7 week old won't eat pellets

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aurora

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Hi, so this may have been asked before but I can't find it. I have a new 7 week old mix breed. She is a wonderful and healthy bunny. She eats a lot of hay but won't touch her pellets. I don't know if there is something I can do.

I have found she likes things the way she likes them. She won't drink out of a waterbottle and pulled down her free feeder because she likes hay on the ground. I wonder if she just doesn't like pellets but worry about her nutrition.
 
Is this a new kind of pellet she is now getting, or did you get some of her usual pellets from whoever you got her from to 'transition' her onto her new food? Do you know the exact foods and brands she was getting in her previous home?

Temporarily, hay is just fine and actually very good for her to help her digestive function, especially since the stress of a move and new home can sometimes throw a rabbits gut microflora off which can result in serious problems, and a grass hay is the best thing in restoring this balance. So don't worry too much that she is only eating hay for now as you work on the pellet issue.
 
Perhaps try to mix the hay and pellets together to encourage her to eat them! I did the opposite, but to encourage my bunny to eat hay, rather than only pellets and it worked great!
 
Yes, you need to find out, if possible, what type of pellets she was eating before and get some to transition her over to whatever you'll be giving her. At that age, you would want an alfalfa based pellet, especially if you're feeding her a grass hay, like Timothy. You may want to also give her a small salt/mineral block, until she's back on pellets. It will provide some nutritional value for her in the meantime.
 
As long as she eats her hay, that is the important thing. None of my rabbits ever liked pellets, but they ate hay and lived long a long time.
 
As long as she eats her hay, that is the important thing. None of my rabbits ever liked pellets, but they ate hay and lived long a long time.

I respectfully disagree. A 7 week old won't live a long time on hay and water. Proper nutrition is critical to proper development.
 
Thanks. I found out she likes the store brand from where I got her (it's an hour away tho) but since it's alfalfa based so it will only be ok a couple months more.
 
I respectfully disagree. A 7 week old won't live a long time on hay and water. Proper nutrition is critical to proper development.
Pellets are mostly made from hay already with a few extra nutrients. I wish you luck getting your rabbit to eat the pellets. In my case, my rabbits didn't like them. I tried different brands. Nothing worked. It wasn't from lack of trying on my end for them. Luckily, they were all hay eaters. I give very small amounts of leafy dark green veggies also to give them a few extra vitamins as a supplement
 

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