I got Biscuit when she was eight weeks old, from a rescue centre in Sheffield. She was a grey and white Lionhead cross, approximately the size of a large potato, and she had already decided she was in charge. That hasn't changed. She is now three years old, approximately the size of a small loaf of bread, and still very much in charge.
For the first year and a half I fed her whatever the pet shop near me stocked. It was a well-known brand, it said "complete nutrition" on the bag, and Biscuit ate it without complaint. I thought that was enough. It wasn't.
When I Realised Something Wasn't Right
Biscuit had always been a selective eater — she'd pick out the bits she liked and leave the rest. I'd assumed this was just her personality. It is, in fact, a known problem with muesli-style rabbit mixes: rabbits selectively feed, eating the high-sugar pieces and leaving the nutritious ones, which means they're not getting the balanced diet the packaging promises.
I found this out from a rabbit welfare forum after Biscuit had a bout of digestive upset that lasted nearly a week. The vet gave her the all-clear but suggested I look more carefully at her diet. I went home and started reading properly for the first time. What I found was not reassuring. The food I'd been giving her for eighteen months was not, by most rabbit nutrition standards, particularly good.
Why I Chose Burgess Excel Natures Blend
I spent a week researching rabbit nutrition properly — something I should have done before I got Biscuit, but here we are. The consensus among rabbit welfare organisations and vets was consistent: rabbits need a diet that mimics what they'd eat in the wild, which means high fibre, natural forage, and no selective feeding. A nugget or pellet-style food is better than a muesli mix because every piece has the same nutritional profile, so selective feeding isn't possible.
The Burgess Excel Natures Blend kept coming up as a recommendation specifically because it goes further than a standard nugget — it's a forage blend that includes grass, herbs, and plants to replicate the variety a rabbit would find naturally. The specific botanical ingredients caught my attention: dandelion for digestive health, nettle and lemon balm for urinary tract support and calming properties, and lucerne extract for eye health. These weren't marketing words I'd seen before; they were ingredients with specific, documented benefits for rabbits.
The Transition
I switched Biscuit over gradually, mixing the new food with the old over about ten days to avoid upsetting her digestion further. She was suspicious of it initially — Biscuit is suspicious of most things, including me when I've rearranged the furniture — but by day four she was eating it without hesitation. By day seven she was eating it enthusiastically, which for Biscuit is high praise.
The thing I noticed first was that she stopped leaving food in her bowl. With the old mix she'd always leave a residue of the less appealing pieces. With the Natures Blend there was nothing left. She was eating all of it, which meant she was getting all of the nutrition, which was the entire point.
Eighteen Months On
Biscuit has not had another digestive episode since I switched her food. Her coat, which had been slightly dull in the months before the change, is noticeably better — softer, shinier, and she's been grooming herself more consistently. Her energy levels are higher. She binkies — the joyful, involuntary leaps that rabbits do when they're happy — more frequently than she used to. I can't attribute all of that to one food change, but the timing is hard to argue with.
The 1.5kg bag lasts Biscuit about three weeks, which makes it practical as well as good. It stores well, the bag reseals properly, and it doesn't have the slightly artificial smell that the old food had. Biscuit comes running when she hears the bag open, which she did not do before. That, honestly, is the most convincing endorsement I can offer.
If you have a rabbit and you're still feeding them a muesli-style mix, I'd genuinely encourage you to look at this. The difference it made to Biscuit's health and happiness was more significant than I expected from a food change, and I wish I'd made the switch sooner. You'll find it in the Small Animal Food, Small Animal Supplies, and Pet Supplies collections.
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