Cauliflower is a vegetable with heads that resemble broccoli and is eaten around the world. It can be roasted, boiled,fried, steamed or eaten raw.
It has been eaten for centuries and is enjoyed in many different culinary dishes.
So can rabbits eat cauliflower at all?
Lets take a look at their nutritional data and find out more about it. In particular, their acidic, calcium, sugar, phosphorus, fat, fibre and sodium content are of most interest.
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 104 kJ (25 kcal)
Carbohydrates
5 g
Sugars 1.9 g
Dietary fiber 2 g
Fat 0.3 g
Protein 1.9 g
Vitamins
Thiamine (B1) (4%) 0.05 mg
Riboflavin (B2) (5%) 0.06 mg
Niacin (B3) (3%) 0.507 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)
(13%) 0.667 mg
Vitamin B6 (14%) 0.184 mg
Folate (B9) (14%) 57 μg
Vitamin C (58%) 48.2 mg
Vitamin E (1%) 0.08 mg
Vitamin K (15%) 15.5 μg
Trace metals
Calcium (2%) 22 mg
Iron (3%) 0.42 mg
Magnesium (4%) 15 mg
Manganese (7%) 0.155 mg
Phosphorus (6%) 44 mg
Potassium (6%) 299 mg
Sodium (2%) 30 mg
Zinc (3%) 0.27 mg
Other constituents
Water 92 g
source wikipedia
As you can see cauliflower contains quite a lot of phosphorus, a hint of calcium, is quite acidic, a little sugar, and a hint of fat and fibre. It is also useful to note that they contain a lot of water which means they will cause bloat.
This means that rabbits can eat cauliflower, but not too much of it. One of two flourets a week should suffice but nothing more than that. Anything more than that and they will have serious bloat issues.
They can also eat their leaves which are quite nutritious for them.
However, they cannot eat it cooked in any form. So fried, boiled, roasted or steamed cauliflower is out of bounds as far as rabbits are concerned.