Rabbit and feeding on Bok Choy
Bok Choy otherwise known as Pok choi or Pak choi is a type of Chinese cabbage. It has varieties and has green leaf blades with lighter bulbous bottom.
This leaf is popular in East Asia and southern china.
Bok Choy is very healthy and is full of minerals, fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. Apart from this, they are also very delicious and crunchy. They can be eaten with garlic, ginger and soy sauce. Bok choy can be eaten by both man and animals
Contents
Can rabbits eat Bok Choy?
YES, Rabbits can eat Bok Choy. It isn’t toxic at all for rabbits but the quantities taken should be reasonable.
The good thing about Bok Choy is that it is one leafy vegetable that doesn’t cause any major ill health to the rabbits.
So you can start by giving your rabbit a small portion of it and wait at least 24 hours to see if your rabbit can tolerate it favorably.
If you don’t notice any stooling or gas then you can progress more with it.
The recommended amount by experts is a cup of greens for 2Ibs of rabbit body weight. But you shouldn’t make it too juice and give to them.
The juice will have less fiber than the green leaves and will affect the rabbits. So you just need to give them only the leaves because it contains good amount of calcium which rabbits need to help limit bladder stone formation on them.
Bok Choy also contains high amount of antioxidants which protects the rabbit body from different diseases, it has good amount of vitamins like vitamins A,K and C which will prevent blood clotting for the rabbits and lastly, Bok Choy is very low in calories.
Rabbits need diets that are low in calories and Bok choy offers this with lot of fiber.
Bottom-line is that with all the nutrients provided by Bok Choy, the rabbit will farewell when they are fed with them. So as such there’s nothing wrong with feeding the rabbits with Bok Choy.
Does Bok Choy cause gas in rabbits?
The truth is that the culprits that cause gas in rabbits are the diet they feed on but the emphasis is more on the quantities.
Any large amount of cauliflower, kale , broccoli or cabbage fed to rabbit will cause gas though some are more susceptible to gas more than others.
But the thing is that removing these veggies from their food wouldn’t make any health sense, the best is watching the quantity you give out.
For Bok choy, the core and stems can give gas to your rabbit and this depends mostly on their digestive system.
This is not to say you shouldn’t even give them the core or the stem, you can but if your rabbit has a sensitive digestive system you need to watch it.
You can start by serving it smaller amounts and this should be intermittently but if it still isn’t going down well with your rabbits then you need to stop with the feed.
When once your rabbit shift from one strange position to another then you should know your rabbit has gas. So you would need to stop the veggie and feed it with other treats before thinking of contacting a vet.
Can rabbits eat the white part of Bok Choy?
The white part of the Bok Choy which is the stem can also be fed to the rabbits. But there can be too watery so you need to watch the quantity you are giving to your rabbit to avoid watery stool or gas.
You might feed them more of the baby Bok Choy stem since they are fragile and thin and might not give the same bad effect like the mature ones.
As earlier stated the quantity of Bok Choy to be consumed by your rabbits depends to a high extent on their digestive system. Some breeds will take the Bok choy both the leaves and stems with no issue while others can stand them.
So you need to find out what works for your rabbits feed them the white part in small quantity, if their digestive system tolerates it then it is a clear sign for you to continue. So go with reasonable amount and that should be your watch word
Is Bok Choy high in calcium?
The Bok Choy which is a Chinese white cabbage is a vegetable that is in good supply of nutrients. One of such nutrient is calcium.
Taking in Bok Choy will offer calcium for bone health; Bok Choy contributes to building and maintaining of bone structure and strength.
It is a well known fact that both phosphorus and calcium are really needed in bone structure. So Bok choy is in good supply of calcium,
according to the united states department of Agriculture ( national nutrient database). One cup of raw bok Choy which weigh about 70 grams contain a whooping 74mg of calcium.
So this is to conclude that Bok choy is high in calcium and will help a lot with proper bone growth. Bok Choy helps in maintain the balance of calcium in the bones which is an indication that the risk of bone fracture can be drastically reduced.
What other animals eat Bok Choy?
The following animals are so in love with Bok choy and they feast on it all the time. They are cabbage maggots, flea bettles, tarnished plant buges, cutworms, leaf miners. Aphids, slugs, vegetable weevils and seedcorn maggots
What other leafy greens can rabbit eat?
Rabbits are herbivores otherwise known as plant eaters, so they have complex digestive systems and are great in processing foods.
Apart from them eating hay, they consume good amount of fresh leafy green vegetables.
They are allowed to eat a variety of them and as much as they want provided it wouldn’t caused them diarrhea and the vegetables are not high in carbohydrate like in potatoes and carrots.
These leafy leaves need to be introduce in very small quantities and slowly too
The good leaves are mustard greens, beet greens, watercress, broccoli greens, romaine, basil, cilantro, and carrot top.
Other leafy greens like these should be fed in limited quantities they include: escarole, dandellon greens, collard, kale, swiss chard and parsley.
These ones are very high in calcium so they need to be taken in reasonable amount to avoid the development of calcium-based bladder stones if overfed with them.
Green peppers, head lettuce, Brussels sprouts, wheat grass, squash, iceberg, radicchio are acceptable leafy greens good for the rabbits but you need to watch the quantities as well.
These ones are mainly water and contain fewer nutrients. The general rule is to feed your rabbits a small amount of many different vegetables than feeding them a large amount of one of them
Summary
Bok Choy belongs to the cruciferous family of vegetables. It was first planted in china thousands of years ago but it is all over the world now.
The Bok choy comes with a lot of nutrients that can be befitting for the rabbits.
So it can be added to the diet for the rabbits but the amount given should be small especially for rabbits with very sensitive digestive system.