Can Rabbits Eat Eggplant?

Can rabbits eat Eggplant? Yes. Rabbits can eat Eggplant only as an occasional treat. We can’t provide this fruit to rabbits very often and we should only serve a limited amount of Eggplant in moderation. Eggplant contains good nutrition and is low in calories. It’s rich in vitamin C, E, K, complex B, beta-carotene, vitamin A, antioxidants, and a decent amount of fiber. Keep in mind that we can’t provide eggplant parts for rabbits. Eggplant leaves, flowers, and stems are toxic for rabbits.

Don’t try to overfeed them with Eggplant. It can lead to critical health problems in rabbits. Good healthy rabbits need a well-balanced diet with nutrients and vitamins. In general, the main food source for rabbits is high-quality hay. Hay mainly contains fiber that helps their digestive system. We can add Eggplant as a good occasional treat in rabbit’s daily diet. There is a lot to talk about Eggplant before feeding rabbits. This article will cover all the things you should know about Eggplant from A to Z.  

Let’s start without any delay!!!

Video Credit For my bunny channel YouTube Channel

Extra Information About Eggplant

Eggplants are also known as Aubergines. Eggplants are related to tomato and pepper family plants (Solanaceae family). These fruits come in many colors such as purplish-black, red, white, etc. The most common Eggplant are purplish-black color in the U.S. Eggplants have good taste when they are harvested young. Eggplants are technically categorized as berries.

Eggplants provide fiber and a range of nutrition. These fruits can help you to manage cholesterol levels, protect you from cancers, help cognitive functions like preventing memory loss, weight management, and many other health benefits.

According to the USDA United States Department of Agriculture, 100g of Eggplant has these nutrients.

Energy	104 kJ (25 kcal)
Carbohydrates	5.88 g
Sugars	3.53 g
Dietary fiber	3 g
Fat	0.18 g
Protein	0.98g
Water	92 g

Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamin B6	0.084 mg
Folate (B9)	22 μg
Vitamin C	2.2 mg
Vitamin E	0.3 mg
Vitamin K	3.5 μg
Calcium	9 mg
Iron	0.23 mg
Magnesium	14 mg
Phosphorus	24 mg
Potassium	229 mg

GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT: RABBITS & ALMONDS

Types Of Eggplants Rabbits Can Eat

It’s better if we can provide organic Eggplant for rabbits. If you buy it in the market, wash it thoroughly to remove pesticides. These are some common types of eggplants we can serve for rabbits.

• Chinese Eggplant
• American Eggplant
• Rosa Bianca Eggplant
• Italian Eggplant
• Japanese Eggplant
• Thai Eggplant
• Indian Eggplant
• Graffiti Eggplant

Do Rabbits Like To Eat Eggplant?

It can change from time to time. Most of the time rabbits like to eat Eggplants because of the sweetness. First, you can offer them a few Eggplants to check whether they like it or not. If your rabbits don’t like to eat Eggplants it’s ok & it’s normal. Some rabbits don’t like the flavor of Eggplants. Don’t serve eggplant too often, it can lead to many health issues. Rabbits can eat eggplant only as an occasional treat.

Are Eggplants Safe For Rabbits?

We can only feed Eggplant fruit as an occasional treat for rabbits. The eggplant leafy part is toxic for rabbits. That is because Eggplants are related to nightshade family plants. Only the fruit part is good for rabbits. It contains essential vitamins, fiber, minerals & antioxidants for rabbits. But you should only offer a small amount in your rabbit’s daily diet. Eggplant contains high water and sugar. Overfeeding them can lead to diarrhea and other health issues.

Rabbits’ main food source should be hay. We should prioritize hay in the regular diet plan. Overall nutrition can be covered by hay. Unlike humans, fiber is essential for rabbits. It can prevent bad bacteria from forming in the intestines. Some of the bacteria can lead to critical health issues in rabbits. This is why we should give priority to hay. But rabbits can’t live eating hay all day long. We must add veggies and fruits to their daily diet. The end of this article provides you the general diet plan for rabbits. It will help you to understand.

How Often A Rabbit Can Eat Eggplant?

We can only provide a small number of Eggplants for rabbits. Offering them Eggplants as an occasional treat is the best way to feed them. Only provide them raw eggplants. Dried or cooked eggplants are unhealthy for rabbits. We recommend giving only one tablespoon per 2 pounds of your rabbit’s weight. You can serve them 2 times per week. It’s more than enough for rabbits to get all the benefits from Eggplants.

