My Rabbit will only eat pellets and treats

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Marshi

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Oct 18, 2012
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Los Angeles, California, USA
My rabbit (Marshi) refuses to eat anything except his pellets and hand fed treats:( (like apples). I tried to get him to eat hay and grass, but he won't have it! I stopped giving him pellets in the morning to get him to eat his hay during the day, but he just stomps all over it! The closest thing he's come to eating hay is chewing it through his front teeth and throwing it aside :X ! What do I do? Help Please!
 
When my rabbit was being stubborn about eating her Timothy, I gave her Orchard for a little while and slowly mixed it so she would eat it. Try giving him his favorite hay or stop feeding pellets alltoghether for a litlle while and just give him hay and veggies.
 
have you tried different varieties of hay? any type of grass hay will do, and there are plenty of them to choose from! oat, wheat grass, bermuda, coastal, orchard grass, etc. (if you use a cereal type (oat, wheat, rye, etc.), try to get some that's been cut early if possible - if not, you'll want to pick out the oats or whatever so that your bunny isn't getting too many extra carbs and calories)

you can also try keeping the hay very fresh (many bunns won't eat yesterday's serving of hay) and varying the ways you offer it. you can stick it in toilet paper/paper towel roles, put it in the litter box, tie it up in zipties and use a carabiner to attach it to the cage, use a manger, etc.
 
I would try the different grass hays available to see if you can find one he likes. There's orchard, bermuda, coastal, oat (make sure it's early cut with no oat seeds in it). You can usually find the small bags of these at petsmart or petco. If your bun is under 6 mo. you could try alfalfa hay. They generally like that really well, but you'll want to start with small portions to make sure he adjusts to it ok,

I have a bun that I don't think was ever given hay before I got him. He would not eat hay. I cut his pellets back and he would sit there and starve til it was time to eat pellets again, even if he had a huge pile of hay in front of him. So I just had to stick with the pellets and always put a little hay in with him. He's started to nibble on it a little more, so that's an improvement.
 
Thats what happened with CC. She would not touch Timothy, so we went the way of Orchard. Now, they are all on a mix of Timothy, Orchard, Oat, and Meadow grass hays. It gives them lots to choose from and sometimes they will eat it over pellets!
 
Is it possible for you to get timothy hay from a local farm or farm stand?

If you have space to store a bale, it's much cheaper, and usually mixed with clover and grass which bunnies go nuts over. Just make sure it's not mixed with alfalfa.

A bale from a local farm stand cost me $7 (compare that to pet store prices!). The bunnies like to pick out their favorite pieces of clover, then gradually eat the timothy hay. The freshness and softness of the hay is wonderful, and it's not crunchy and dusty like pet store hay.
 
Our bunny, Nibbles, wouldn't eat hay either when we first got him. Someone suggested giving him the hay in a different way. We had hay in a hay ball for him, but then put hay in a paper bag. He LOVED it! He eats a ton now (although we've switched from the bag to a shoe box with a hold in it). Try giving the hay in a different type of hay container, too!
 
Unfortunately, there are very few, if any, hay farms around Los Angeles. The horse barns around the area don't carry Timothy hay (or at least that I know of). I do give him grass clipping from my lawn (don't worry! there's not pesticide on it!) and nibbles it, but doesn't really eat much of it.
 
do the horse farms carry other grass hays? it doesn't have to be timothy. coastal, bermuda, oat, wheat grass, etc. are all just as good (though with cereal types like oat/wheat/rye you'll want to pick out any oats or whatever that you find so they don't get the extra calories/carbs).
 
Marshi wrote:
Unfortunately, there are very few, if any, hay farms around Los Angeles. The horse barns around the area don't carry Timothy hay (or at least that I know of). I do give him grass clipping from my lawn (don't worry! there's not pesticide on it!) and nibbles it, but doesn't really eat much of it.
Bunny World Foundation (on facebook too) has a list of hay suppliers out there. They are based in San Diego, but I'm sure they have recommendations for closer to LA.
If nothing else, Petsmart will have timothy and orchard hay.

It's really a matter of cutting back on those pellets (assuming your bunny is 6 months or more). You can do this gradually.

The "treats" like apple slices, shouldn't be more than 1-2 Tbsp worth per day. So if you slowly cut back on pellets and add some fresh greens in lieu of the treats, you should see him eat more hay. It is really important to get him to eat they hay.
 
We order hay online from http://bunnybale.com/

A 25lb box is only $15. Shipping from them to us (we're both in VA) is only $15 extra. I'm assuming it would be more to ship it to LA, but check it out and see if it would be worth it (price wise) for you to order. Our bunnies love the hay.
 
