My rabbits hate me right now :(

[RemixMom]

UGH Okay so my rabbits hate me right now because I have limited their pellets. The reason being is because Remix (my male) hates hay and, I'm not going to lie, I tend to spoil him and have give him pellets when he wants them. Well, he was diagnosed with gastric stasis last month and I assume this this because of the little amount of hay that he eats. He recovered and is doing well;however, I have put my foot down and I need him to start eating his hay. I now only give them a small amount of pellets in the morning and some greens in the afternoon. My female Gizmo has now been throwing fits by digging at her litter box; I came downstairs this morning and there was litter was spread EVERYWHERE, I know this is because shes angry because there are no pellets. I can tell that Remix is starving by the way he jumps at the pellets when I give it to them. I'm really worried that Remix is still not eating the hay and just waiting to eat the pellets in the morning. I don't know what to do! I just want them to be healthy but i'm scared that Remix is starving himself now. Do I eliminate pellets completely until I know he's eating the hay? Its so hard to see him so hungry.

 

[Jackelope]

Maybe there's another way to take their mind off the decreased pellets. I got a couple recently who's owner said they don't like hay. One of them had runny poop and I needed her to eat some hay to help clear it up. So I put her in a playpen where she had never been before, which had hay littered everywhere (on the floor, inside the tubes etc.). She started binkying around and eating the hay. Maybe if you get him excited like that, he'll eat it. You can also find different ways to make them happy to deal with the general transitioning problem to eating less. It's like with people who want to eat less. One of the keys to doing it is to fill your day with activities and exercise more.

 

[JBun]

Have you tried different varieties of grass hay to see if they will eat a different kind better?

Aside from that, sometimes you can reduce or cut out pellets, and a rabbit will just start eating hay because it's hungry. The problem is when they still won't eat hay even though they are hungry. Then it can become concerning as that can also develop into stasis if left too long. If they just won't eat hay, you could try hay pellets temporarily, until you are able to get them eating loose hay better. I had to do this with one rabbit that wouldn't touch hay. I would give him hay pellets and a small handful of hay, and over a few months he gradually started eating the hay, so that now he eats hay without any problems. Someone else was having a problem with their rabbit not eating hay. They gradually introduced fresh grass into the rabbits diet(you don't want to suddenly introduce lots of fresh grass into their diet as it can cause digestive upset), then they started mixing in hay with it, and that seemed to work to get their rabbit eating hay.

If you want to try the hay pellets, they are usually sold at feed stores as a feed for livestock. You want a plain grass hay pellet without anything else added to it. But it's really just a temporary method, until you can get them eating loose hay, as loose hay is a bit better for them than when it is compressed and pelleted.

 

[RemixMom]

Thank you for the replies. I've tried many different kinds of hay but he's such a picky rabbit. I have a hard time getting him to eat veggies too. I like the idea of getting him excited when giving him hay; I think what I might do is put some hay in toilet paper rolls and make it into a game for him and see how that goes. I will also buy those hay pellets and see how he does on those. You said to incorporate fresh grass, so does that mean I should just take some grass and mix it in with his hay?


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[BunnyL0ve]

I was on Sherwood Forest natural rabbit food website and noticed that they have a all in one pellet. There is a variety of pellet that they sell and they say it has everything, you dont need to feed hay with it. Maybe you can look more into that pellet?

I like giving hay, so I strayed away from it... but it might be good for you?

 

[middlemuse]

I think making the hay into a game is an excellent idea. I kind of wonder--and this might be projecting human psychology onto bunnies, so take it with a grain of salt--but maybe they'd gotten used to snacking on pellets when they were bored, and now they're looking for other ways to vent their boredom, thus the digging, etc.

I wouldn't say that Remix going crazy for pellets means he's starving. My Aria eats loads of hay but still flips out at pellet time, just because she loves them so much.

I'd say get on YouTube and search for DIY rabbit toys. You'll find a few different ideas on ways to combine hay and toilet paper tubes, and maybe that'll help get them interested.

 

[PaGal]

I had to cut back on Thumpers pellets as well due to GI issues. He is being fed enough pellets for his weight but he goes insane when I feed him his pellets. I actually worry he may choke some day as he scarfs them down so fast. That or hurt himself diving into his cage. I feed him half in the morning and half at night. You may try that.

Although Thumper does eat his hay well I have noticed that if he has hay outside of his cage as well as in it he seems to eat more. Sometimes it seems that he happens to come across the hay outside of his cage and decides to snack. At other times he seems to make the decision to choose which hay to eat so having hay in more than one place may help.

I remembering reading someones post in which they put the pellets in the hay to try to encourage their bun to eat hay. I know buns have the ability to pick out just the pellets but it might be worth a shot.

 

[RemixMom]

Thank you for the replies everyone. This helps alot.

 

[RemixMom]

I ordered the all in one pellet from the Sherwood Forest website. Thank you for that suggestion. I'm still going to try to feed him hay, but in the meantime, that seems like it will be a good substitute.

 

[Millinex]

Go pick some nice grass for him too, some nice grass usually does the trick. We have these weird little weeds that grow around here that I pull up and give to the bunnies to nibble on and their pretty happy with it

 

[Chrisdoc]

I put some hay in a brown paper bag with some pellets and tie with string and then just put a couple of holes in it so they can smell them. They will then dig and pull until they can get the pellets out and also eat the hay at the same time. Mine do eat most hay either from their hay rack which is over their litter tray or I put hay at one end of the tray as well and they eat from there. You could also get a deepish cardboard box or storage box and put lots of hay in there and he can jump in and out to dig and eat as well.

 

[catpud]

Have you tried Readigrass or a similar product?

It is basically freeze dried grass, unlike hay it is still green and supposedly has most of the grass flavour still in it. My rabbits go mad for it, but they eat hay well so I tend to just mix in a handful of readigrass with the hay for more variety.

It is sold in large bales for horses which works out cheaper if you have a store near you that supplies it, but if not you can get it from pet shops in smaller 1 or 2 KG bags.

 

[Sage's mom]

Hello,

I have a rescued rabbit named Sage. He also hates hay. He adores organic spring mix lettuce and herbs, dried apricots, apples, pears, cashews, arugula, fresh broccoli, etc... but he hates hay. He thinks it tastes like cardboard. This makes for a sticky bottom unless I supplement his diet with a about 3 tablespoons of prepared critical care per day. I mix it with apple juice. Ask your vet about it. It truly is a life saver.

Best Wishes,

Sage's mom