Eating chunks of his hair

[kerripuff]

Hey all,

I have a Netherland Dwarf, he is about 2.5 years old. He was given to me by my sisters friend who couldn't take care of him anymore. I have had him for about a month now. When I first got him, he was eating Timothy hay every day. Now, he won't touch the hay, will only eat dry pellets, and eats chunks of his hair all day long. I mean, a lot. He has given himself bald spots on both of his sides and I pull out huge chunks from his mouth.

He has recently gotten more comfortable around me and he will come to the couch for pets. Its just me and my husband in a small apt and Peanut has free range of the bottom floor and his own space where I keep his cage, litter box, and food but I don't ever lock him up. I don't know what to do or how to make him eat hay and fresh vegetables. Right now, he has a pile or hay and a fresh bunny salad right in front of him, but he will only eat his hair! How do I get him to eat hay & veggies? Should I take away the dry pellets completely? I asked the girl who had him before me and she said he didn't eat his hair when she had him. Please help! I am worried about my buns. I don't feel like he is a happy rabbit.

 

[JBun]

What kind of rabbit pellets do you feed him, and how much do you feed each day, and about how much does he weigh?

 

[kerripuff]

Care Fresh pellets from Petsmart, I transferred them to a airtight container and am not sure of the exact kind. It's just pellets made with Timothy hay, no other weird things in it. I put a scoop in his container, maybe a cup, and fill it up whenever its empty, about every other day. He weighs about 3 pounds, I would guess. He had a check up right before I got him (he flew from Arizona to Baton Rouge on a plane by himself a month ago) and the vet said he was healthy.

 

[JBun]

I asked because I had a rabbit that started fur chewing, and I read that it could have to do with a magnesium, protein, or fiber deficiency. I wasn't feeding enough pellets, so I increased my rabbits pellets, and the fur chewing stopped and she was fine. But with your rabbit getting unlimited pellets each day, nutrient deficiency shouldn't be a problem, unless there is something wrong with the pellets. But 1 cup of pellets every other day, for a 3 lb rabbit, is a bit too much, and would be the reason that he isn't eating his hay and veggies. For adult rabbits, you should limit their pellets to around 1/4-1/2 cup a day per 6 lb. of body weight. It can vary up or down from that depending on the rabbit. You basically want to give enough to them that they stay at a healthy weight, but this is also in addition to eating hay. For a 3 lb rabbit, he should probably be getting somewhere around 1/4 cup a day, in addition to unlimited timothy hay. Since he has been getting enough protein and minerals from the pellets he's been eating, my guess would be that this may be happening because he isn't getting enough fiber in his diet. I looked them up, and these pellets don't seem to have a lot of fiber, and with him not eating hay, he wouldn't be getting very much at all. And with him chewing on his fur, that hay and fiber is very important, or he could end up with a blockage, and those can often be fatal. So try cutting pellets back to 1/4 cup a day. I like to split the amount up so that I am giving half in the morning and half at night. And always keep plenty of hay available. You can also do veggies when you give pellets, but if it's been a while since he ate veggies, then you may need to reintroduce them one at a time and in small amounts, and gradually increase each day, to avoid soft poop or digestive upset. Over the next few months, keep an eye on his weight, to make sure that the amount of pellets he is getting, is keeping him at a healthy weight. If he seems to be getting a little skinny and boney, you could increase the pellets to a 1/3 cup a day, or if he is getting chubby, you could give a little less than the 1/4 cup. These are some good veggie lists, and also how to introduce veggies to rabbits, and also general rabbit diet info.

http://www.3bunnies.org/feeding.htm#top
http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

So see if decreasing pellets and feeding unlimited hay, solves the problem, but you do want to make sure that with you decreasing his pellets, that he does start eating his hay. I think you should be able to see a decrease or elimination of the fur chewing, within a week. If not, it might be good to take him into the vet, as there may be a medical issue causing pain and then the chewing.

 

[kerripuff]

OK I am going to try all of that and check out those sites. Thanks so much for your help!! I appreciate it

 

[bigjake]

protein deficiency, give alfalfa. He is getting plenty of fiber from the timothy.

 

[tonyshuman]

I'd take a look under those bald spots and make sure there isn't an abscess or anything forming there. This could be a nutritional deficiency, as others have mentioned, but it could also be self-mutilating behavior. Sometimes bunnies will do this if there is something bothering them in the spot they're pulling fur from, or if they're terribly bored or distressed. It sounds like he has plenty to do and is in a happy environment, so it's probably not the latter.

 

[kerripuff]

Update on Peanut: Thank you everyone for your replies. After reading a bunch of posts on here, I figured the eating of hair and not eating good bun food may have to do something with his teeth. His previous owner didn't know rabbits need their teeth clipped if they get too long and I checked them out. Poor guy, the top teeth had grown back inside of his mouth and the bottom were touched his top gums. I took him to the vet, got them clipped, and now he grooms normally and is eating hay and fresh greens, doesn't seem to even care for the pellets as much anymore. Glad to have all of you bun lovers out there!!

 

[Imbrium]

aww, poor little bunny! I can't imagine how uncomfortable he must've been, especially if his previous owners weren't getting them clipped. I'm so glad you noticed - he's gotta be SO happy to have his teeth normal again!

are you giving him lots of things to chew on? considering you've only had him a month, I imagine his teeth were already pretty bad when he came to you, so I doubt he's had much (if any) interest in chewing things to try to wear them down... but now that his teeth have been trimmed, you may be able to interest him in chewing enough to keep them worn down without needing to be trimmed by the vet (or at least enough to require less frequent trims), which will save you quite a bit in the long run. that's especially likely to be possible if the reason they got so long was that his previous owner wasn't giving him enough to chew on (as opposed to him just choosing not to chew).