Is cilantro healthy or rabbits? What you need to know.
Using fresh herbs has become common practice in our hobby farm kitchen ever since we started growing a small herb garden more than five years ago. We’ve also enjoyed offering our homestead rabbits a number of fresh, healthy herbs from our garden as treats and summer snacks.
That’s right, rabbits can eat cilantro! Cilantro is a surprisingly healthy green that is completely safe for rabbits to ingest and enjoy. However, there are a number of important points to know before offering your mature rabbit this leafy green.
Cilantro For Rabbits: Nutritional Information
Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is known for its incredible flavor and common use in a number of different ethnic kitchens. This fresh green herb contains up to 92% water and a host of impressive vitamins and minerals per 100g serving, including:
- Iron
- Potassium
- Zinc
- Sodium
- Folate
- Vitamin C
- Magnesium
- Vitamin A
- Beta-carotene
Furthermore, cilantro has been studied in a number of scientific investigations and has been found to support memory, reduce nerve-cell damage in animals and reduce high blood sugar amongst other beneficial actions.
Health Benefits Of Cilantro For Rabbits
Clearly, cilantro is a great leafy green herb option for your bunnies!
Our rabbits usually get very excited when they smell the herb and have always enjoyed the watery, fresh treat.
While it does provide vitamins and minerals, cilantro doesn’t contain dense, necessary nutrients for rabbits, including fiber or proteins.
However, cilantro does contains natural antimicrobial and anticonvulsant properties that can support aged or stressed rabbits.
Cilantro As A Natural Antimicrobial
A particular compound, called dodecenal, is found within cilantro. Dodecenal effectively acts as an antioxidant and as an antimicrobial against a number of harmful bacterias.
Cilantro As A Natural Anticonvulsant
Cilantro, especially extracted oil and the seeds of the cilantro plant, have been found to be very active in particular pathways in the body that assist with convulsion reduction and even combat epileptic episodes.
While your rabbit may not suffer from such drastic disease, it is great to know that when you offer them cilantro it interacts with their body in a way that is ultimately soothing!
Can Rabbits Eat Cilantro Everyday
Cilantro herb is a safe food and can be offered to your rabbit every day.
It is simply important to make sure this herb doesn’t make up more than 5-10% of your rabbits daily diet. Why? Because rabbits require lots of high fiber food, such as hay, to maintain a happy gut microbiome, keep their teeth trim, support their immune system, and engage in efficient metabolism.
And as stated: while cilantro offers many vitamins and minerals, it doesn’t contain high fibers (only 2.8g per 100g serving!).
Therefore, cilantro can be offered to your rabbits as a treat or snack, but never as a primary part of their diet! About a small handful of fresh cilantro every-other day is our usual serving per adult rabbit.
What Herbs Are Good For Rabbits
There are many wonderful herbs that are good for rabbits.
We actually wrote a post on all rabbit-safe herbs, as well as those which are a bit risky for bunnies and are better left in the garden.
Read Herbs That Rabbits Can Eat to learn more about all the herbs that are good for rabbits!
Can Baby Bunnies Eat Cilantro
No, we do not recommend feeding your baby rabbits cilantro. This may seem surprising as we just learned that cilantro offers great nutrients to rabbits.
However, any rabbit less than 12 weeks of age is in a critical period of internal and external development.
The stomachs and digestive systems of baby rabbits are extremely particular and cannot yet handle more complex greens such as cilantro.
Wait until your rabbit reaches 12 weeks of age and, even then, only offer a leaf or two of cilantro to start. Our best practice is a slow and gradual introduction of any new food with lots of observation!
Frequently Asked Questions Related To Can Rabbits Have Cilantro
Do Wild Rabbits Eat Cilantro?
Absolutely, wild rabbits love cilantro just as much as your domestic ones.
If you are growing cilantro in your garden, you may want to look into these ways to keep a rabbit out of your garden – they will eat all they can get!
Can Bunnies Eat Basil?
Yes, basil is another great herb with some surprising health benefits for rabbits.
You can offer both or either of these two common culinary herbs to your bunnies without issue!
These sweet rabbits wake up to a wonderful cilantro treat – what a cute video.
Final Thoughts On Can Rabbits Eat Cilantro
Remember to inspect and wash fresh, green cilantro well before giving it to your bunnies!
Here at Hobby Farm Heaven we believe in the natural benefits of herbs for our rabbits. We do our best to practice “the herb of the week” plan.
What is The Herb of the Week plan?
It is where we feed a different herb to our rabbits each week!
How do we do this?
Super easy: most often we mix a few sprigs of the Herb of the Week in with the rabbits’ hay. That way our rabbits ingest high fibers along with the delicious herb. This is easy and very hassle free; your rabbits are sure to love it!