Can Rabbits Have Parsley
When it comes to feeding your rabbits leafy greens, you may think all plants must be safe and healthy for your furry friends. However, there are a number of precautions and best practices to follow when offering your rabbits leafy greens, even when they are well-known and beneficial herbs such as parsley. If you’ve been asking yourself ‘Can Bunnies Have Parsley?’ you’re not wrong for questioning if different food items are good for your rabbits.
Yes, mature rabbits can eat parsley as it is a safe and nutrient rich herb. However, as always with rabbits, there are a number of best practices to follow when offering your farm, homestead, or pet rabbit parsley in order to maintain their health and happiness.
In This Post We Answer All Your Questions On ‘Can Rabbits Have Parsley?’
Will Rabbits Eat Parsley
If you know rabbits then you know they will munch on just about any food item that takes their fancy (which is why we go over so many of the safe vs. unsafe foods that you can offer your rabbits here at Hobby Farm Heaven).
Parsley is no exception, with almost all rabbits enjoying the strong herby flavor of the plant and willingly gobbling it down.
Nutritional Value of Parsley For Rabbits
To better understand this herb and why you can offer it to your rabbits, let’s take a look at its nutritional contents.
According to Healthline, parsley contains three important vitamins with amazing health benefits:
| Vitamin | Health Benefits |
| Vitamin A | supports immune system and eye health |
| Vitamin C | an antioxidant and great immune system booster |
| Vitamin K | great for bone health, heart health, and wound recovery |
Not only that, but parsley is also rich in nutrients such as:
- Magnesium
- Folate
- Iron
- Potassium
- Calcium
Finally, parsley is also high in antioxidants that support heart and kidney health as well as acting as natural anti-inflammatory agents.
Is Parsley Safe For Rabbits
If you are looking for a beneficial leafy green to offer to your rabbits, we highly recommend choosing parsley.
Not only is parsley safe for rabbits, it is also delicious and offers a wide range of very beneficial vitamins and nutrients to your bunnies.
How Much Parsley Can Rabbits Eat
According to best hobby farming and homesteading practices, the daily diet of your rabbit should consist of:
- Unlimited hay (75% to 80% hay)
- Quality pellets (10% to 15%)
- Leafy green vegetables (5% to 10%)
This is because rabbits have a highly specialized and delicate GI system that hosts specific gut bacteria accustomed to high fiber foods.
In addition, the metabolism of rabbits requires a constant ingestion of high fiber foods.
Offering unlimited hay and measured quality pellets as the majority of your rabbit’s diet ensures it has enough fiber available to remain healthy.
That said, you can incorporate parsley into the 5-10% of leafy green vegetables.
We practice offering about 1-2 stems of parsley with leaves to our rabbits on any given day and they have never shown negative effects.
However, we also always follow certain rules about offering parsley to rabbits that we will discuss below.
How Often Can Rabbits Eat Parsley
Parsley 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 rabbit’s diet.
Remember, while parsley offers many vitamins and minerals, it doesn’t contain high fiber. Therefore, parsley should be used as a dietary supplement rather than a food staple for your bunnies.
How Feed Parsley to Rabbits
When offering your rabbits parsley we recommend the following steps:
- Choose only fresh and fully green parsley. Avoiding wilted, yellowed, or insect eaten plants.
- Inspect the parsley well to remove any insects or slugs that can cause digestive issues or sickness to your rabbits.
- Wash the parsley well with cool water, removing any residual dirt and potential pesticides.
Once you’ve completed these steps, move forward with the following:
- Place a measured amount of washed parsley into a clean bowl.
- Place this bowl in the hutch or house of your rabbit.
- Allow your rabbit to enjoy the nutritious greens.
- Be sure to remove the feeding bowl and any excess parsley later in the day.
Another great option is to mix this nutritional herb in with the unlimited hay that your rabbits enjoy daily.
This method allows your bunnies to appreciate the extra flavor and benefits of parsley while ensuring that they’re ingesting high fibers.
In fact, we’ve done this with other leafy greens such as Oregano and Basil for our rabbits.
Now you still may be curious about all the different parts of the parsley plant, as well as forms and variations of parsley. We will go over a few common questions regarding all of that and rabbits now.
Can Rabbits Eat Fresh Parsley
Yes, mature rabbits can eat fresh parsley. In fact, fresh green parsley is the best and most nutritionally packed type of parsley for your rabbits.
Can Rabbits Eat Dried Parsley
Any form of dried parsley contains less and/or different nutritional values than fresh parsley. This includes parsley flakes.
While rabbits can eat parsley flakes and dried parsley, it may be more difficult and less enjoyable. Instead, stick to fresh parsley greens for your mature rabbits!
Can Rabbits Eat Parsley Leaves
Yes, fresh and green parsley leaves are a great leafy green option for mature rabbits. Offer them alone or mixed in with high quality hay.
Can Rabbits Eat Parsley Flowers
Yes, mature rabbits can enjoy parsley flowers, although with some herbs the high nutritional value changes once flowering occurs.
Just be sure to remove all pollinators and insects from the flowers before offering them to your bunny.
Can Rabbits Eat Parsley Stems
Yes, mature rabbits can eat parsley stems. Many rabbits enjoy the crunchy, juicy green stem of parsley plants. In fact, rabbits can and do eat whole parsley plants: stem, leaves and flowers!
