The standard rabbit menu, Rex-sized
A Rex is a medium rabbit wearing an extraordinary coat, and his daily food is the sound standard pattern: grass hay — timothy, meadow, or orchard — available at all hours and eaten in quantity, a handful of leafy greens, and a measured portion of plain high-fibre pellets. No special coat food is required; the short, dense, upright fur that feels like velvet is genetics, not a nutritional product, and it grows perfectly well on the diet that keeps his gut and teeth right.
Refill the hay rack morning and evening and take disappearance seriously. Rex rabbits are enthusiastic eaters in every direction, so a Rex who is leaving his hay is usually a Rex whose pellet and treat allowance has drifted upward, not a rabbit who has gone off hay itself.
Greens, pellets, and the plush disguise
Offer a packed handful of leafy greens a day — romaine, spring greens, kale, coriander, dandelion leaves — introducing each new one in a small piece first and checking the litter tray the next day. Pellets stay at an egg-cup-style measured amount for an adult, split morning and evening if he campaigns for it, and muesli mixes are out, because a food-motivated rabbit sorts them expertly.
The breed-specific trap is assessment. That plush coat conceals condition in both directions: a Rex can look magnificently solid while the ribs underneath are disappearing under fat, and a moulting or lean Rex can look rougher than he is. Condition-score by touch weekly — ribs felt easily under slight pressure, spine smooth but not sharp, no dewlap swelling out of proportion — and weigh him monthly on scales, because Rex appetites plus Rex camouflage is exactly how pet rabbits become obese unnoticed. Sore hocks follow extra weight in this breed too, especially on hard floors, since the fur on a Rex's feet is as short as everywhere else.
Water and the tray check
Fresh water, rinsed and refilled daily from a bottle or a heavy bowl, must never run empty; Rex rabbits drink well when water is clean, and intake supports the hay throughput his digestion depends on. Check the vessel when you refill the rack so the two jobs fuse into one habit.
Read the litter tray daily: abundant round droppings signal the fibre system is working, while shrinking output, strings of droppings, or a Rex who refuses food and sits hunched is a same-day veterinarian matter. Also watch for a wet chin or dropped food, which can be the first outward sign of molar spurs that the hay habit is meant to prevent.
Treats that respect the waistline
Treats for a Rex work best as training currency or coat-care cooperation rewards: a blueberry, a herb stem, a small apple slice with seeds removed, offered a few times a week and counted against the day's generosity. The pellet measure shrinks before hay ever does when the weekly touch-check finds padding.
Keeping that discipline is a household project, and KinsLe's Care Teams can place the Rex's pellet serving, greens, and weekly hands-on condition check on one shared list, each marked with its time so his velvet disguise never fools the people feeding him.