Emergency! Please advise (out of hay temporarily)

[Littlebun]

I’ve run out of hay for my bunny. Long story short one bag of hay turned out to be very smelly and possibly full of fungus. My rabbit refused to eat it. I don’t feed her pellets so don’t have those and I can’t find good quality pellets in my country anyway. They all have corn and grains in them so I never bothered with pellets. I have ordered more hay obviously but it will take until tomorrow to arrive. Since morning my bunny has not eaten any hay. I’ve given her greens and veggies and gave two portions of it so far. I feel like a third portion might be too many greens for her but I’m not sure what else to do. I have got critical care though, which I kept for emergencies so shall I feed her that at night? Can it be given when a rabbit is NOT sick? Or should I give her another portion of veggies? Or are the two portions I already gave her enough until tomorrow? Please advise!

 

[Littlebun]

Also, before anyone suggests I absolutely do not have access to any farm or anything right now. It’s 6:30pm it’s really dark and I can’t go looking for hay..I have a garden with grass but I can’t be sure if the soil has pesticides or not and my bunny has never grazed on the grass before that’s why I am asking for any other alternatives. I use straw hay for bedding I did give her a bit of that though

 

[Littlebun]

Update: she ate a little bit of the straw hay and also some of the smelly hay, which I wasn’t keen to give her but I tried to give it again and the poor thing ate it. Tomorrow early morning hopefully I’ll get the new hay

 

[JBun]

This may be too late to be useful, but yes, critical care mix can be fed. It's essentially the same ingredients as pellets in powdered form. Though because your rabbit isn't used to getting any pellets, there's the potential that the critical care could cause digestive upset, so may not be the best choice unless there's nothing else safe to feed.

If your rabbit is tolerating the increased usual veggies and greens well, without signs of digestive upset, I think I would be more inclined to just feed extra of those, particularly with it only being a day before you'll be feeding hay again.

Don't give the smelly hay if it's bad. Moldy hay can make rabbits extremely ill, possibly fatally. A little straw is fine if it's not at all moldy. In addition to the extra veggies you're feeding, it should be a good combination of fiber and nutrients, and should tide your bun over until the good hay comes.

 

[Littlebun]

This may be too late to be useful, but yes, critical care mix can be fed. It's essentially the same ingredients as pellets in powdered form. Though because your rabbit isn't used to getting any pellets, there's the potential that the critical care could cause digestive upset, so may not be the best choice unless there's nothing else safe to feed.

If your rabbit is tolerating the increased usual veggies and greens well, without signs of digestive upset, I think I would be more inclined to just feed extra of those, particularly with it only being a day before you'll be feeding hay again.

Don't give the smelly hay if it's bad. Moldy hay can make rabbits extremely ill, possibly fatally. A little straw is fine if it's not at all moldy. In addition to the extra veggies you're feeding, it should be a good combination of fiber and nutrients, and should tide your bun over until the good hay comes.

Thank you for your response. We made it through the night! And the new hay has arrived! I definitely need to learn from this and plan better and next time check if the hay is moldy beforehand to avoid these type of situations. I’m also going to try and get good quality pellets as well.

 

[Jocee]

if you can't get hay straight away, fresh grass is the next thing I go to, I live on a big farm so fortunately grass is right at my door step, so the grass is my Bun's main diet.

I know some people don't get that opportunity, but if you have some nice long grass, nearby just get a big bundle to give to your Bun

 

[Blue eyes]

If fresh grass is available, you may want to consider slowly introducing her to some of the grass. I know you have already received your hay, so that's great. I was thinking that if you gradually introduce her to fresh grass and feed it to her along with her greens, then her tummy will learn to tolerate it. That way you have a "back up plan" if you do ever run out of hay again.