10 Reasons Oregano Is a Must-Have Herb for Meat Rabbits

Oregano is a valuable herb to feed to meat rabbits or to use as an immune support or treatment for illnesses.

In my rabbitry, oregano is one of my go-to herbs and supplements. It is, in its various forms, one of the key components of my meat rabbit first aid kit, herbal treatment, and supplement supplies.

Oregano in an herb garden — Oregano is a definite go-to in the rabbitry when it comes to edible herbs and home remedies for health issues.

If I suspect a respiratory irritation or a possible condition brought on by stress, and sometimes even if I just know the rabbits may be stressed and could use some extra support, I reach for one or another oregano product.

Oregano may not be a cure-all product (what is?), but it can often give a rabbit the extra boost it needs to fight off an illness or prevent one from coming on.

Oregano is easy to obtain, easy to use, liked by rabbits, and easy to feed, with a few different options for doing so. It’s an all-around win for you and your meat rabbits!

Jump to:

Primary Properties and Benefits of Oregano for Meat Rabbits
Benefits of Natural Oregano vs. Chemical and Synthetic Medications
Oregano as an immune system booster
Oregano as a gut and digestive support
When to feed oregano to meat rabbits
How to feed oregano to meat rabbits
Growing and Harvesting Oregano for Meat Rabbits
What parts of the oregano plant can meat rabbits eat?
Do rabbits like oregano?
Reading and Further Resources on Using Oregano for Meat Rabbits

Primary Properties and Benefits of Oregano for Meat Rabbits

Oregano’s power comes from compounds including carvacrol and thymol. These compounds deliver beneficial properties to meat rabbits, just as they do for us as humans.

The most well-known and primary properties of oregano and oregano products include:

Immune support
Antimicrobial
Anti inflammatory
Respiratory support

Oil of origanum is one of the key ingredients in Rabbit VetRx and the other VetRx preparations (which are basically all the same formulation, with different livestock labels).

Other properties of oregano include

Antioxidant properties
Relieves congestion
Clear sinuses and nasal cavities
Natural antibiotic
Possible antiparasitic
Possible coccidiostat (reduce coccidia -- one study showed lower numbers of coccidia present post mortem)
Enteritis and diarrhea treatment

“The active compounds in oregano oil, such as carvacrol and thymol, possess antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, that support the immune system and protect rabbits from diseases.” -- [“Nutritional Value of Oregano-Based Products and Its Effect on Rabbit Performance and Health”, Ayman Abd El-Aziz, Et al.]

Benefits of Natural Oregano vs. Chemical and Synthetic Medications

Champagne D'Argent and Californian meat rabbits in a transport cage — Oregano is an excellent herb to feed during transitions or times of potential stress or immune exposures, like transporting and showing.

As a natural remedy, there are advantages to using oregano as opposed to antibiotics and other chemical and medication preparations (including dewormers).

Some of the advantages of oregano and natural remedies are

Natural product
Readily available
Free of residues, so there is no withholding time for slaughter or meat consumption
Fewer side effects compared to medications and antibiotics
Ecofriendly
Does not require a veterinarian’s prescription

Interesting results seen in studies with oregano in meat rabbits

Studies have shown some interesting results of oregano supplementation in meat rabbits, calling oregano a “valuable natural remedy for supporting rabbit health and performance” that “can significantly enhance performance by promoting overall health and well-being.” [PubMed Central (PMC). Nutritional Value of Oregano-Based Products and Its Effect on Rabbit Performance and Health.]

These can translate well into the health and wellness of backyard meat rabbits.

The premise of some of these studies was exploring whether oregano use (and sometimes other herbs) could have similar growth impacts as antibiotics in feed. The premise was that oregano could serve as a natural replacement for antibiotics, which have seen higher restrictions in response to antibiotic resistance and overuse.