Can Rabbits Have Parsley Oil
The most common form of parsley oil is actually a parsley infused oil or an oil-based parsley dressing. To avoid intestinal issues and stomach upset don’t offer such high fat oils to your bunnies.
When it comes to parsley essential oil, it has been used to fight certain microbial and other infections with animals such as dogs.
However, there is not a wide-spread practice of using it with rabbits. If you’d like to offer parsley oil to your rabbit suffering from microbial issues, we suggest adding no more than a few drops to their clean water and observing their reactions within a 24 hour period.
Is Parsley Oil Safe for Rabbits
Parsley essential oil is simply a highly concentrated parsley extract. It contains all the beneficial nutrients of parsley and is not immediately toxic to rabbits.
However, it must be offered sparingly and in a diluted form, as too much or doses that are too concentrated can injure rather than help your bunny.
Can Rabbits Eat Italian Parsley
Yes, mature rabbits can eat Italian parsley. Italian parsley is a parsley cultivare that may taste different but is still safe for rabbits.
Do Wild Rabbits Eat Parsley
Yes, if wild rabbits come parsley in a local garden, they will be sure to nibble on it with joy, much to the chagrin of the gardener!
Do Bunnies Like Parsley
In general, yes, bunnies like parsley and are happy to receive it as a daily or weekly leafy green treat.
While some humans don’t like the strong flavor of this herb, rabbits that don’t like it are far and few between.
Concerns of Feeding Parsley to Rabbits
Here are some common concerns about feeding parsley to bunnies.
Parasites
It is true that different parasites can be found on parsley plants. Therefore, it is extremely important to inspect the parsley well and remove any bugs, slugs, or insect eggs before offering it to your rabbits.
Pesticides
Unless you offer your rabbit your own pesticide free parsley, it is very important to wash parsley well in cool water to remove any residual pesticides that can harm your rabbit.
Over Ripened Parsley
Over ripened parsley refers to parsley that is starting to wilt, yellow in color, or is wet and rotted. Avoid giving your rabbit over ripened parsley as it can cause illnesses and digestive issues
Overfeeding Parsley to Your Rabbits
What happens if you give too much parsley to your rabbits?
Remember, your rabbit requires a high-in-fiber diet due to their highly specialized GI system.
It is important to only offer your rabbits parsley as a treat and/or dietary supplement, sticking to only 5-10% of their daily diet.
Too much leafy green parsley can cause gut bacteria imbalance.
If your rabbits are eating too much parsley in place of high quality hay and pellets, they will suffer from possible bloating, stomach upset, and other GI issues.
Can Rabbits Eat Parsley Everyday
Yes, parsley is a safe herb for rabbits and can be eaten everyday.
However, rabbit owners MUST remember: although mature rabbits can eat parsley everyday, this does not mean allowing parsley to become more than 5-10% of your rabbits’ daily diet.
Good farmers, homesteaders and pet owners remain constant with offering their rabbits a primary diet of unlimited hay and measured amounts of high quality pellets, mixing in leafy green supplements as a health boosting treat.
Can Baby Rabbits Eat Parsley
No, we do not recommend feeding your baby rabbits parsley. This may seem surprising as we just learned that parsley is chock full of beneficial nutrients and health properties, and this is true for all rabbits more than 12 weeks old.
However, any rabbit less than 12 weeks of age is in a critical period of internal and external development.
The stomach and digestive system of baby rabbits is extremely particular and cannot yet handle more complex greens such as parsley.
Wait until your rabbit reaches 7 months of age and, even then, only offer a leaf or two of parsley to start.
Frequently Asked Questions Related To
Can Rabbits Eat Parsley
What Does Parsley Do For Rabbits?
The vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants found in parsley offer the following benefits for rabbits:
- Boost immune system
- Maintain eye and bone health
- Help resolve kidney issues
- Act as an anti-inflammatory
Does Parsley Repel Rabbits?
No, quite the contrary. Rabbits love the taste of parsley and will enjoy a snack of it whenever and wherever they can find it, like the two bunnies munching down on parsley.
Will Parsley Give My Rabbit Diarrhea?
If your rabbit is eating too much parsley then yes, your rabbit may experience stomach upset and diarrhea.
If this is happening, stop offering your rabbit parsley immediately and move to unlimited hay and high quality pellets until your rabbit is defecating normally.
Final Thoughts on Can Rabbits Have parsley
Parsley, with all of its nutritional components, is a great leafy green for your mature rabbits. Feel free to add it to their diet as long as it doesn’t comprise more than 5-10% of their daily food intake.
Remember to inspect and wash fresh, green parsley well before giving it to your bunnies. Offer the stems along with the leaves for a crunchy treat! Avoid offering parsley to baby rabbits as their digestive systems are not yet ready to handle such herbs.
Here at Hobby Farm Heaven we believe in the natural benefits of herbs. We do our best to practice “the herb of the week” plan.
What is The Herb of the Week plan?
The herb of the week plan is where we feed a different herb to our rabbits each week.
How do we do this? Most often we mix a few sprigs of the Herb of the Week in with the rabbits’ hay, whenever we feed hay. This is easy and hassle free.
Want to know more about the benefits of feeding herbs to your rabbits?
Go to this post: Herbs That Rabbits Can Eat