Small alarms

Hello if ya missed my introduction Im a rookie at this. I have a rough guess 2year old bun who would eat hay non-stop after i gave him some Romaine lettuce he has not touched his hay still eatting his pellets and constantly chewing on a cardboard toy we got him froma pet store dealing in bunnies. Should this be major cause for alarm or is he protesting to get more romaine lettuce?

He needs to eat hay to stay healthy. So I don't know what your food set up/routine for him is.

http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/

This is the food recommendation for rabbits.

Rabbits only need 1/4 cup of pellets a day for every 6lbs. So my rabbit is only 3 lbs so she only gets 1/8 cup.

Sometimes when there are more yummy options available for the rabbit they eat them first and get full off of them and don't want to eat hay. This can cause problems. You need to limit the amount of pellets so that your bun will eat hay.

If he was eating hay before and not now, and nothing else has changed, then you might consider changing the hay for a different type, or maybe take the cardboard out and see if he goes back to eating the hay.

Well my bun is a 10.5lb bun who gets per the Vet: 2/3 cup of pellets a day and all the hay he wants. We give him 1/3 in the morning and 1/3 before bed and keep the hay feeder fully stocked. The vet suggested as way to get him to like me (he decided as a guy himself i was a threat and he did not want me near him) that i feed him special treats like romaine and carrot tops. I like the suggestion to remove the cardboard box and see if it helps as i type this i pulled the toy out

Well bunny isnt eating hay like he use too still eatting his pellets still a mini fertilizer factory so no GI issues i can tell just seems hay has lost his intrest and he would rather chew on his toys and dig constantly

If you haven't tried different types of hay or grass, you might try that. I know ours liked orchard grass as a change from the coastal hay they usually got.

We switched from Timothy hay to orchard grass no luck, tried alfalfa no luck vet believes it could be a silent protest to get more Romaine lettuce or he is keeping busy with his toys
Plus side for the next few days i will have a very lazy bunny he was fixed today is munching quite happily on Timothy hay

AJ.

That may be a boost in your favor towards him eating more hay. If you find he likes one food over another, in your buns case the lettuce over the hay, try flipping his schedule or feeding amounts to different times. Then again the little booger may be eating hay at night when you and your family aren't around.

My bun AJ, yes that's my buns name, loves pellets and pushes me out of the way for them in the morning and wasn't eating his hay as much. Or so I thought. So I switched his pellets to night time and his "salads" to the afternoon. He now gets just fresh hay in the morning and I at least know he's eating some. I also noticed though that he is very active at night. So he prolly also eats hay then too

Pete never had hay--a rescue--so I cut way back on pellet and gave him a small box of hay in addition to his rack--2 days later he was a hay eating machine. He also gets veggies 2 times a day and 3 tablespoons of pellets at night. Our vet says they can get by on unlimited hay and a couple of cups of veggies just fine, so they get pellets more as a treat than a staple.

My rabbits have a similar diet- all the hay in the world and about a cup of veggies (they are small, so one cup is PLENTY for my two). One gets pellets (but like 1/4 of a tbs) and the other does not (he's a fatty- and on a diet). Hay is very important and pellets not so much. Neither of mine had hay before I got them, but we played the reduce the pellets and you get to choose eating hay or starving game and they both chose hay. Now they LOVE it! One thing I've noticed with rabbits in general is they like 'fresh' hay. So you should refill/replace the hay daily if yours is still not eating enough of it- bunnies are snobs like that

I appreciate all the responses. Ash is a humane society adoption so his history is unknown really. Pellets are like gold to him and he will get aggressive if u put your hand to close to tthe food dish even if empty. How he thinks it gets full is beyond me. He is a hay snob open a nee bag of hay he eats next day nope open another new bag and he will eat again... drama king i guess

i know it's going against the grain BUT... rabbits CAN survive and survive really well eating only pellets. Hay is NOT a requirement to survival. so as long as the bunny in question is eating, drinking, pooping and peeing as per normal, I'd stress not. IF that changes, then you worry and change things up as needed.

