At our homestead hobby farm, rabbits enjoy eating kiwi fruit (aka Chinese Gooseberry). After eating the juicy center, we place the fuzzy skin in our backyard compost! Although sometimes, we even offer bits of kiwi fruit and kiwi skin as a treat for our mature rabbits.
In fact, if you are wondering if rabbits can eat kiwi, the answer is: Yes, mature rabbits can eat kiwi fruit and kiwi skin. However, for rabbits the Kiwi fruit is high in sugars and low in fiber. This is not a good mix for bunnies. Rabbits may eat kiwi fruit in moderation, as an infrequent treat.
As usual with more exotic foods, there are a few things to think about before handing over a kiwi (or pieces of one) to your rabbits.
Continue On To Learn When, In What Form, And How Often Your Rabbits Can Eat Kiwi
Kiwi Nutritional Value For Rabbits
Bunnies can eat kiwis, as they are nontoxic, as long as they are 12+ weeks. In fact, kiwis are a type of berry. And as with all berries, they contain a number of vitamins and minerals, including:
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
- Potassium
- Magnesium
- Copper
Kiwis also contain the following nutritional content:
| Nutritional Contents per 100g Serving of Kiwi | |
| Protein | 1g |
| Fiber | 3g |
| Carbs | 14g |
| Sourced from Healthline.com |
You will notice that, while kiwi contain lots of vitamins and minerals, they only offer 3g of fiber.
This is what you need to be aware of when offering your bunnies kiwi. Rabbits’ digestive systems are specially designed to process foods high in fiber and low in sugar and their primary diet should consist of:
- Unlimited hay (75% to 80% hay)
- Quality pellets (10% to 15%)
- Leafy green vegetables (5% to 10%)
Immature rabbits are even more particular, because their GI tract is still developing and is often too sensitive to process a larger amount of fruit nibbles.
Can Rabbits Have Kiwi Fruit
If you’ve already, or are thinking about, feeding your rabbits kiwi, rest easy! As we stated: mature bunnies can have kiwi fruit, as they are nontoxic. But, in light of the high amount of sugars and low fiber within kiwi fruits, our best advice to you is: offer kiwi fruit as a rare treat for your rabbits.
If you feed your rabbits lots of high sugar/low fiber foods (like most fruits) the beneficial bacterial composition of their stomachs can change and this can lead to trouble for your bunnies. Rabbits are masters at processing high fiber foods, which is core of their natural diet. Any change in their balanced diet can alter the healthy mix of bacteria in the rabbit gut, or digestive system.
Too often a bacterial imbalance in the gut or digestive system may lead to soft stool and other GI issues. In addition, too many fruits can lead to tooth decay and obesity in your rabbit.
So, what about giving the other parts of the kiwi fruit to your rabbits?
Can Rabbits Eat Kiwi Skin
Yes, rabbits can eat kiwi fruit skin. In fact, kiwi skin is our preferred form of kiwi to give our rabbits. Kiwi fruit skin is nontoxic and doesn’t contain the high amount of sugars present in the flesh of the fruit. When your bunnies eat kiwi fruit skin, they also receive a bit more fiber.
However, we still suggest limiting the amount of kiwi skin given to your rabbits, as it has no significant nutritional value.
Can Rabbits Eat Kiwi Seeds
Yes, rabbits can eat kiwi seeds without an issue. The tiny kiwi seeds will pass through your rabbit’s digestive system no problem.
Can Bunnies Eat Kiwi Leaves and Twigs
Kiwis actually grow on woody vines and for most of us, sourcing or getting our hands on fresh kiwi leaves and twigs is difficult.
Now while kiwi’s are plant material, the vine is not a part of the usual collection of leafy greens that have been proven okay for rabbits to ingest.
We suggest you forgo kiwi leaves and twigs and stick with more common rabbit greens, like parsley.
Can Rabbits Have Dried Kiwi
Dried kiwi contains almost double the amount of sugar as fresh kiwi and zero water. For this reason, we do not advise feeding your bunnies dried kiwi fruit.
Can Rabbits Eat Kiwi Peels
Kiwi Peels are the same as kiwi skin, and as such are the preferred part of the fruit to give your rabbits. They can be fed to your rabbits under the same guidelines as kiwi skin.
Can Rabbits Eat Golden Kiwi
Some of you may be big fans of the Golden Kiwi, which is a kiwi with yellow flesh rather than the signature bright green flesh. It also has a less fuzzy skin. So what about this fruit for your rabbits?
Yes, rabbits can eat golden (or yellow) kiwi. The only nutritional difference between the green and yellow kiwi, is that the green fruit contains a green pigment while the yellow does not. Simple enough!
So, golden kiwi should be treated just like green kiwi when offering it to your bunnies.
How Much Kiwi Can A Rabbit Eat
Kiwi fruit and kiwi skin are high in sugar, and as such are treats for your rabbits. Therefore, they should make up no more than 5% of your mature rabbit’s diet.
The usual formula is 1 teaspoon (or less) of fruit treats per 2 lbs of your rabbit’s body weight per day. We err on the side of caution and offer our mature rabbits no more than one slice of kiwi fruit or skin once a week; they have never shown negative side effects.
Frequently Asked Questions Related To Can Rabbits Eat Kiwi
Can Rabbits Eat Kiwi Berries?
Kiwi berries are different from kiwi fruit. Kiwi berries do not have brown, fuzzy skin. Rather, they are smaller and have an edible, green skin.
As far as nutritional value and contents, kiwi berries are about identical to kiwi fruit. As such, you can feed your rabbits kiwi berries as infrequent treats. Simply follow the same guidelines suggested above regarding kiwi fruits.
Can Baby Bunnies Eat Kiwi?
No, do not feed your baby bunnies kiwi. Rabbits that are younger than 12 weeks should not be given any additional or alternative food to their mother’s milk. Baby rabbits’ digestive systems are not yet ready to handle more complex foods!
What is A Good Alternative To Feeding Rabbit Kiwi?
A good alternative to feeding rabbits kiwi is to offer a natural treat that is high in vitamins, minerals, and contains less sugars than kiwi. For example, Blackberries For Rabbits!
Here’s a cute and somewhat educational video about Fruits for Rabbits – Kiwi is in this list!
Final Thoughts on Can Rabbits Eat Kiwi
Key Points on Kiwi fruits for Bunnies:
- Kiwi fruits are high sugar and low fiber – not a good combo for bunnies
- Kiwi fruits do have some vitamins and other nutritional value
- Rabbits are herbivores – their digestive system is significantly different than ours
- Rabbits can not eat a human diet. They need to consistently eat a low fat, low sugar, high fiber rabbit diet
- Consider Kiwi fruits for Rabbits as an infrequent treat
There we have it, all your answers regarding ‘Can Rabbits Eat Kiwi?’ answered! Now you know that your mature rabbits can eat kiwis as long as they are an infrequent addition to a normal diet of high fiber hay and pellets.
So go ahead and enjoy the delicious kiwi fruit, and feel free to give your mature rabbits a small morsel of this vitamin packed treat while you’re at it.
Want to know more about fruit for rabbits? You can click on this post:
Fruits Rabbits Can Eat