Any Rabbit advice ?

A question about : Any Rabbit advice ?

Was just wondering if anyone had a name or a link to a supplier of bulk inexpensive rabbit food.

We have 3 rabbits and they get through a 15kg bag every 2 weeks or so. They have a charmed life with plenty of room to move (they have a 1/3 o our garden as their run! We even built them a small patio to put the hutch on and to give them some dry ground as the bottom of the garden does become quite boggy in rainy times). They do eat the grass in the run, but get through a bowl of rabbit food every day.

Currently we buy the 15kg bag from Pets at Home for Ј7.99 which is great value except there isn't really a PaH near to us, so it's either a special journey or we top up from Tesco / village shop until we're over that way.

I have looked online, but while I can find cheaper bulk rabbit food, the postage / delivery costs are astronomical.

Ideally I'd like to bulk buy Rabbit food, hay, straw, sawdust and possibly cat food as well. (4 cats).

Can anyone recommend anywhere?

I'll stop waffling now!

Best answers:

• Do you have a local pet shop that isn't part of a chain like PaH is ?
  I have one a few miles away who orders everything I need in for me, can get the pet foods in bulk and will drop it off if I need her to. Aswell as being a reasonable price, it's there exactly when I order it for and supports local traders.
• As lil_me said, if you have a local pet shop close to you, call in and see if they can hook you up with delivery of bulk bags. I get 12.5kg bags of bakers puppy dry complete from my pet store - they deliver it to my front door for me
  Also - if you're not looking to spend much, i noticed today that Poundworld in my town has started selling fairly large bags of rabbit/hamster/guineapig food.
• I live in a tiny tiny village, so there's nothing around here at all. There is a pet shop, well an aquarium shop about 12 miles away that does do cat & dog food, but it's in a totally different direction to everywhere that we currently go.
  They might deliver though....I shall try to get over there one day and ask them.
  Thank you!
• It's worth looking at getting them a standard pellet food if they're not already on one. The PAH food sounds like the multi-coloured flakes, which they eat selectively and therefore don't get as much good stuff as they need, and it doesn't help their teeth so can cost more in the long run when they have problems.
  Try something like SupaRabbit - although change their diet over slowly, not all at once, or it will upset their stomachs.
• I've been trying to find a registered pet sitting company that will look after my rabbits (house visits) while I'm away but I'm really struggling.
  All the ones I've contacted so far in Surrey don't cover my area. I've been recommended dogsit.com, but I have to register and pay Ј10 just to access the list.
  Any other ideas? I'm yet to try the yellow pages at home (I keep forgetting about old fashioned methods).
• Have you looked on the notice board at your vets or local pet shop?
  What about putting a notice on there, although if you need one quickly, might take too long to get a response.
  Good Luck
• Try asking around vets, pet shops, feed shops, animal shelters etc. Also check out your local libarary for a local rabbit keepers club (they hold lists of all local clubs and societies). Some catteries also take rabbits if all else fails but I'm sure you'll find someone by asking in the right rabbitty circles
• Do you not have access to a responsible teenager? Would have thought it the perfect thing to ask a neighbours older child to do as they could earn a bit of easy money. Most kids I know would take the responsibility very seriously and probably care for your rabbits far better than any money making organisation.
• same as above post really we have a friend of my dd who comes in and looks after all our many animals like guinea pigs rats etc.she has a key and she knows where all the food is etc.we gave her my mum(who only lives 10 mins away)phone no in case of any probs. she is 13 and v responsible.she likes doing it and earns herself some pocket money.
• Thanks everyone. The Vets is a good idea. I shall pop in as there is a notice board now I think about it.
  We don't know any teenagers! My in-laws look after our rabbits while we are away, but they will be away for a few days when we are away. We don't know our neighbours too well, but one did offer to help. But I really don't like to ask as it's quite a responsibility and its not simply feeding, but cleaning out too.
• We have a local country park that looks after peoples rabbits while they are away, maybe you have something like that near you? The kind of place that has different animals, kids indoor and outdoor play area etc. We went to look at the rabbits and there was a sign about it.
• Where do you live? Arround my area there are a couple of rabbit hotels. I prefer that to giving some stranger a key to my house.
• The Bunny Camp takes in bunnies from all over the south of England https://thebunnycamp.co.uk/ (might be too far for you to travel though?).
• The bunny camp looks good.
  I've had real trouble find people to look after my house rabbits. I initially used the inlaws but thats a 4 hour round trip and the Bunnies don't really like that. Then I used a local lady who kept them in her conservatory. I stopped using her after she told me her rabbit had been ripped apart by all the dogs she boards. Then I used another local cattery that had a run for use but I felt the hutches were a bit small so I didn't use them again.
  Since then I've discovered Wiggies in Stroud. https://www.wiggiesholidaysforpets.co.uk/
  The owner is fantastic and really looks after the bunnies. Plus she lets you cuddle the other boarders and her own rabbits when you drop yours off and pick them up.
  I've also used https://www.rabbitguardianangels.co.uk/ who were good as well
• have you tried ordering on line? google cheap rabbit food and it comes up with loads of places i will leave it to you to look through them,good luck
• I use suparabbit excel, but my bunnies prefer BEAPHAR XTRA VITAL CARE PLUS Rabbit. My little boy goes mental if I don't give him a handful of Care+ at each feed. But it is pricey. Ј7 per 1.5kg bag.
  Don't know about bulk buying though.
• i get my guinea pig food from the local vets, but i buy it from the large animals section. (Rabbits can eat piggie food but not the other way around). I also buy bales of sawdust for their hutches at the same time, but it's marketed for horses so is much cheaper. You probably already do this but do you use shredded paper for their bedding it's cheap and better than straw which they say scratches eyes etc.
• I was just looking at pet-supermarket.co, I haven't tried them yet but they do free delivery for orders over Ј29 i think, there's also 5% off thru voucher heaven