Nutrition biology

The rabbits's nutrition biology

The pin teeth behind the upper incisors have no function. But they differentiate rabbits from rodents and mark the so-called hare-like, zoological lagomorpha. Rabbits also belong to this category.

The incisors are sharp and chisel-like and are used to separate lumpy or straw-like food. They always grow back and have to be permanently subjected to wear by grinding against each other when pre-chewing good hay and by eating the best food. Incisors form the beginning of the digestive tract and we place great importance on keeping them healthy with the right products.

Further back in the mouth we find the molars. They crush and pulverize the food. The food is well salivated between the molars to prepare it to slip down the throat. First enzymes (ferments, bio-catalysts) from the saliva begin the pre-digestion process.

The oesophagus is purely a transport organ. The well-chewed food is transported from the mouth to the digestive channel.

The stomach is the most important station for digestion preparation. The food is strongly acidified from special cells with hydrochloric acid. Enzymes that separate proteins begin to process protein in this acidic area. And stomach hormones are sent out as a signal (internal message carriers). The rabbit's stomach has very few muscles compared to most rodents. So it is not able to actively transport food. The so-called stuffed stomach only passes the softened and acidic content on to the small intestine when something is pushed in from the top through the mouth and throat. And this is why rabbits are always eating, because their stomachs must always be full, so they eat 70-80, sometimes up to 120 small and very small meals a day. The best hay should therefore always be available in sufficient amounts, as the rabbit has to have the freedom to eat at will in order to keep its stomach full.

In the front part of the small intestine, lots of tissue water and enzymes are now added to the food to allow the next processing steps in the small intestinal phase to take place.

A little further on the exits from the pancreas and the liver converge. The liver can store excess blood sugar (as glycoges) for a short time, otherwise it is responsible for the central "detoxification". The pancreas regulates the blood sugar content and provides ferments that separate both fat and carbohydrates.

Then comes the back part of the small intestine , in which the main digestive work is done. The very active tissue of the intestinal villus passes the separated products from the food on to the blood circulatory system. Only parts which have been separated almost completely can pass through the intestinal wall to become available for use by the other target organs of the rabbit. The back part of the small intestine is the region where all digested food and materials are passed on to the organism. Preventive health care through optimal feeding is therefore vital for rabbits. From here on in, the only thing you find in the food mass are so-called raw fibres which are vegetable cell wall elements from the food.

The appendix branches off where the small intestine leads into the large intestine of the digestive tract,. The appendix is a dead end. It is a large fermentative chamber populated by large amounts of specialised bacteria. Here, the residual energy from raw fibre and inert vegetable materials and building blocks is gained from the vegetable cell wall (especially glucose from cellulose). The flora in the fermentative chamber can not deal at all well with fast changes in the composition of the substrate in the appendix. Changes in feeding patterns should therefore be made very slowly and step-by-step (also because of potential disturbances in the small intestine). Only then does the fermentation in the appendix function reliably and without strong formation of gases.

At the end of this process is the formation of the appendix' excrement. This is a particular, soft form of excrement that is completely different from the dry waste excrement of the rectum. A protective coating of slime ensures that this special material is passed on to the rectum quickly and directly without being further attacked in the large intestine. From here the rabbit usually eats it directly in order to ensure another passage through the whole stomach-intestinal channel. This means that vitamins (mainly B-complex) are gained as well as valuable bacterial protein and many active substances. In addition, eating the appendix excrement ensures that the stuffed stomach is kept active and full, in case there is no food available for this purpose. Sometimes you can discover the dark, soft, shiny, pearl-like small balls of the appendix excrement in the hay.

The rest of the large intestine behind the transitory area of small intestine/appendix is mainly responsible for regaining water from the now almost digested but not yet liquid food mass. But more bacteria live everywhere in the large intestine, and like their peers or relations in the appendix they are able to carry out special fermentations and similar metabolic processes. They provide the intestinal wall with short chains of fatty acids from the residual food. In the back section of the large intestine the excrement is pre-formed.

Finally, the rectum forms the dry excrement balls into shape and extracts as much residual moisture as possible. Diarrhoea or constipation are signs that this regulation process is disturbed by defects in the preceeding sections.

The anus is the exit opening for the excrement. This solid excrement contains waste substances that are not excreted via the kidneys as urine as well as undigested residual food or any individual or temporary excess nutrients. The ring muscle of the anus forms the end of the digestive tract.