Can Rabbits Eat Celery? Benefits, Risks & How to Feed Celery

The diet of rabbits should include a wide variety of plant-based foods, like herbs and vegetables. This is how rabbits get the minerals and vitamins that their bodies require. The question is can rabbits eat celery? Most rabbits love celery, which contains several essential nutrients that keep them healthy.

Celery is a healthy vegetable for rabbits to eat, and it contains nutrients like vitamins C, A, and B6, iron, and fiber. But it should not be consumed in surplus, so only provide your rabbit with a small piece daily. Also, celery should be chopped into small pieces, as long celery strings can result in digestive problems.

Can Rabbits Eat Celery? 

Yes, rabbits can eat celery.

Celery is a flowering plant in the same family as parsnips and carrots, and it is native to marshy and damp environments in the Middle East. The mild and crunchy taste of celery, along with the low-calorie content, makes celery a favorite food for rabbits. 

Rabbits like celery as part of their fresh vegetable consumption should make up around fifteen percent of a rabbit’s diet. As celery is not a leafy green, it should be provided sparingly. Nonetheless, as an occasional treat, it is entirely safe for rabbits. Most rabbits like the taste of the outer part, stalks, and the green inner ones.

How Often Can Rabbits Eat Celery?

Specialists recommend adult rabbits can consume a cup of packed greens for every two pounds of the pet’s weight. This also depends on how your rabbit responds to it after introducing the vegetable.

Considering its high water content, celery must only be fed to rabbits in moderation. Therefore, you should provide your rabbit celery not daily but every other day instead. 

Celery is generally safe for your rabbit but should only make up thirty percent of your pet’s overall diet. It would help to feed them celery in moderation, not more than 3-4 times a week. Furthermore, it would be wiser to notice the bowel or habit changes every time you give a new food to them. 

7 Benefits of Feeding Celery to Rabbits

1: Diversification of Taste

If you continuously offer pellet and hay food to your rabbit, they may feel bored. Rabbits like to explore new things, whether it is their dishes. Offering celery could be a great idea to diversify their taste.

2: Helps Prevent Rickets 

Rickets is a common skeletal disorder in rats and dogs. Nonetheless, a study indicates that rabbits, particularly pregnant female rabbits, are also prone to this infection. Possible reasons for rickets include insufficiency of Vitamin D, dietary phosphorus, or calcium. 

Celeries are a source of phosphorus and calcium essential to your rabbit’s bone development, and Celeries prevent baby rabbits from developing bone deficiencies. 

3: Essential for Rabbit’s Growth 

Celery includes thiamine or vitamin B1. Thiamine is a complex vitamin B that targets carbohydrate and fat metabolism. It leads to the conversion of food into energy in the body. It prevents the rabbits from muscle paralysis, which is the inability to move and loss of appetite. 

According to a study, thiamine in rabbit diets ensures growth. Nonetheless, thiamine intake only needs a limited dosage because the rabbit’s hindgut produces vitamin B complex while digesting cecotropes or the soft poop the rabbit eats for nutrient absorption.

4: It helps Regulate Teeth Growth

The teeth of rabbits keep on growing by approximately 0.07-0.09 inches every week. This is the reason they constantly chew their surroundings. But overgrown teeth may hurt your rabbits in the long run. Malocclusion happens when their upper and lower teeth meet in the wrong direction. When this occurs, it may stop the rabbits from eating properly. It will also result in mouth injuries in their tongue, cheeks, and gums. 

Fiber-rich plants like celery help their teeth grind, and they will chew on it with a bit of pressure, which helps prevent their teeth from overgrowing. Make sure to slice your celery to prevent your rabbits from choking.

5: Vitamin C Supplement

Vitamin C is processed in the rabbit’s liver already. Thus, they may no longer require their daily amount, except for some situations affecting vitamin C production, such as illness, stress, and warm temperatures. Furthermore, giving them some celery bites may supplement their body’s scarcity of vitamin C. You may provide your rabbits an inch of celery slices occasionally.

6: Helps Maintain Good Eye Health

Your rabbits retain sharp senses—particularly their sense of night vision. You may also see them sniffing and standing when they are outside. As prey creatures, this is important for their survival, and they need to be cautious of predators in their surroundings all the time. For your rabbits at home, you can support their eyesight with vitamin A and feed them celery as it contains sufficient Vitamin A.  