Hay is not required for survival, no, but for longevity- yes. Sort of like how humans really don't have to eat fruits and veggies, but generally live longer if they at least eat a few.

Nonsense. I had a 11 year old buck who NEVER had hay as he didn't like it. Lived a good long life and I know many pet people who struggle to get their rabbits to live to 5 or 6 years who feed "all the hay they want". As long as rabbits are fed a balanced diet they do find...and a GOOD quality pellet will have the necessary fibre a rabbit needs for digestion. I have another boy broaching 8 years who also doesn't like hay. No health issues. I know, only two cases which to you may be insignificant, but I know many people who don't feed hay and their rabbits thrive. We may need to agree to disagree, but I want to alleviate the concern of people who may have a rabbit who simply doesn't like hay, so they know their individual rabbit will be just fine as long as it is fed a balanced diet.

Ok, so is oxbow a good quality brand? If not point me to one. He snacks on hay mildly crews the hell out of his willow sticks so i guess maybe no worries

I know people who live on junk food, smoke a pack a day, never exercise and survive quite a while too- genetics are VERY important to longevity. Much more important than diet- but a healthy diet never hurts, in people and animals! My oldest was at least 12(?)- we had him for 11 years and he was an adult when we got him. He pretty much only ate hay, he preferred it to pellets for some reason. He was a nethie though, so he definitely needed the hay to keep his teeth down.

Oxbow pellets are my favorite brand- I consider them high quality. Just be careful not to let him get fat- that's my biggest problem with pellets.

Let me try to make my argument again now that I've thought out a better way to say it- pellets have enough fiber and animals can last quite a while on pellets (particularly if their genetics are in support of longevity) but obesity (most rabbits- not all- fed only pellets are overweight if not obese) does drastically reduce lifespan. So assuming an owner is careful about obesity, pellets are not usually a problem (except in those animals that have conformation issues with their teeth- they tend to need the extra grinding action required of hay). Rabbits prone to ileus also seem to do much better when given mostly hay and the number of pellets reduced, in my experience working at hospitals, as well as those prone to cecal dysbioses. A normal, healthy rabbit would probably do just fine on pellets alone, like Ladysown said. I personally would not feed my rabbits only pellets if it can be avoided (some rabbits of course just will not eat it)- I tend to feed only hay and veggies, with pellets more as a treat. But that's my personal take on rabbit husbandry.

I think it does have more to do with genetics. Our rabbits get hay about once a week and otherwise eat good quality pellets...that's it. I rarely have health issues with them. Our rabbits are show/breeding rabbits so I'm thinking the genetics are better in them than the typical pet rabbit, who most likely wasn't bred responsibly. Ours also aren't fixed so metabolism may play into them not being fat on pellets. We typically retire them at 5-6 yrs and they are in good health. Those we've been able to follow up on continue to have no health problems.

I've heard that both Oxbow and Sherwood Forest make good pellets for pet rabbits

Specials said:

Ok, so is oxbow a good quality brand? If not point me to one. He snacks on hay mildly crews the hell out of his willow sticks so i guess maybe no worries

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Oxbow is what I feed my two. I think it's very good quality. They even make an organic pellet if you are so inclined (personally I think that's unnecessary).

Thanks for all the input he will eat lettuce like a child eats candy and pellets he gets 2/3 cup of pellets per day (per vet suggestion) fruit he wont eat any fruit aside from dehydrated bananas and dehydrated apples both high on the sugar side of fruits so he gets an apple ring for good behavior maybe once a day (we are working on free raoming in the house) veggies he will eat carrot tops when presented carrots when nothing else is available ive wanted to try green beans and peas but havent yet after reading they dont always agree with bunnys tummys.
Strangely he wont eat strawberries, wont eat cranberries, wont eat blueberries, wont eat alfalfa pellets (yes i know they are not the most healthy but they came with the purchase of him), wont eat fresh apple or bananas. But the dude sure goes crazy trying to get my pepermints. I have not let him have any because well it just seems like a terrible idea to give a rabbit a peppermint. Hes back to only Timothy hay currently and has chewed his grass mat apart. And I thought human children were picky eaters...