Yes, they can occasionally eat persimmons, aka the Sharon fruit, but in controlled quantities.
Persimmons have a high sugar content that can be bad for a bunny’s tummy. Therefore, it’s best not to feed your little bun-bin a lot of Sharon fruit.
Is Persimmon Good For Bunnies?
Like humans, rabbits cannot make their own vitamin C, but naturally, they need it to stay healthy.
To make up for the lack of vitamin C in their body, a bunny must acquire it from somewhere else.
Since persimmons have a generous amount of vitamin C, they are beneficial for bunnies.
However, the same can be said for any citrus fruit as all of those are rich in vitamin C.
So, if you feed your bunny a piece of, let’s say, orange or strawberry, you don’t need to give them persimmons, at least for that particular week.
Once the next week starts, you can give them persimmons.
With that said, be sure to peel the persimmon you feed your furry pal, as the rind contains tannic acid, which will make their mouth too dry.
Tannic acid or tannins are natural antioxidants, so they are not harmful to a bunny’s health per se.
However, they can have an unpleasant dry effect on the tongue, which is why it’s better to peel the fruit before feeding it to your pet.
Perhaps the best way to serve a persimmon to bunnies is taking off the peel and cutting a wedge. One average-sized wedge should be enough for your bunny’s body per week.
Moreover, it must be noted that unripe persimmons have a bitter taste. If you give such fruit to your rabbit, they may have an adverse reaction.
Therefore, ensure that the persimmon you feed your bunny is fully ripe. Fully ripened persimmons are sweet and easily consumable.
Also read: Do Rabbits Eat Tomato Plants?
How Much Fruit Can Bunnies Have?
Rabbits have a very sensitive digestive tract, due to which they cannot endure stress on their tum-tum.
For this reason, you cannot overfeed them anything, let alone a fruit that has high volumes of sugar.
Sugar is harmful to rabbits in multiple ways. Firstly, it leads to obesity and unnecessary weight gain, which may become difficult to shed, especially for older bunnies.
On top of that, sugar is not processed correctly in a rabbit’s gut and often results in the growth of life-threatening bacteria.
Due to this, it’s advisable to give your little furry friend only a few pieces of fruit every once in a while.
How Much Fruit Is Too Much Fruit For Bunnies?
As already mentioned, bunnies have a sensitive digestive system and cannot consume too much sugar.
Therefore, you should only give a piece of fruit to your rabbit once or twice a week. It can be any fruit, such as persimmons, watermelon, or whichever fruit your rabbit likes.
Sometimes, if a bunny responds well to fruit and shows interest in having more, pet parents get swept up by their furry child’s doe eyes and end up giving more pieces. That can be fatal for them.
If you don’t want to risk your rabbit’s life, don’t let your parental instincts and love get the best of you.
A Bunny’s Diet
Controlling the amount of fruit you feed your furry friend is essential for their wellbeing.
Bunnies can survive without getting any fruit as their bodies are predisposed to having plants and grass.
This means even if you don’t give them a sweet treat, they will be fine, which shows that fruits are not necessary for a bunny’s diet.
So, whether you serve your bunny friend fruit or not, be sure to give them an unlimited supply of hay.
Hay is the most important food that bunnies need because they are grazing animals.
In simple terms, rabbits are programmed to wander in the wilderness and survive on grass and other plant bits.
Due to this, they need to have hay even when not in the wild. Therefore, providing them generous amounts of hay should be the first thing in your pet’s diet regime.
Hay
Like many other pet foods, hay has various types, not all of which are safe for a rabbit.
The best hay for a bunny is grass hay, such as timothy, orchard grass, brome, and oat hay. Besides grass hay, you may find varieties that are legumes, but those are not too beneficial for bunnies.
Grass hay, such as alfalfa, is not the best hay option for rabbits because it is too rich and can overwhelm their digestive tract.
That’s right! As surprising as it may seem, too much nutrition is unhealthy for bunnies.
Therefore, you need to make sure that the foods they have contain a good mix of nutrients but not too much.
That said, you may give alfalfa or any other legume hay to your bunny once a week if you really want to; however, that is not necessary.
Also, it must be noted that adult bunnies are more prone to having an adverse response to alfalfa, so if your pet is past its infancy years, keep legume hay away from it.
Pellets
Apart from hay, pellets are another staple food for bunnies.
Pellets are small nugget-like pieces of nutritional supplements manufactured to make up for any lack of nutrients in a bunny’s body.
Since rabbits have a sensitive gut, they do not react well to heavy foods- the ones too rich for their digestive system. Due to this, pet parents may be hesitant to serve their fur friend a lot of food.
That can result in a deficiency in the little animal’s body. This gap is fulfilled with pellets.
With that being said, even if you feed considerable amounts of food to your little bun-bun, you still need to give them pellets.
Pellets do not overwhelm a bunny’s digestive tract, so you can serve those little nuggets of nourishment without fear of risking your bunny’s life.
Long story short, a decent quantity of pellets, such as a quarter of a cup for an average-sized bunny, is essential for a rabbit after hay.
Water
Water is incredibly important for bunnies as it washes away all the toxins in your pet’s body. Moreover, it helps the grazing animal with digestion.
It also stands to reason that being such small animals with a sensitive gut, they can get dehydrated easily, particularly in the summer.
Therefore, giving them an endless supply of water is critical.
Sometimes bunnies may not drink enough water even if you keep a bowl in their hutch. If that is the case with your fur buddy, you should use a dropper to put water into their system.
Besides the three main staples of a bunny’s diet, hay pellets and water, you should give your pet half a cup or a little more veggies, along with occasional persimmon (or any other fruit) treats.
Ending Note
Whenever adding a new food item to your fur baby’s diet, be sure to start with little quantities to make their body used to it.
Once you are sure their body is not having any side effects, you can increase the amount.
So, when you start giving them persimmons, begin with a small piece (one that’s even smaller than a wedge).
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