7: It helps Reduce Injury Bleeding

Celery is another source of folate. It is a raw form of vitamin B9. It is present in numerous foods, like beans and dark leafy vegetables such as asparagus, lettuce, basil. As per a study, folate has therapeutic impacts in rabbits. 

Particularly rabbits with DVT or deep venous thrombosis. DVT happens when there is a buildup of blood in a rabbit’s deep veins. If left untreated, DVT can be deadly to your rabbits.

4 Risk of Feeding Celery to Rabbits

Celery is known to be one of the healthiest vegetables that you can give your rabbit. Nevertheless, that is not to say that there are no hazards. On the contrary, you should be conscious of the potential dangers of celery.

1: Can Lead to Diarrhea

Sometimes celery can result in diarrhea due to its high water percentage. Most of the time, excess water consumption is good to help keep the rabbit’s digestive system functioning well, but sometimes too much water can cause diarrhea. When first giving celery, give them just a tiny portion and slowly raise the quantity they eat.

2: Can Result in Choking

The celery stalk has long fibrous strings that can cause a cough in the rabbit’s teeth or get stuck in the throat, resulting in choking. If the rabbit is choking on celery, you can help them by gently patting its back, and this will dislodge the piece of celery. Furthermore, take your rabbit to the vet as soon as possible.

The best way to prevent these problems for the rabbit is to cut the celery into small pieces of less than one inch. Shorter lengths should not result in any issues for your rabbit. 

3: Lead to Intestinal Blockage

The fibrous celery strings can also get caught in the stomach and intestines of rabbits catching food and other substances. It could lead to the rabbit’s intestines getting blocked, a condition called GI stasis. This is a severe condition for your rabbit. Thus making sure that the celery is cut into small pieces will help decrease the likelihood of GI problems.

4:Contains High Sugar Content

Even though celery contains mainly water, it has just under two percent sugar. This may be the primary reason that most rabbits like to eat celery. Rabbits thrive on a low-sugar diet; thus, it is good to limit this vegetable to a few times per week and not give them alongside other vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, kale are relatively high in sugar, like carrots. In addition, sugar consumption can lead to tooth problems and obesity over some time.

How to Feed Celery to Rabbits?

If you do not overfeed celery, it can be very healthy for your rabbits. Most rabbit diets should include hay, leafy greens, and vegetables. Celery is a good choice as it is full of vital nutrients. Remember the following tips while preparing this celery for your rabbits:

Choose the Celery Carefully

Try to obtain organic celery free from harmful pesticides and fertilizer. Studies indicate that pesticides like permethrins can be life-threatening to your rabbits.

Wash it Thoroughly

Before providing it to your rabbit, wash the vegetable thoroughly under running water to remove the dirt, soil, and pesticides. After that, cut the vegetable into about half an inch pieces, and this will ensure that the tough strings do not cause any problems for your rabbit.

Introduce the Vegetable Slowly

Initially, introduce the celery gradually and wait for your pet’s response. If your rabbit appears to digest it, you are good, but if he is not responding well, stop giving him celery. While introducing any new food to your rabbit, notice this reaction closely. Stop giving that food if you see issues like diarrhea, constipation, or other abnormal responses.

Remove the Flowers 

Rabbits can consume both the stalks and leaves of celery. If you grow your celery or buy it directly from a farm, you may see some celery flowers. The flowers are unsuitable for rabbits, so chop them off before giving your rabbit celery. It would help if you never shared your rabbit celery seeds because they contain too much protein and fat compared to what your rabbit requires.

Most veterinarians say you should give your pet three different types of vegetables daily to help maintain a balanced diet. Half of a stalk of celery is the adequate size portion for your adult rabbit.

Conclusion

So can rabbits eat celery? Yes, celery is a great vegetable to give your rabbit in moderation. Nonetheless, celery has some incredible nutritious benefits and may cause some trouble. It is always best to begin by giving your rabbit one small portion and making sure that the sensitive digestive system of the rabbit can tolerate the new vegetable. If you notice any difficulties, stop giving the vegetable, or try to introduce it gradually over time.

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