Can Pet Rabbits Eat Hamster Food

Can Pet Rabbits Eat Hamster Food?

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to buy one food or one kind of pellet for all of our different pets and animals? Here at Hobby Farm Heaven we joke about giving chicken feed to the rabbits and ending up with crowing rabbits!

If you have hamsters and rabbits you might wonder: Can pet rabbits eat hamster food?

No, feeding hamster food to rabbits is not healthy.  Rabbits are herbivores while hamsters are omnivores. Hamster food is designed for the nutritional needs of hamsters and may cause serious injury to a rabbit’s sensitive and complex digestive system!

Further, hamsters and rabbits have different basic nutritional needs, gut biomes, and digestive systems. In fact, a hamster has a less complex digestive system than a rabbit and requires about half the fiber! These system and dietry differences apply to all other pet or farm animals as well. For example, rabbits cannot eat chicken feed either.

This Table Compares Rabbit Nutritional Needs to Hamster Food Nutrition

Nutritional ContentRabbit Needs Hamster Food
            Fiber18% to 22%10% to 14%
          Protein14% to 18%15% to 18%
            FatLess Than 3%6% to 12%

If your rabbit eats a little bit of hamster food, it should not be cause for alarm.  But watch your rabbit for signs of illness and if in doubt, contact your veterinarian. Eating most pet store hamster foods on a daily basis will eventually kill your rabbit!

Let’s get into some more specifics about hamster food,
a good rabbit diet, and a rabbit’s digestive system.

How Important is Fiber For Rabbits?

Note that Rabbits need to eat a high fiber diet every day to keep their digestive system moving and functioning properly. A low fiber or fiber poor diet, likely higher in unnecessary carbohydrates and fat, may lead to GI Status.

Fiber helps keep the rabbit from experiencing GI Stasis

“Lack of fiber is the most common cause of gastrointestinal disturbance in the rabbit…. Breakdown of the normal physiological processes leads to disease.”  

Is Hamster Food Healthy for Rabbits?

The grains, nuts and seeds found in hamster food do provide nutrition but they are generally not healthy for your rabbits.

A rabbit’s digestive system is simply not designed to break down and process a significant number of grains, nuts and seeds. Hamster mix often contains significantly more fat than is healthy for a rabbit. 

If eaten, your rabbit is sure to experience serious gut issues. The same holds for exotic ingredients in other pet foods, especially dog food. Dog food is very dangerous for rabbits!

Why Should Rabbits Not Eat Hamster Food?

We’ve established that the typical hamster food mix includes several types of grains, nuts, seeds, and often various fruits, berries, sweeteners, salts, and oils.

As stated, these types of foods are not common for rabbits and are items that they cannot properly digest nor metabolize.  

Eating these kinds of foods will cause an imbalance in the rabbit’s digestive system. This may cause loose or mushy poop which can lead to other problems including dehydration.

In addition, if a rabbit eats hamster food it may cause a blockage in the rabbit’s digestive system which can result in GI Stasis and death.  

And to compound matters for a sick rabbit: if the rabbit’s digestive system is fouled up then the very important process of producing cecal pellets will not function correctly.

Cecal pellets or cecotropes are naturally produced by the rabbit and excreted during the night.  They are then eaten again and are very nutritious for the rabbit. Here is an article that does a nice job of explaining Cecal Pellets.

Additionally, this video about Cecal Pellets and Gastrointestinal (GI) Stasis does a really nice job of explaining the rabbit’s digestive system, why rabbits need so much fiber, and therefore why the typical hamster food is not healthy for rabbits!

Finally, we know that some rabbit owners deliberately add a grain mix to their rabbits’ diet of hay, grass and leafy green vegetables:

A proper rabbit grain mix (used to augment hay and grass) is okay for your rabbits and is not representative of hamster food.

Can Hamster Food Kill A Rabbit?

Yes, if a rabbit eats too much hamster food for too long, essentially replacing its high fiber diet, then it will become sick and die.  More specifically, its digestive system may stop functioning. 

What Can I Feed My Rabbit If I Run Out Of Food?

If you run out of rabbit pellets, you can feed just about any species of clean hay.  It’s best to diligently plan so that we don’t run out of the appropriate foods for our pets and hobby farm animals. Most pet stores carry rabbit pellets and rabbit hay.

Final Thoughts On Can Pet Rabbits Eat Hamster Food

This Can Pet Rabbits Eat Hamster Food post is part of our larger post about What Can Rabbits Eat? Please click and give it a read! It is full of great information and I guarantee you will learn something valuable.

As we discussed throughout this article, most hamster food mixes contain contain too much fat and too little fiber for rabbits. Eating most pet store hamster foods on a daily basis, will eventually kill your rabbit.

However, if your rabbit eats a small amount of hamster food by accident, it is probably safe. 

Most importantly, always observe your rabbit when introducing new foods!  If the rabbit shows any signs of illness or stress, then you may prefer to call your veterinarian for expert advice and care.

Scroll to Top