Alfalfa

[katherine at sacred stories]

My two bunnies, Harvey and Halo, get unlimited quantities of timothy hay and some meadow grass, timothy hay with herbs, orchard grass anda little alfalfa hay as a treat. I get a good quality "Western Timothy Hay" by Oxbow by the bale. They also get pellets and greens daily along with fresh fruit treats. They are both neutered adults, small mixes. Harvey, I believe, is dwarf mix.

Thank goodness, they really love their timothy hay and eat a lot of it. But they are ecstatic about the alfalfa hay. (Harvey, who is usually very gallant where Halo is concerned, tries to sit on it so Halo can't get it. Halo digs madly to get it out from under Harvey. So I have to hand feed it to them one by one I give them a handful once a week and they go crazy. Since they love it so much, I'm wondering if it's ok to give them a bit more. Neither is over weight but I've read that alfalfa causes too much weight gain in adults so I don't want that to become a problem.

Any suggestions or experience would be welcome! Harvey and Halo want more alfalfa!!!

:brownbunny:heartbeat::brownbunny

 

[MikeScone]

While alfalfa is higher in calories, weight gain isn't the biggest problem with alfalfa hay for adult rabbits (alfalfa is good for babies and young rabbits). The problem is that alfalfa has much higher protein and calcium levels than grass hays (timothy, orchard grass, oat hay, etc.).

 

[katherine at sacred stories]

Mike--thank you so much for the info! I thought weight gain was the issue. Should I stop feeding it altogether? Why do they always love what they shouldn't have???

 

[MikeScone]

Should I stop feeding it altogether? Why do they always love what they shouldn't have???

Why should they be any different from us? I'd love some ice cream about now...

I wouldn't make any abrupt changes to diet.Alfalfa isn't poisonous by any means, just high in protein and calcium. I'd reduce the amount of alfalfa and increase grass hays gradually, until they're weaned off the alfalfa.

I tried the timothy with herbs for Natasha and to be honest it doesn't seem worth it. I think it smells better to us than to her, and she actually prefers the cheaper timothy hay.

Each rabbit has his/her own preferences - Scone wouldn't eat timothy in any form at all, but he loved orchard grass, meadow grass and oat hay.

 

[katherine at sacred stories]

They eat much more timothy hay than anything else now. I just give them the alfalfa as a treat--a handful once a week. Do you think that's ok?

Mine do seem to like the timothy hay with herbs but, I agree, we probably like it for the smell more than they doI haven't tried the oat grass...I'll try that and maybe more orchard grass for variety.

 

[Imbrium]

mine love oat grass almost as much as alfalfa... just make sure that either it's early cut or you pick out the oats if it's a later cut as the oats have extra calories and carbs that aren't good for them. oxbow's oat hay is early cut, it's good stuff!

 

[katherine at sacred stories]

Thank you, Jennifer. I'm ordering the oat grass tonight! Good to know to get "early cut".

 

[Imbrium]

no problem - you can thank Geoff (vet who comes around RO sometimes) for the tip... he mentioned it after I said something about oat hay - I was relieved to find out that the kind I'd been feeding was the right stuff