The Rex rabbit's hay-based everyday diet
A Rex rabbit should eat unlimited grass hay as its main everyday diet, with a rack kept full and a loose pile for grazing through the day. Timothy or meadow hay supplies the long fibre that keeps a Rex's gut moving and its teeth wearing evenly, and this intelligent, active breed eats in frequent bouts, so hay should be waiting at each visit to the rack. The famous velvet coat — short, dense, and upright — changes grooming needs, not the menu; digestion in a Rex runs on the same forage-first pattern as any rabbit's.
Weight and hocks: why the Rex diet stays lean
Keeping a Rex rabbit lean matters more than in many breeds because Rex fur is sparse on the feet, leaving the hocks with less padding against pressure. Extra body weight on a Rex bears down on those hocks through hours of sitting, and sore, reddened hocks are a recognised problem in the breed. A measured handful of plain pellets rather than a full bowl, hay always available, and greens rather than sugary treats for extras all serve the same goal: a Rex whose ribs are found easily under the plush coat when you run a hand along its side.
Pellets and greens, Rex-sized
Pellets for a Rex rabbit are a small daily handful of uniform high-fibre nuggets, which prevent the selective feeding a Rex will happily practise on a muesli mix, eating the sweet pieces and scattering the rest. Greens are a loose handful a day — romaine, spring greens, kale in rotation, parsley or coriander tops — each new leaf introduced singly over a few days so any soft droppings can be traced to their cause. Because the Rex coat is so dense, check condition by touch at green-feeding time weekly; scales help too, since the eye is genuinely fooled by that velvet outline.
Feeding setup that protects Rex feet and skin
A Rex rabbit should eat on a solid, clean, dry surface, with hay in a rack that keeps most of it off the floor where bedding and droppings mix. Rex skin can react to damp and rough ground, so clear spilled greens and wet hay promptly and keep the feeding corner dry. Water comes from a bottle checked daily or a heavy bowl scrubbed out, and a Rex that drinks from a bowl will dip its short whiskers and chin, so refresh it when hay dust films the surface. Scatter pellets through the hay pile to slow the feed and add foraging work to the Rex's day.
Coat, moult, and feeding through the year
During a Rex rabbit's moult, appetite for hay matters even more, because swallowed loose fur must move through the gut on a tide of fibre. Offer hay generously, brush the coat gently a few times a week to lift loose fur before the rabbit swallows it, and watch droppings for strings of smaller pellets that signal hair passing. No special coat food or supplement is needed for that shine; a Rex on a hay-led diet with steady weight grows its velvet from the base ration. Sudden rich feeding during moult is a common owner mistake — keep the menu boring and the hay plentiful.
When a Rex rabbit's diet needs veterinary input
A Rex rabbit that stops eating, leaves its hay, produces shrinking droppings, or develops bald, sore patches on the hocks needs a veterinarian promptly, with diet and flooring both part of the conversation. A Rex passing uneaten caecal pellets around the pen is usually eating too rich a mix for its hay intake, so note the current pellet amount before the visit. KinsLe Care Teams keeps a Rex's hay top-ups, measured pellets, and greens assigned across the household and timestamped on completion, giving that vet visit an accurate feeding history to work from.