How Much Does a Rabbit Eat Per Day?

Rabbit feeding is genuinely less settled than most of the figures on this site — not because nobody has researched it, but because current advice has shifted, and not every source agrees on the number. Worth knowing before you take any single figure, including ours, as the final word.

About 1oz of pellets per lb of bodyweight per day

House Rabbit Society guidance puts pellet intake at roughly 1oz per lb of bodyweight per day (about 62.5g per kg). That's the figure our feed cost calculator uses, scaling with the weight you enter.

These illustrate the ratio rather than representing specific breeds — enter your own rabbit's actual weight in the calculator instead.

This is pellets, not the whole diet

The figure above is pellet intake specifically. Hay should be unlimited and available at all times, not measured or restricted — it should make up the majority of a rabbit's diet by volume, with pellets as a smaller, measured supplement rather than the main event. Fresh vegetables are also commonly fed alongside both, but we haven't found a sourced daily quantity for those to add here.

Why this figure is genuinely contested

Rabbit nutrition guidance has shifted meaningfully toward hay-first feeding over the last couple of decades, and some current veterinary advice recommends notably less pellet than the House Rabbit Society figure above — as little as 1/8 cup per 5lb of bodyweight in some published advice, a smaller measured portion rather than a straightforward bodyweight ratio. We've kept the House Rabbit Society figure here because it's a named, citable source consistent with the rest of this site's sourcing, but we're not presenting it as the final word — ask a rabbit-savvy vet for guidance suited to your own rabbit's age, breed and health.

Working out your own cost

Enter your rabbit's weight and count into the feed cost calculator along with your local pellet price for a daily, weekly and monthly estimate, or use cost of keeping to combine it with a vet allowance and other costs. Water is a separate daily input worth planning for too — see our water guide. Kitchen leftovers and vegetable peelings aren't part of this diet regardless — see our kitchen scraps guide for a genuine legal grey area worth knowing about.

Hay sits outside this pellet figure. The how much hay does a rabbit need guide covers how much hay to give and why it matters most.

Source: House Rabbit Society guidance (~1oz pellets per lb bodyweight/day), the same organisation already cited for this site's US rabbit hutch calculator. The lower contested figure (as little as 1/8 cup per 5lb) reflects general current rabbit-veterinary advice rather than one single citation. Sources checked: September 2026.

Common questions

How much should I feed my rabbit?

House Rabbit Society guidance is about 1oz of pellets per lb of bodyweight per day — but that's pellets specifically, not hay, which should be unlimited and available at all times. Some current rabbit vets recommend notably less pellet, as little as 1/8 cup per 5lb, so treat this as a starting figure rather than a settled one.

Why is rabbit feed guidance contested?

Rabbit nutrition science has moved toward hay-first feeding over the last couple of decades, and current veterinary advice in some quarters recommends notably less pellet than older guidance did — closer to a small measured portion than a bodyweight ratio. We've kept the House Rabbit Society figure since it's a named, citable organisation, but flagged the disagreement rather than presenting one number as settled.

Should hay be measured the same way as pellets?

No — hay should be unlimited and available at all times, not measured out. It should make up the majority of a rabbit's diet by volume. The pellet figure this guide covers is a supplement to that, not a replacement for it.

Does this figure include vegetables?

No — fresh vegetables are commonly fed alongside hay and pellets, but the sourced figure here covers pellets specifically. We haven't found a sourced daily vegetable quantity to add to it.