People often enjoy eating parsnips as part of side dish or even eating them raw. For many people, a Sunday roast dinner with the family is not complete without a side helping of parsnips.
As a rabbit owner, you may have asked yourself, can rabbits eat parsnips? Are parsnips safe for rabbits?
The short answer is yes, rabbits can eat parsnips. But it’s not quite as simple as that, you need to know when you can give your bunny parsnips, how much, and what happens if you give your rabbit too many parsnips.
This article will provide full details regarding rabbits and parsnips.
Table of Contents
Are Parsnips A Good Source Of Nutrition For Rabbits?
Parsnips are root vegetables and are a member of the carrot family. Parsnips can be a good source of nutrition for rabbits. Let’s look at the nutritional facts regarding parsnips.
A 156g serving of parsnips provides the following nutrition:
- Calories: 111
- Fat: 0.4g
- Sodium: 16mg
- Carbohydrates: 26.6g
- Fibre: 5.6g
- Sugars: 7.5g
- Protein: 2g
Parsnips are rich in fibre and potassium. Just like humans, rabbits benefit greatly from these minerals
However, parsnips are fairly high in sugar and vitamin C compared to some other vegetables and fruits. Rabbits can have some issues with the digestion and absorption of vitamin C, as well as issues with sugar in their system. Therefore you would need to make sure you don’t overfeed parsnips to your rabbit.
Parsnips are naturally low in fat, however, so there is less chance of your rabbit becoming obese from eating lots of parsnips.
Are Parsnips Safe For Rabbits?
Parsnips are safe for rabbits to eat. In order to feed parsnips to your rabbit you must ensure you clean them, peel them and chop them beforehand.
When eaten in moderation, parsnips are advantageous to your pet rabbit’s health and well being. Your rabbit will like the flavour and will want to eat more of it.
However, it’s well known that rabbits have highly precise nutritional requirements. They might become sick and have gastrointestinal issues if their food is imbalanced, therefore it’s important you don’t feed parsnips to your pet rabbit every day.
Do Rabbits Like Parsnips?
Yes, rabbits do like parsnips, and indeed rabbits like root vegetables in general. As mentioned, Parsnips are higher in sugar than other vegetables and this gives them a sweeter taste compared to others. This sweet taste is something that rabbits love, and which is why they’ll happily eat lots of parsnips every day.
Although your bunny rabbit will greatly enjoy parsnips, it’s recommended that you only feed parsnips to your rabbit a maximum of two times per week. This limitation is due to the sugar content of parsnips.
What Are The Benefits Of Feeding My Rabbit Parsnips?
There are four key benefits of feeding parsnips to your rabbit, there are as below:
Parsnips Are Diuretic
Parsnips are naturally diuretic foods. This means your rabbit will pee more frequently as a result. More frequent urinating by eating parsnips could be helpful if your rabbit is has caught a urinary tract or kidney infection.
Low In Calories
Parsnips are low in calories naturally. This means that feeding your rabbit parsnips gives your rabbit a tasty and delectable snack without the prospect of gaining excess weight as a result.
Parsnips Boosts Heart Health
You can give your rabbits heart health a boost with parsnips. This is because parsnips are a good source of potassium, and potassium has been shown to reduce blood pressure. Parsnips are also high in fibre, which helps to reduce the cholesterol levels in blood.
Parsnips Improve Gut Health
The high levels of prebiotic fibres in parsnips help the probiotics in your rabbits intestines flourish and enhance your pet rabbit’s gut health.
How Many Parsnips Can I Give My Rabbit?
You should only feed your rabbit around a tablespoon of vegetables per 500g that your rabbit weighs. This means if your rabbit weights 1.5kg, then you can feed your rabbit around three tablespoons of vegetables a day
If you choose to introduce parsnips to your rabbits diet then it’s recommended that you feed them parsnips only once per week.
What’s The Best Way To Feed My Rabbit Parsnips?
You should only ever feed your rabbit raw parsnips, never feed your bunny cooked parsnips. Rabbits should only eat raw vegetables and foods. Your rabbit could hurt themselves if you feed them soft food like cooked vegetables.
Don’t put honey or any other glazing on the parsnips. While your rabbit will enjoy the sweet taste, it will cause harm to their teeth.
You should feed your rabbit only fresh high quality parsnips. Don’t feed your rabbit mouldy parsnips or any parsnips that are showing signs of decay.
So if you find some mouldy parsnips buried in your fridge, do not think that giving them to your rabbit is a good way to prevent wasting them. Mouldy vegetables could be very harmful to your rabbit’s health and you could find yourself with a large veterinarian bill as a result.
Final Thoughts On Can Rabbits Eat Parsnips
As discussed, you can indeed feed parsnips to your pet rabbit. It’s important you take into account the high sugar levels of parsnips and don’t overfeed the vegetable to your bunny. It’s also important that you don’t feed your rabbit cooked or softened parsnips as it could cause your rabbit to harm themselves.