Health Benefits From Eggplant To Rabbit

Eggplants are nutritious, delicious, and refreshing food for your pet rabbit. It will help your Rabbit’s healthy growth. Eggplants have 95% of water content in total. It will help your pet to stay healthy and hydrated. Eggplants have vitamin A, B6, and C. Vitamin A improves your pet’s vision and develops bones. Vitamin C helps for the repair and the healthy growth of rabbit’s tissues. For your consideration, rabbits can produce their own vitamin C using glucose. Because of that too much vitamin C will be harmful to your pet’s kidneys.

Eggplants are also good sources of fiber. Fiber is essential nutrition to Rabbits; it will help their digestion. Eggplants are also good sources of potassium. Sometimes lack of potassium causes muscle weakness, weight loss, and less growth of the pet, etc. Eggplants can help your pets to increase the low levels of potassium in the bloodstream. Eggplants have antioxidant lycopene. Lycopene helps your pets to prevent cell damage and heart diseases.

Solanine Poisoning Symptoms

All plants of the Solanaceae family contain toxic solanine. It’s also called glycoalkaloid. These compounds can be lethal to rabbits. Potatoes contain more solanine than these Eggplants. We must take all precautions to keep away rabbits from nightshade family plants. But only the leafy part of these plants contains solanine. There is no harm to rabbits if we feed eggplant fruit.

Solanine Symptoms are,

• Diarrhea
• Stomach pain
• Pulse rate will reduce
• Vomiting
• Low respiration rate

Are Eggplant Leaves, Stem Safe For The Rabbits? 

Definitely, those are not good foods for your rabbits. Eggplants leaves contain toxins and it’s bad for humans too. It’s called the Nightshade family tree. Potatoes, tomatoes, peppers belong to this nightshade family. They produce solanine in their leaves to protect them from insects. They are definitely poisonous to the rabbits. Eggplant leaves, steam, and all leafy parts are unsafe for animals, except the fruit part.

Make sure if you have a garden of nightshade family vegetables, you should take all the precautions to prevent rabbits from coming to your garden.

Best Way to Feed Eggplant for Rabbits

As we know now, Eggplants can be treated to rabbits only as an occasional treat. But there is a guide you must follow before feeding eggplants. Let us check it out.

Before introducing Eggplants to rabbits for the first time, you need to start up with small portions. Keep inspecting them carefully. If they show some illness, stop feeding Eggplants and only feed the rabbit’s daily diet (Diarrhea, lethargy, constipation, and loss of appetite are some of the illnesses). 

Steps for feeding Eggplants for rabbits

1. Try to find fresh quality Eggplants for rabbits. If you are buying them from the market, always wash them until waxes and fertilizers on them are removed. They are harmful to rabbits.
2. Slice the Eggplants into proper sizes that rabbits can easily eat.
3. Always remove leaves, stems, and leafy parts. They are toxic to rabbit’s health.
4. Serve them only a limited amount. Don’t overfeed them.
5. Always supply water for them.

My recommendation is to give Eggplants to grown rabbits. For bunnies, avoid feeding them with Eggplants. Always mix up with other vegetables and only feed 1 tablespoon of eggplant per two pounds of rabbit’s body weight not more than two times per week.

Can Rabbits Eat Cooked Eggplant?

Don’t try to feed cooked Eggplant for rabbits. When we cook any vegetable, it changes the structure of the vegetable and burns out some good nutrition. It is also hard to digest after we cook the Eggplant & hard for rabbits to chew the cooked Eggplant. You can avoid feeding cooked foods to rabbits.

Alternatives For Eggplants?

The rabbit’s diet should mainly be covered with quality hay and grass. In addition, we can provide a small portion of vegetables and fruits. We recommend giving two cups of fresh vegetables to adult rabbits daily.

• Bell peppers
• Bok choy
• Brussels sprouts
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Endive
• Green leaf
• Red leaf
• Parsley
• Fennel

Fresh fruits should be served one or two times per week as a treat.

• Grapes
• Banana
• Berries
• Melon
• Peach
• Pear
• Plum
• Watermelon
• Papaya
• Pineapple
• Orange

Summary

We can only feed Eggplant fruit as an occasional treat for rabbits. Eggplant’s Leafy part is toxic for rabbits. That is because Eggplants are related to the nightshade family. Only feed  Eggplants to grown rabbits. For bunnies, avoid feeding them with Eggplants. Always mix up with other vegetables and only feed 1 tablespoon of eggplant per two pounds of rabbit’s body weight not more than two times per week.

I think this article covers all the things you need to know before feeding Eggplants to your rabbits.

Thank you!!!