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Burgess Pet Care Issues Response To Rabbit Nutrition Study

6 years ago
1998 views

Posted
10th January, 2018 11h22

Author
Burgess Pet Care


Yorkshire, UK – Burgess Pet Care, one of the UK’s leading pet food manufacturers and the main organiser of Rabbit Awareness Week, has issued a response to the results of a rabbit feeding trial commissioned by the Pet Industry Federation (PIF).

The study was established to validate the findings of a previous study supported by Burgess Pet Care and carried out by the Meredith and Prebble, Royal (Dick) school of Veterinary Studies at The University of Edinburgh.

The PIF study failed to replicate the original controls of the Meredith research, including all four of the original feeding regimes from the Burgess study: ‘nuggets and hay’; ‘muesli and hay’; ‘muesli only’; ‘hay only’. The University of Edinburgh study was also carried out over a 17-month period, whilst the PIF study was carried out over a period of 150 days.

The research carried out at the University of Edinburgh and supported by Burgess Pet Care, highlighted a number of risks associated with feeding muesli style diets. The research showed an increased risk of a number of health issues related to selective feeding such as obesity and dental problems.

Dr Suzanne Moyes MVB MRCVS, Technical Director at Burgess Pet Care, said:

“The study at the University of Edinburgh explored a number of factors, not only dental health and obesity, but also behaviour, water intake, caecotroph consumption, and faecal output. All of these showed an increased risk of health issues when muesli was fed alongside feeding hay.

“The level of detail in the University of Edinburgh study is highlighted by the fact the impact on dental health was monitored by X-ray, which can detect differences not apparent in a visual examination. Five papers detailing the findings of this study have been subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals and the veterinary profession widely welcomed and endorsed its findings.”

Burgess Pet Care is the main organiser of Rabbit Awareness Week and works with leading UK charities, welfare associations and educational establishments to actively improve the lives of rabbits and raise awareness around their welfare needs.

Peter Lancaster at Burgess Pet Care said:

“With animal welfare at the heart of everything we do, Burgess Pet Care welcomes any research that helps to improve the health and wellbeing of rabbits, but we proudly stand by the research carried out by the University of Edinburgh and continue to recommend that muesli style foods should not be fed to rabbits.

“As one of the UK’s leading pet food manufacturers and suppliers, we remain committed to working with our partners within the supply chain, retailers and the veterinary sector as we continue to educate rabbit owners about the importance of correct nutrition and care.”

As part of Burgess Pet Care’stheir on-going mission to raise awareness around correct rabbit nutrition and care, Burgess has released a rabbit care and nutrition handbook for retailers and veterinary practices. To receive copies for your practice or store, please contact Burgess Pet Care directly. 


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