Be that through distraction techniques with other enrichment options or removal either permanently or temporarily of the material in question. In my 20 years of having bunnies, i’ve had one cardboard chewer but he ingested very little of it and could easily be distracted by playing with some hay with him if he was getting a little exhuberant with his remodelling behaviour…

Read the article in full here

Richard Saunders is the RWAF’s Vet Specialist Adviser and CEVA Vet of the Year 2018.