Can Rabbits Eat Cabbage?

Last Updated on May 31, 2023 by

Cabbage is a leafy green, red (purple), or white biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is a very, very popular vegetable. This can lead many people to question whether rabbits can eat cabbage or not.

On this page, we are hopefully going to be giving you the answer!

While it may look a lot like lettuce, it actually belongs to the Brassica genus of vegetables, which includes broccoli, cauliflower and kale.

can rabbits eat Cabbage
Can rabbits eat cabbage?

Can rabbits eat cabbage?

Absolutely, rabbits can eat cabbage. In fact, this is something that you will probably want to introduce into their diet sooner as opposed to later.

It can add a few extra nutrients in and gives your rabbit a nice mix of food that they can munch down on each day. It will stop your rabbit from getting bored!

How much cabbage can a rabbit eat?

In theory, there is no set amount of cabbage that a rabbit can eat. Rabbits do need leafy greens in their diet, and every type of cabbage fits the bill.

However, you are probably not going to want to overdo it when you feed your rabbit cabbage, at least for the first time.

It is recommended that you slowly introduce the cabbage into your rabbit’s diet. Feed them a couple of leaves of cabbage per week, at least at the start.

This will allow you to monitor the impact of the cabbage on your rabbit’s health. Remember; it is unlikely that your rabbit will munch the whole cabbage leaf at the start.

Rabbits can be quite picky when it comes to newer foods, so you probably will need to wait a while before they take to the cabbage properly. A couple of weeks, for instance.

Once your rabbit has taken to the cabbage, then you can easily incorporate it into their fresh vegetable mix. It should provide them with a decent amount of nutrients. Of course, you should still stick to a few leaves per week.

This will allow you to incorporate a good mix into your rabbit’s diet. You don’t want them to be eating the same food. This could make them very, very sick!

Is it safe or bad for rabbits to eat cabbage?

Whenever you are feeding your rabbits cabbage, you need to make sure that you are feeding them fresh cabbage only. If it isn’t fresh, then there is a chance that they could get sick.

Therefore, if you are leaving the cabbage in a vegetable bowl overnight, then make sure that you remove it in the morning. It would have become wilted and a breeding ground for bacteria.

You should also only feed your rabbit cabbage when it is at least 6-months old. Any earlier than that and their stomachs will likely be a bit too sensitive to have food like this in their diet.

Because rabbits take to cabbage fairly well, you probably won’t have to look for too many signs they are getting sick. Cabbage is known to make rabbits gassy and cause bloatedness, but this is an issue that tends to subside rather quickly.

It is all down to cabbage being fairly easy to digest. If this is a problem that continues for your rabbit, then you will want to discontinue feeding them cabbage.