different hays

[Steph16]

So I have always given my bunny Timothy Hay to eat. But just now I realized that I had bought Alfalfa hay this time from the store. Jacob is around 1yr 4mths old.

I am wondering, is it alright to feed him Alfalfa?

Also will there be any effects since I would be switching cold turkey to Alfalfa and when I switch him back to Timothy?

 

[LindyS]

Differant hays being serves is actually good. I use multi hay to keep our choc buck eating because he has gi stasis. I put fresh daily in his cage to keep him interested. I see nothing wrong with it but I would still go buy some Timothy hay. You can mix it.

 

[MikeScone]

Steph16 wrote:

I am wondering, is it alright to feed him Alfalfa?

Also will there be any effects since I would be switching cold turkey to Alfalfa and when I switch him back to Timothy?

I wouldn't feed him alfalfa as an ongoing thing, as it's higher in protein than mature bunnies need. One bag won't hurt him at all, though, so don't worry about it.

After they're a year old or so it's best to switch from alfalfa (a legume, relative of peas and beans) to grass hays - timothy, orchard grass, bermuda grass, sweet meadow grass, etc. A mix of hays is a good thing, since like any vegetation they will vary in nutrition. I like to have two or three different types of hay scattered around the house in different places - orchard grass and timothy in her cage, meadow grass in the back room, oat hay in a cardboard box in the living room, and so on - so Natasha can search them out and graze on the sort of hay she wants at that moment.

 

[LindyS]

We also use orchard. Its very soft.

 

[Eli]

Mixing alfalfa and timothy hay together might result in a messy catastrophe. If your bun is like mine, he will pull all the timothy hay out and only eat the alfalfa. I say give the alfalfa as a treat in small amounts and buy timothy hay. Soft hay is not necessarily better for bunnies. The purpose of hay is to reduce blockage so the more fibrous the hay, the better. This means a late harvest timothy hay, although less desirable to a bunny, is better for their gut than a softer, earlier harvest. I even read that early harvest timothy hay is nearly equivalent to alfalfa in protein content. At least 2 types of hay is recommended for rabbits. Try giving Jacob grass hay and timothy hay. I separate the hay so they don't make a mess from picking around hay types.