Feeding Schedule

[kirbyultra]

My kirby has been used to eating every 12 hours for, as far as I know, about 2 months. I've had him about 1 month now. I feed him at 6:45am and 7:00pm (which is from Monday-Friday the time that I go to work and the time that I get home). It's pretty tough to keep this up because on the weekends I can no longer sleep in (I wake up at 7:00am to set out his greens and pellets) and can no longer go out to dinner after work, without stopping at home to feed him first.

He's the sweet honey charm of my heart and I'd do anything for him, but it's getting hard to leave home and run errandsfor long periods of time (especially around the holidays) because of this 12 hour restriction. I brought him to my mom's yesterday for my mom's birthday dinner party and he got so freaked out (big wide eyes!) and he refused to eat until we got home. I even brought his usual playthings, his area rug, his pellet crock, salad plate, hay container, etc. so that it would be as much like home as possible. But he was still scared silly. I don't want to put him through that...

If I set out 2 plates of greens and twice as many pellets, will my rabbit eat them all in one sitting? Will he eat them when he is hungry? I've found in the past that if I set out a little too much of his salad on his plate that he'd eat what he wanted, and leave some of the tougher lettuce stems for later... His pellets he usually polishes off very quickly. Sometimes I would forget to put out his pellets after I gave him his greens (I put them out seperately because I want him to eat all his greens first, otherwise he'll hop over to the pellets and abandon the greens) and he'd lick his empty pellet bowl to tell me there's something missing... so it seems like he has a good idea of what he's supposed to get when.

I can't be the only one with this dilemma, right? :?

 

[NZminilops]

You can get these food dishes that are on a timer called "automatic pet feeders". They are round and have a round lid thing that have a slice cut from it, and it slowly turns to a part of the dish that you have the food in (like this):

This could do for your morning feeding at least so you wouldn't have to get up so early. I'm thinking to get one for Sakura for night time . Some are quite fancy and have lots of options for the timing.

You could give him his greens when it's conviniant for you, and let the feeder take over for pellets when you aren't able to do it yourself. Sakura always goes for her pellets before her greens too so I can understand the frustration.

Michelle

 

[kherrmann3]

The two bunnies here are on two different feeding schedules.

Toby, my resident bun, is fed whenever I get up in the morning. This is normally around 6:00AM. He will nibble on his food throughout the day and rarely eats it all (he's only given 1 ounce). He is also given some greens in the afternoon/evening. That is served whenever I remember to do it!

Berry-Boo, our foster bun, is fed twice a day. She gets equal amounts of food in the morning (around 6:00AM). She is fed right after I feed Toby. She also gets greens in the afternoon/evening, and is given her final serving of pellets at night. If we are going out and know it will be a late night, we feed her early. As long as their is enough hay, there's normally not a problem.

Neither of my buns are on a set schedule (minus Toby - if I forget breakfast, I get his whiskers in my face while I'm sleeping). Berry-Boo gets fed when I feed her, basically. She doesn't seem to mind her dinner being a few hours early/late. If you want to go to dinner right after work, I would think you could go without him getting too upset. Just feed him when you get home.

As for leaving food out, it depends on your bun. Toby leaves his food in his bowl all day and nibbles as he sees fit. Berry-Boo starts up the vacuum-routine as soon as the pellets hit the bowl and doesn't stop until each crumb is gone. A timer/feeder might be a good option if you don't want to disrupt Kirby's schedule too much.

 

[pumpkinhead]

My bun gets all his food in one go... normally about 3 or 4 pm. He gets his half cup of pellets, a good handful of hay, and about a cup of mixed fresh veg. He'll start in on the pellets straight away and polish most of them off in a couple of hours (he seems to think pellets are some sort of delicious junk food), but the rest he will just graze on. Eating most of his pellets in one short time of the day hasn't seemed to have any adverse affects on him at all, and we've had him for just over a year now.

I would just start doing the one evening feed and see how he goes? As much as we all love our pets, if its not going to hurt him and it will be much more convenient for you, it's worth trying.

 

[BethM]

My bunnies all get their salads in the morning. Some mornings they eat it all up at once, some days they will nibble on it for awhile. Salad is usually about 7:30am.

They get their pellets (1/4 cup each bunny) in the evening, usually around 6pm or so.
Although they act as though they've been starved whenever it's "feeding time," they have access to unlimited hay all day/night long, so they're not deprived in any way. (They might tell it differently, though. )

I think that automatic feeder looks really cool!

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

I have my rabbits on two different feeding schedules: one for school and one for weekends.

During school, I feed them in the mornings at 6:45 and the evenings around 6:00, somtimes earlier, sometimes a little later, but usually around 5:00 - 6:30.

During the weekends, they're fed at 11:30 (only cuz I wake up at 11, hehe) and at night about 5:30.

It's important that you feed themat least twice a day I feed my bunnies 2x daily, and make sure they get their amount of pellets, have unlimited hay and fresh, clean water available at all times.


Emily

 

[kirbyultra]

Hearing what you've all had to say, I feel much better. I will give him a 2nd plate with maybe half of what he usually gets to see how quickly he eats it up throughout the day. It sounds like everyone's rabbits goes through greens fairly calmly, and liberally at will. So that's comforting! I am more concerned about his pellet intake because I'm afraid he'll eat them all at once. I usually serve them up 1/8 cup at a time, twice a day. Maybe I'll give him 1/8 cup + a little extra in a second bowl or something and let him try it out. Kirby gets a daily new pile of hay also.

Emily,your school vs weekend schedule sounds a LOT like mine. I wake up at 11am on the weekends too How long have you had your rabbits? Maybe for a couple weekends I'll compromise and wake up at 8:30 to give him his food...slowly move it later on the weekends. I don't want to suddenly starve the poor thing for a few hours... I have read so much about rabbits' sensitive digestive system. I'm so scared of doing anything that'll harm Kirby!

I actually saw that (or a similar looking) auto feeder for catfood at Petco today. It is a hefty price tag though! $99.00 USD... yowser. I'll test out and see if Kirby'll pace his pellet intake. If not, I'll set out the greens at once and set up a feeder when I have to... Thanks for everyone's input!

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

kirbyultra wrote:

Emily,your school vs weekend schedule sounds a LOT like mine. I wake up at 11am on the weekends too How long have you had your rabbits? Maybe for a couple weekends I'll compromise and wake up at 8:30 to give him his food...slowly move it later on the weekends. I don't want to suddenly starve the poor thing for a few hours... I have read so much about rabbits' sensitive digestive system. I'm so scared of doing anything that'll harm Kirby!

I have had my rabbits for 3 years, well two of them for that long, anyway, lol. I'm sure the schedule was different when I first got them, but I can't remember that far back! Lol.

Emily