Rabbits can eat celery stalks and leaves (tops) as well as celery root (celeriac). They are all safe (not toxic or harmful). However, safety alone isn’t all you need to know. There is a lot more, including how to feed celery leaves, stalks, or root to your bunnies, whether they love it or not, and a lot more.
Celery (Apium graveolens) is a marshland vegetable native to Africa, Europe, and Asia in the family Apiaceae that also has carrot or parsley.
Depending on the variety and place, the leaf stalks (petiole), the hypocotyl (root), or leaves serve as a vegetable, both raw and cooked. Also, this vegetable’s seeds have used in traditional herbal medicine.
Do rabbits like celery?
No. While in the wild, celery isn’t one of the most favored garden plants. Wild rabbits will prefer young tender leaves and shoots of peas, lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, beans, and beets.
They will also eat shrubs and flowers such as berries, vines, apples, peaches, cherries, and flowers like impatiens, tulips, and roses, among others.
However, they may nibble a little bit of celery, or even herbs like basil, oregano, mint, tarragon, parsley, especially when not spoiled for choice.
While not most favored in the wild, celery is good for your domestic bunnies. They will enjoy the crunchy celery stalks, its leaves or root.
Feeding celery to your rabbits
When it comes to feeding your rabbit, you need to ensure the food is safe and fed in the correct proportions. Good quality grassy hay should be at least 80%, fresh foods 10-15% of their diet, and the remainder high fiber pellets.
Additionally, when offering fresh foods like leafy greens, non-leafy veggies, fruits, and flowers, please keep them in their right proportion. Leafy greens, including vegetables, need to account for at least 75% of the fresh food and the rest fed as occasional treats.
Excessive amounts of leafy green may cause diarrhea, gas, GI stasis, and other stomach issues since it is lower in fiber as opposed to hay.
On the other hand, most fruits and non-leafy veggies tend to be higher in carbohydrates, something that should be minimal in these pet’s diet. A lot may overload your rabbit’s hindgut causing enteritis, diarrhea, stomach upset, and so on. They are also, low in fiber!
Finally, don’t forget to look at their calcium and oxalic acid levels. Only include a single kind high in oxalic acid or calcium. See more on what to feed rabbits.
Celery stalks
In most grocery stores, they sell celery leaf stalk or petioles with their leaves already chopped off. If you want to offer some of these stalks your rabbits, give them only a small amount as an occasional treat since they are non-leafy vegetables. A few times a week is ok.
A typical amount will be half a stalk for an average bunny. Chop it into pieces less than an inch, and let your rabbits enjoy its crunchiness and texture. Don’t cook them.
Celery stalks promote hydration (high in water) and provide your pets with vitamins A, C, K, folate, and potassium. Also, they have antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, and the high vitamin K will help ensure healthy bones and may serve as an anticancer agent.
A few people mention the risk of the celery strings causing intestinal blockage. However, it is unlikely to occur since these pets can handle fibrous material very well.
Perhaps, these strings may stick in their teeth, something also unlikely to happen if you chop them. Furthermore, these pets have sharp chisel-like incisors that will easily cut celery stalks.
Can I feed my rabbit celery leaves?
Bunnies can eat celery leaves. They are a lot healthier than the stalks. You can also munch them as they are not harmful to you.
Celery leaves are rich in calcium standing at 325 mg/100g (1) and a good source of iodine, vitamin E, and antioxidant-rich.
When feeding celery leaves to your bunnies, make it part of the leafy greens that you offer your rabbits. A cupful of a chopped mixture of 5-6 different veggies is enough for a two-pound bunny.
However, since it is high in calcium, don’t include any other veggie high in calcium like collard greens, carrot tops, Yu Choy, spring greens, and so on. See more rabbit food list.
Celeriac or root celery
If you happen to have celeriac root, only give it to your bunnies as an occasional treat. A teaspoon per two-pound rabbit is enough in a day since it is a non-leafy vegetable.
Celeriac has vitamin B6, C, K, potassium, manganese, copper, iron, and phosphorus. It is also a good source of dietary fiber and antioxidants. However, it is higher in carbohydrates, something that bunnies should eat in limited amounts.
Introduce slowly
As we have seen, celery is good for rabbits, i.e., the root, stalk, and leaves. However, when introducing it to these pets, do it slowly.
Begin with a tiny amount and see how their tummies will react after a day. If there are no stomach upsets or diarrhea, increase the amount but not beyond what we have recommended.
Also, ensure the leaves and stalks are free of any farm chemicals like pesticides and herbicides, and don’t forget to wash them under running water.
Additional information
The three Apium graveolens main cultivars are celery (grown for mainly its stouter leaf stems or stalks), celeriac (root), and the leaf celery (Chinese) valued for its leaves. There is also a wild variety.
In the US, people love the crispy leaf stalk (petioles), and in Europe, its hypocotyl (root) is loved. The Chinese variety is popular in soup flavoring, salad ingredient, or serves as a side dish after you pickled it.
However, people do eat leaves, stalks, and roots everywhere in the world. You can eat it raw, cook it, or use it to flavor soups or in various dishes.
Conclusion
Celery is safe to your domestic dwarf, small, large, or giant rabbits and all breeds, including lops, dwarf Hotot, English spots, or lionhead rabbits, among others.
However, don’t feed celery to unweaned baby rabbits. Young bunnies should begin eating leafy greens once they are at least 12 weeks of age.
Finally, don’t give celery seeds or any other seeds to your bunnies as they are not healthy. Most are starchy and have high-fat content. In nature, rabbits hardly eat seeds or nuts.