Welcome! My name is Calvin, and this is my new column. I wanted to host a feature where folks could share clever tips and solutions that make having a house rabbit easier. If you would like to submit an entry for this forum, please send an email to berben@comcast.ne (feel free to include a picture if it helps to explain your tip). If your tip is selected to appear in an upcoming issue, you will win a “thank you” prize.
This issue’s contributor is David Berwind with his technique for feeding Critical Care mash in modified 3 cc syringes.
Critical Care for Herbivores (by Oxbow) is a powdered food mix that we use as a supplemental food for our rabbit who no longer eats hay nor greens. She needs the fiber roughage, vitamins, minerals, and calories that this mix offers. We make the mix with water AND fresh pineapple to give her the active papain enzyme in the fruit, plus the extra nutrients and calories it offers. Besides, what rabbit can resist fresh pineapple! (Papain breaks up the mucus that holds fur masses together in the stomach. As she lacks sufficient indigestible fiber in her diet that would push fur through her system, the papain helps to combat the problem of fur bunching up in her guts. There is no active papain enzyme in canned pineapple.)
Buy a pineapple and prepare it. Cut off the leafy crown, then with the pineapple standing, sliver off the outside layer in sheets. Lie the pineapple down and cleave into fourths. Fresh pineapple is slippery, so be careful cutting out the fibery core area of each quarter. Cut the remaining fruit into 1-inch slices and keep it in a plastic container. Fresh-cut pineapple will stay good for a week in the fridge .
Consistency of the mash is important, as it must easily pipe into and dispense out of the tubes, so play with your proportions until you get a pliable mash that isn’t runny or clumpy. In a blender, mix one cup of water with about nine chunks of pineapple. Hold the cover down, and pulse the blender until you get a frothy smoothie. It is important that there are no chunks left, as these may damage the bag used to pipe the mash into the tubes. Pour the fluid into a large bowl. Add one cup of Critical Care powder to the bowl. Combine with a spatula. When the mash is fully blended, transfer it to a plastic container. Once it sits for a while, the mash may get thicker, so add a little water to thin it out. Make enough mash to last your rabbit about four days. It’s better to make small batches. The Critical Care powder stays the freshest in your freezer. It takes under a half an hour to prepare a tub of mash-from the pineapple prep to the mash storage.
Your rabbit may eat the mash readily off a plate, but if your rabbit hesitates, you will need to “force feed” it. The mash is too thick to fit through a small tip, so modified syringes are helpful to ease feeding. Start with a supply of 3 cc syringes, as they are a good size to fit in a small mouth (I prepared 16). I used a sharp kitchen knife to cut off the tapered end, leaving the wide, straight chamber of the syringe. I used an emery board to file off any rough plastic bits.
I use a heavier grade plastic sandwich bag as a piping bag for the mash. Cut off the corner of a bag so that the hole is just a bit smaller than the syringe tube opening. Fill the bag with mash to about a quarter full so it’s a manageable amount in your hand. Pipe the mash into the plunger end of the tubes, leaving a half cc space at the cut-off ends. (When you insert the plunger, it will take up that empty space.) Apply a very thin film of Vaseline to grease the black rubber of the plungers. Load the plungers into all the mash-filled syringes, and you’re ready to feed your rabbit!
We discovered that our doe actually loves the mash, and she learned the routine of tube feeding, so calling it “force feeding” is untrue. (For the first week, it was a battle, the second week less so, and by the third week, she cornered us demanding her tubes! We’ve tube fed her now for eight months, and it’s a wonderful bonding activity.) She stands on a rug for stability and takes the tubes into her mouth and chews the mash once it’s dispensed, tube by tube. Placing a hand on her shoulders stabilizes her neck if she leans back while feeding, and it reinforces that she needs to stay with you until you’re done feeding all the tubes. If she tries to leave, we can quickly hold her at the shoulders.
For clean up, we use a hard plastic mini spatula to pry the plungers out of the syringe tubes. A quick rinse under hot water is sufficient to keep the parts clean. A feeding session of 16 tubes takes about 15 minutes-from loading the tubes to post-feeding clean up.
©2004 HRN Writers