Some of the findings in the groups that received oregano included:

Higher live weights
Higher carcass weighs
Better feed conversion ratios
Impacts on meat moisture
Delayed oxidative stress in meat
Cholesterol reduction

“Supplementing rabbit diets and drinking water with oregano essential oil (OEO) has been found to enhance growth performance, feed efficiency, and meat quality, while also lowering cholesterol levels and boosting antioxidant activity.” [El-Aziz Et al.]

Oregano as an immune system booster

Meat rabbit buck eating oregano — Oregano supports the immune and respiratory systems.

Oregano offers a good level of protection from disease. It does this through vitamin and nutrient support and through inflammatory control.

Oregano works by supporting the immune system so that rabbits that are endemic carriers of illness-causing pathogens and parasites keep those invaders in check (in the way that most healthy domestic rabbits normally do). This way, dormant load hosts do not grow into clinical infections, especially when the rabbits are under stress (and resources show that most domestic rabbits are such carriers).

Oregano as a gut and digestive support

These studies also show that oregano works as a digestive support. They specifically used oregano oil, which would deliver the compounds in a more concentrated form.

What they discovered was that oregano can

Regulate microbial gut flora (critical to maintaining proper digestion in hind-gut fermenters like rabbits)
Promotes good digestion
Improves nutrient absorption

The study found the enhanced digestive benefits translated directly into overall rabbit performance.

When to feed oregano to meat rabbits

Oregano for supplementing meat rabbits — Regular dried oregano from he grocery store can be fed as long as it is the dried herb only.

You can either feed oregano as a response to an issue, or you can feed it in low amounts as a combination in daily feed.

As part of a daily feed ration, oregano can lend ongoing nutritional and immune strengthening. It is a good source of a number of essential vitamins and minerals.

A word of caution, though -- oregano, especially when dried, is high in calcium, so it can potentially cause sludge in the urine if fed in too high a dose. This is a reason to make it a supplement, a part of the feed, and not the base of a feed program. If you are concerned about high calcium levels, especially in breeding bucks, apple cider vinegar in water can help alleviate this and counteract the high calcium levels.

You might also choose to feed oregano or an oregano oil-containing product (diluted essential oil VetRx…) in anticipation of a stress-producing event or exposure.

For example, a common use of VetRx is to give it to rabbits that are traveling to shows. Administer for a few days before, then during, and for a few days to a week after returning from a show.

You can do the same with fresh or dried oregano or oregano essential oil.

If you were buying or selling a rabbit or relocating rabbits for a move, these would be good times to supplement with oregano.

The idea is that oregano works as an immune support and booster for immunity. This will help fight off diseases that might result from exposures in group settings, or can prevent opportunistic infections from protozoa and parasites that might live in the rabbit, which are normally controlled under normal good conditions, but that can sometimes gain a foothold when rabbits are stressed.

E cuniculi, coccidia, and respiratory pathogens like Pasteurella often work this way. Most meat rabbits are carriers, and you may never see the case become clinical, but high stress and lowered immunity from it can flare up endemic populations into real clinical illnesses.

How to feed oregano to meat rabbits

Rabbit VetRx for immune support — Oil of oreganum is one of the primary ingredients in Vet Rx preparations.

If you are feeding to respond to a suspected illness, some options are to

Sprinkle one-half to one tablespoon over feed at feeding time
Feed one or two sprigs of fresh oregano one to two times per day
Dilute two drops of food-grade oregano oil in drinking water per day (or as an alternative, Rabbit VetRx, which contains oregano and other oils)

If you are feeding as a regular part of your meat rabbits’ diet, a good ration might be

The equivalent of one teaspoon in pellets per day
One sprig of fresh oregano per day in the mixed feed ration
One to two drops of oregano essential oil per day in water

Note that there are not truly exact rations for oregano, so you should watch and see how your rabbits respond. Oregano should always be fed in addition to or as part of a full feed regimen, so it’s unlikely that you would overdo it too much.

