Oxbow Digestive Supplement For Small Animals

I bought these for my new bunny because I wanted to have an extra precaution against GI Stasis since that’s what my last bunny sadly passed away from. I am so scared of the same thing happening to my new baby, so I wanted to do everything I could to protect him. He absolutely LOVES these. Every time I grab the bag, he runs up to me and pulls the treat from my hand. So far, he’s been doing well with it. They also smell very pleasant, which is nice, but Oxbow treats usually do smell nice. You also get a decent amount of treats for the price, which is great! Definitely worth it and I will for sure buy again. ☺️🐰

A mis conejitos les encanta. Excelente producto para tener siempre como preventivo para la digestion de los conejitos.

I recently introduced the Oxbow Natural Science Digestive Supplement to my guinea pigs’ diet, and they absolutely love it! The high fiber content is fantastic for supporting their digestive health, and I’ve noticed positive changes in their overall well-being.

However, there’s a little hiccup with the packaging. While the product itself is top-notch, the resealable ziplock on the packaging leaves something to be desired. It’s not securely glued or stuck to the packet, and after a few rounds of opening and resealing, it tends to tear off. This can be a bit inconvenient, especially when trying to keep the product fresh.

Despite the packaging concern, the supplement itself is a winner in my guinea pigs’ book, and that’s what matters most to me.

This supplement is amazing. I could see a turn around in my senior (12 1/2 yo) bunny instantly (within a few days) with his energy and comfort. He also loves the taste and it smells tasty too. I then added the urinary health and am now going to add a multivitamin. Oxbow has great customer service and told me it was okay to give all supplements in a day as long as you follow weight recommendations and instructions, so my bun will be happy to know he can have a few cookies per day rather than just his normal Oxbow treats (carrot and dill treat) and I am happy to know they are serving a nutritional need. The only one he refused it papaya but that was a tablet and must not taste good because he will eat anything.

These are great for rabbits, and delicious. 2 of my rabbits have acted like they’re treats when they’re technically vitamins.

Oxbow has recently made some major changes to their product lineup. They have discontinued some of their products and introduced new ones under a new product family called Natural Science. Included in this new lineup of products is this Natural Science Digestive Supplement, which is designed to promote gastrointestinal health in various small animals, including rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, and various other small animals. And while I think this is a very beneficial product in certain scenarios, my review is concentrated on a rabbit owner attempting to move from Oxbow’s older digestive supplement to this new one, and why I am not as happy with this as the digestive health product it replaced.

For around 5 years, my rabbit was given a digestive supplement that Oxbow made called Papaya Fruit Plus. This fruit tablet contained digestive enzymes found in pineapple (Bromelain) and papaya (Papain), and has played a huge role in my rabbit’s wellbeing. Based on what I have read & observed first-hand, I feel pineapple and papaya both help to normalize gut motility and digestion, and may help the body better utilize nutrients from other food sources. It is often given to rabbits to attempt to reduce the chance of deadly GI stasis from certain causes, as well as help avoid hair blockages (which is deadly for rabbits given they are unable to vomit and therefore must pass the hair.) Papaya Fruit Plus helped keep my bun’s GI system functioning normally, and protected her from a GI blockage caused by hair accumulation. In other words, I found the product to be extremely effective and the active ingredients were ones that most other rabbit foods did not have. These unique active ingredients made the supplement into an additional layer to a healthy diet already using a high-quality pellet food, good timothy hay, and fresh vegetables, but without having ingredients which were redundant to the good-quality pellet food. It was also a product that most rabbits would eagerly accept, which is a big plus in and of itself.

In September 2014, Oxbow discontinued Papaya Fruit Plus without having any direct replacement for it. Why they did this I do not know, but it has left a gap in my rabbit’s nutrition. The most similar product is this Natural Science Digestive Supplement, but the two are radically different products. Papaya Fruit Plus uses enzymes found in pineapple and papaya. Natural Science Digestive Supplement is a timothy hay-based supplement that contains various added ingredients to form a multivitamin of sorts (but it does NOT contain pineapple or papaya).

I attempted to switch to this Digestive Supplement with limited success. The first issue I ran into was that my rabbit just does not care for these as much as the Papaya Fruit Plus tablets, and she’s usually not very picky. Usually she will eventually eat them, but reluctantly. While that doesn’t mean these taste bad or that your rabbit(s) will or will not like them, it does mean my own rabbit is not a big fan and so feeding them is more of a pain in my personal situation.

Additionally, Natural Science Digestive Supplement lacks the two main ingredients of Papaya Fruit Plus, and is VERY similar in makeup to Oxbow’s premium pellet foods. I am already feeding my rabbit a mix of Oxbow Bunny Basics T and Oxbow Natural Science Rabbit…these pellet foods have a VERY complete nutrient profile and are already providing my bun with most of the nutrients found in Natural Science Digestive Supplement. Since my rabbit is already getting most of these nutrients in a sufficient quantity from her pellet food, is further increasing nutrient intake is beneficial or desirable? Oxbow’s pellet foods use a balance of nutrients that are not too little and not too much…does further increasing these potentially upset this balance? And if so, are there potential risks? (I’m honestly not sure but would love to hear the opinion of an expert in rabbit nutrition as I am very curious.) Beyond this, Natural Science Digestive Supplement lacks both pineapple and papaya and those were the two ingredients that were why I justified using a supplement in addition to an already-balanced diet.

After running out of Papaya Fruit Plus and moving exclusively to this, I noticed my rabbit’s poop wasn’t its normally ideal consistency of larger, round, and firm pellets of a consistent color (to non rabbit owners that probably sounds funny or weird, but rabbits making good poops is of the utmost concern because it speaks directly to health and is a tell-tale sign when something is not optimal, wrong, seriously wrong, etc.) At that point I purchased some remaining stock of Papaya Fruit Plus (for a very inflated price) and things went back to normal.

So while many rabbits have or can benefit from Natural Science Digestive Supplement, it does not fulfill the role that Oxbow’s discontinued Papaya Fruit Plus supplement played for my own rabbit. Natural Science Digestive Supplement does have a very complete nutrient profile, and is probably an excellent choice if someone needs a product to provide a significant amount of essential nutrients in a small-sized package, and it’s certainly an excellent choice in supplying essential nutrients for rabbits that do not like to eat pellet foods. But because I am already using Oxbow’s excellent pellet food and my rabbit eats it readily, I am not sure if further increasing nutrient intake is necessary, or how much this product will benefit rabbit owners already feeding their rabbits Oxbow’s excellent pellet foods. As of right now, I am not sure what I am going to do when I can no longer find remaining bottles of Papaya Fruit Plus, but I do not think Natural Science Digestive Supplement will be able to take its place.

Therefore, I recommend this product conditionally. In certain cases it is arguably a fantastic choice to supply a very complete profile of essential nutrients, especially if your rabbit does not like to eat fortified pellet food or needs nutrient intake beyond what an appropriate serving of pellet food can supply. However, if you have been using Papaya Fruit Plus and are looking for a replacement, I cannot recommend Natural Science Digestive Supplement.