Minnie is not wanting to eat her alfalfa

[Raspberry82]

I adopted Minnie about 3 weeks ago, she is 10 weeks old so I'm feeding her unlimited alfalfa pellets. She was raised eating alfalfa pellets so she's used to eating them. I was given VERY little new food to take home to gradually switch her over to a new pellet and now she seems to be hardly eating the new alfalfa pellet now that her old pellet is gone.

She gets unlimited timothy hay and alfalfa chew cubes. She won't eat the chew cubes, but LOVES her timothy hay. Originally I'd been feeding alfalfa hay with alfalfa pellets, but my rabbit vet told me I should give her timothy hay to make sure she won't refuse it as she grows up.

She's been eating almost entirely timothy hay it seems and just minor nibbles of her pellets :?. Do you think I should resort to making a slurry and feeding via syringe until she decides to eat them regularly on her own?

I'm stumped. It seems pretty clear it isn't a teeth issue since she's wolfing down her hay and happy to chew on her chew toys. Maybe just wait it out longer and eventually she'll stop being picky??

 

[dquesnel]

Hi, I hope you don't mind that I am going to move this to Nutrition and Behavior as it seems this is more a food behavior/nutrition issue than medical. You will get good advice there!

Just to confirm- she is in fact eating plenty of that timothy hay, and she WAS eating the old pellets before you ran out, right?

It sounds like she doesn't like the new pellets. Are they a different brand, or just a different batch? If it is a different brand, you should look into finding out what the old brand was and ordering some.

That is excellent actually that she is loving her timothy hay. Hay is the #1 component for a healthy rabbit and it is important for a young rabbit to eat plenty since they should not recieve veggies until they are around 6 months old.

I wouldn't syringe her anything, since she is in fact eating well and will likely go back to eating the old pellets once she has them again. Actually rabbits should never be force fed unless they are not eating period. The stress from syringing can throw them off all food and actually cause problems, so even though you sound like a really caring and well-meaning owner this may have the opposite effects you want!

It is actually not horrible for a rabbit to not each much (or any) pellet in my opinion. The hay provides them with so much nutrition that I suppose the biggest thing a young rabbit would be missing from a pellet is extra calories and some minerals. That can cause problems long term but if she goes without for a bit while you wait to get a new supply of pellets, she should be OK!

SO to recap,
1) Try to get some more of the old pellets. (I bet she will eat them!)
2) continue feeding timothy hay, and alfalfa hay/cubes
3) no force feeding if she is otherwise eating and pooping fine.

Keep us posted, especially if her eating/behavior changes.

 

[Raspberry82]

Ok, thank you. Yes, she WAS eating her old pellets just fine. I've run out of them to mix with the new pellets, so she hasn't been wanting to eat much if any of her new pellets for 2-3 days now which was worrisome.. so I wanted to make sure she is getting enough food since she is a baby.

Yes, she eats plenty plenty of the timothy hay all day long. I give her a huge handful morning and night and its pretty much gone by the end of the day.

I don't think I can get ahold of her old pellet brand. The breeder lived a few hours away and bought it from some local feed store there. Hm. I guess I'll just have to buy a little bag of another good brand of alfalfa pellet and hope for the best until I find one she does like, lol.. the little picky pants.. I hate to waste pellets, but glad I bought a little bag to start with .

Oops, sorry. I thought I had already posted this in nutrition and behavior. Thanks for moving it, it's late so I guess my brain mis-fired .

 

[ra7751]

Umm....I really wouldn't sweat the pellets too much but at her age the supplements in pellets would be beneficial. What brand of pellets was she on and what are you trying to feed her? I would suggest feeding her a variety of hays. She can get unlimited alfalfa now but it is a good idea to add other types. Timothy is only one type of many grass hays that can be offered....brome, oat, orchard grass, meadow mix are just a few. Each cut is a different texture so that encourages a more natural foraging type feeding and works the teeth differently. Contrary to what many believe, a rabbit can live a very healthy life (and in some cases healthier lives) without pellets. The key to feeding no pellets is to fully understand the nutritional requirements of a rabbit and the nutritional values of the food offered. Want proof? The digestive systems of domestic rabbits and wild rabbits are identical. Wild rabbits do not have pellets available to them. They eat as nature intended. They are very healthy and I have never seen an overweight wild rabbit.

A couple of things to consider if she continues to refuse pellets is that you should supplement calcium and Vitamin D3 for a while....maybe up to 6 months or so. Calcium is needed to support those quickly growing bones. Calcium can be offered as a supplement or in higher calcium foods like alfalfa hay, kale, spinach or collards. If you use greens to supplement calcium, start in small amounts and offer them one at a time and in moderation. Vitamin D3 can be offered as a supplement (this is sometimes found in a calcium/D3 combination or a stand alone). But D3 can be natually made by exposure to direct sun light for at least 20 minutes each day. This should be direct sunlight...not thru a window as most window glass contains tinting that filters certain spectrums of sunlight. It is also possible to use a "solar simulator"....what we oncecalled a sun lamp...to simulate sunlight. This is used with many reptiles and reef aquariums.

I would not suggest force feeding. This is very stressful for the rabbit and should be implemented only as an emergency response. Most rabbits don't like being force fed.

Randy

 

[Raspberry82]

Thank you Randy, I appreciate your response. Can supplementing Vitamin D3 and Calcium be done in tiny amounts via a human-safe form? I'm not sure how much to give her via concentration since she is so tiny. I have excellent liquid D3 drops and liquid highly absorbable calcium in my home (health nut ), but only know the human doses.. D3 I really wouldn't want to accidentally give her too much via supplement because it can be harmful if given too much this way. I do have liquid vitamin rabbit drops I got for Max from the vet, but I need to read the label to see if it contains calcium/D3.

Her cage gets morning/afternoon sunlight indirectly. Probably not enough for making D3. I look into dosing this for baby bunnies and see what comes up.

I thought about the kale, collards, and other high calcium greens. I started giving her about a 1 inch square piece and things seemed fine, 3 days later I gave her 2 1 inch pieces and still fine, then the second time I gave her this amount she got poopy butt, so I guess I should feed it even more gradually/infrequently until she adjusts.

Do tiny amounts of greens given daily work better than giving slightly larger amounts (2, 1 inch pieces) every few days gut wise?

Good to remind me of the other hays. My vet really pushed to get her used to timothy hay first so she won't refuse it, now that she obviously loves it, I need to introduce others. Don't want a picky bunny on my hands, lol .

I hear it is possible to feed without pellets, but honestly it is very hard for even me to forage wild plants for my buns where I live, lol. Max is too picky to want to eat a wide enough variety of wild plants and greens for this I think (what do wild rabbits eat in winter when plants are scarce??). My own lifestyle/diet is too insanely complicated atm to monitor how much of each nutrient the bunnies are getting daily . I do try to switch up the veggies sources weekly to supply more nutrient variety though.

But I might read up on no pellet diets simply to learn more detailed info about their nutritional needs outside of what I already know. I'd rather spend more money on giving them an optimal diet then having to end up spending it on doctors bills due to bad diet .

She is being fed Oxbow alfalfa pellet. Of course, like a typical little kid, she refuses the expensive good stuff! LOL. So I guess I'll have to pick maybe Kaytee Alfalfa pellet or something not as good :?. I don't know..