The horse stables have quite expensive hay (because all of it's imported from out of state) Also, the hay is 80% stem, so Marshi won't even consider eating it at all! :mad:
 
mdith4him wrote:
We order hay online from http://bunnybale.com/

A 25lb box is only $15. Shipping from them to us (we're both in VA) is only $15 extra. I'm assuming it would be more to ship it to LA, but check it out and see if it would be worth it (price wise) for you to order. Our bunnies love the hay.
Unfortunately, it would cost $45 to get it shipped here :(. That hay looks really good though! :shock:
 
Blue eyes wrote:
Marshi wrote:
Unfortunately, there are very few, if any, hay farms around Los Angeles. The horse barns around the area don't carry Timothy hay (or at least that I know of). I do give him grass clipping from my lawn (don't worry! there's not pesticide on it!) and nibbles it, but doesn't really eat much of it.
Bunny World Foundation (on facebook too) has a list of hay suppliers out there. They are based in San Diego, but I'm sure they have recommendations for closer to LA.
If nothing else, Petsmart will have timothy and orchard hay.

It's really a matter of cutting back on those pellets (assuming your bunny is 6 months or more). You can do this gradually.

The "treats" like apple slices, shouldn't be more than 1-2 Tbsp worth per day. So if you slowly cut back on pellets and add some fresh greens in lieu of the treats, you should see him eat more hay. It is really important to get him to eat they hay.
We've stopped giving him pellets for the time being. I do give him dandelions, rose leaves, and strawberry leaves (all of which he adores) from my garden and lawn.
 
Why don't you just get some hay from petsmart or petco?
They have timothy, orchard, and oxbow oat hay.

The treats need to be stopped, pellets limited. Try different types of hay and see which he'll prefer. I put hay in the litterbox and they always step in it and sit on it -- that's ok.

You just have to treat your bunny like a little child who'd rather eat candy and sweets. You have to be the one to provide the healthy food and forbid the junk food. Once he realizes he won't get the junk, then the healthy starts to look more appealing.

edit: oops. we were posting at the same time, lol
 
Blue eyes wrote:
Why don't you just get some hay from petsmart or petco?
They have timothy, orchard, and oxbow oat hay.

The treats need to be stopped, pellets limited. Try different types of hay and see which he'll prefer. I put hay in the litterbox and they always step in it and sit on it -- that's ok.

You just have to treat your bunny like a little child who'd rather eat candy and sweets. You have to be the one to provide the healthy food and forbid the junk food. Once he realizes he won't get the junk, then the healthy starts to look more appealing.

edit: oops. we were posting at the same time, lol
We aren't giving him apples right now. It's also raining :( so he can't get any leaves today. It's not really the hay he's eating that's the problem, it's getting him to eat it! The good news is that he's starting to eat more of his hay right now. We currently have 6 lbs of hay at our house so we aren't going to buy any more until we finish it.
 
Hey, I like your new avatar photo you put up. That's really cute!!

The reason I was suggesting you try different types of hay is because you said you were having trouble getting him to eat it. Some bunnies prefer some types over others. He should be eating a bare minimum of an amount of hay that is equal to his body size each day. So if he's just kinda nibbling at the type you have, and you've cut out the treats, then it may be an idea to see if he'll be more enthusiastic about a different hay type.

Once he's eating his hay well, you can offer some other greens as well, like romaine lettuce, cilantro, mint. Here's a youtube showing more ideas on veggies that you may like:
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Food/Food_main.htm
 
Blue eyes wrote:
Hey, I like your new avatar photo you put up. That's really cute!!

The reason I was suggesting you try different types of hay is because you said you were having trouble getting him to eat it. Some bunnies prefer some types over others. He should be eating a bare minimum of an amount of hay that is equal to his body size each day. So if he's just kinda nibbling at the type you have, and you've cut out the treats, then it may be an idea to see if he'll be more enthusiastic about a different hay type.

Once he's eating his hay well, you can offer some other greens as well, like romaine lettuce, cilantro, mint. Here's a youtube showing more ideas on veggies that you may like:
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Food/Food_main.htm
Thanks! it took me while to make it :3
He already eats dandelions from our yard (because for some reason, those weeds are everywhere). For some reason, he hates cilantro, whereas his (she doesn't have a name yet :( ) neighbor eats everything in sight.

The good news is that he is eating more hay, but only the leafiest/softest bits. After we're done with his current hay, we are going to order some orchard hay online (because it's cheaper and fresher).
 

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