Some sources do say that, as an aromatic herb, oregano can be overdone, so it would be most prudent to choose one form or another and not double up on different products and delivery systems. Or, a moderate regular amount of oregano in feed, then increasing with other products only as needed during illness.

VetRx recommends adding their product to drinking water prophylactically when rabbits are transported, traveling, or coming and going to rabbit shows.

It is smart to use oregano, oregano oil, or a compound like VetRx that contains it when you bring new rabbits into your rabbitry, to reduce issues, support the new rabbits, and protect them in the first week or two after their move (but still keep them in quarantine for 14 to 30 days away from your other rabbits).

When introducing fresh, green oregano to your meat rabbits, it is smart to give a small amount, and then introduce it gradually, as is recommended for all fresh greens and fresh feeds.

Growing and Harvesting Oregano for Meat Rabbits

Harvested herbs in a basket — Oregano is an easy growing perennial herb, but it does like to take over an area.

Oregano is an easy plant to grow. Along with its multiple benefits and fast action, this makes it a worthwhile plant to plant for your rabbits, either for regular feeding or as a first aid type remedy to have on hand.

Oregano is a perennial plant in zones 5 through 9 and their equivalents, so you’ll only need to plant it once if you live in these zones. There are varieties that are hardy down to zone 4.

If you cannot grow oregano as an overwintering perennial, you can take cuttings at the end of the season to propagate. Then you can grow your oregano inside for the winter and replant it outside in the spring.

Do note: Oregano is part of the mint family, and it spreads like mint, too. Which is to say, like wildfire. So plant oregano where you don’t mind that it might take over, and when it creeps outside its bed, don’t be shy about mowing it to keep it back.

Another good way to control the spread of oregano is to grow it in containers. If you do grow oregano as a container plant, that plant can be brought inside to continue growing over the winter, and grown outside in the warm months.

If you know someone with oregano in their herb garden, they will probably be happy to dig a starter plant for you, or to give you some cuttings that you can root and grow into new plants.

Harvesting oregano

There is nothing complicated about harvesting oregano for your meat rabbits,

All you need to do is grab a handful, then cut at the bottom of the stem.

You can cut and feed right out of the garden, or you can dry it for later.

Drying oregano

Herbs and oregano drying on a pasta rack — Dry oregano just by hanging it upside down in bundles.

Drying oregano is easy, too.

You can dry your oregano in a dehydrator set on a low setting (100 to 125 F or 37 to 51 C). Oregano, like most herbs, dries very well just by air drying, so really, using a dehydrator is something of an overcomplication and a waste of electricity and money.

Here are some good ways to dry oregano easily for your meat rabbits:

Lay out cut sprigs on a baking rack in a warm spot until dry
Tie sprigs into bundles and hang in a warm, dry place
You could hang in the rafters of your rabbit room or barn
Lay in the sun for an afternoon or two

After, you can store dried sprigs in a metal can or plastic tote, or rake off the dry leaves and put them into jars for later use.

Just keep your oregano in a cool, dry place out of moisture. That’s it!

What parts of the oregano plant can meat rabbits eat?

Buck meat rabbit, Californian — Meat rabbits can eat the stems, flowers, and leaves of the plant.

Meat rabbits can eat both the stems and the leaves of the organo plant. They can eat the flowers, too, if your oregano plant goes to flower.

Do rabbits like oregano?

Most meat rabbits like oregano and eat it readily, but it is an aromatic herb, so some may need some time to get used to it. If you are using a small to moderate amount mixed into feed, it’s usually easily consumed.

Dried oregano has a stronger smell than fresh, so your rabbits may prefer fresh sprigs.

Younger, greener sprigs tend to be milder, so they, too, might be more to your rabbits’ liking. (That said, I’ve never had an issue getting my rabbits to drink water with the oil in it or to eat food with dried oregano on it. They seem to like it.)

Something else you can try is to brew an oregano “tea”, then remove the dried herb and water your rabbits with the tea, or put some of the tea into their water dish or bottle.