Not eating much hay?

[Malo]

Whisper had some diarreah today, and she alsohad some droppings stuck to her side and one underneath. She hasn'tbeen eating hay like I want her too. She gets timothy and an alfalfacube shredded for her. She gets a cup of Bunny 16 whenever her foodgets low and it has 14% - 18% fiber.

Any ideas on getting her to eat more hay?

 

[Shuu]

How old is she? The alfalfa may not be necessary depending on her age.

 

[Malo]

shes a little over 3 months

 

[Mr. Stee]

Try giving her hay in creative ways.Our mocha doesn't eat much hay out of her hay manger, but put it in atoilet paper tube, in a wicker ball, scattered in her bunny tunnel, orany where else and she goes after it like it was a treat. Wealso found out that she enjoys oat hay alot, so we give her that onoccasion as a treat. Maybe whisper would like a little of theoat hay mixed into the timothy. A higher fiber pellet mayalso help. I don't buy the pellets for our critters, but whenmy wife comes on, she may be able to tell you how to find a higherfiber pellet. I think our pellets are over 20% fiber.

 

[FreddysMom]

is she on timothy or alfalfa pellets? it may betoo much protein for her....or she just may have a belly ache ...youcan give some oats to help with the soft poops.....also if you shestill has it for awhile you can give her some pedialyte to keep herhydrated.......you can also feed canned pumpkin make sure its cannedthat has a good amount of fiber in it....here is a thread to read onhow much hay is actually necessary ..hope her poops go back to normal!

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=5280&forum_id=1&highlight=to+hay

 

[naturestee]

I agree with Freddysmom, she might be gettingtoo much protein. Young rabbits need alfalfa, but theirpellets are usually enough.

You might want to look into switch her pellets to something with morefiber. When Mocha was that age and on a similar pellet (max18% fiber) she would get soft poops on days where she didn't eat muchhay. I know Oxbow makes an alfalfa pellet. I justlooked up the info and it has protein 15% and max fiber 25%.Purina also has a high-fiber alfalfa pellet. If you can findit, it would be a lot less expensive than Oxbow.

Aside from that, like my hubby said put hay in differentplaces. Rabbits are with hay like cats are with water- ifit's anywhere but in their usual bowl/holder, it's way moreinteresting. Also, when they are playing outside their cageand find hay, rabbits tend to think "Hay! What a wonderfulidea!" Munch, munch, munch. I've also found thatboth of mine eat more hay when the rack is above their litterbox.

 

[mini lop luva]

Maybe a hay ball, or atoilet roll put hay through it so she has something to play with thenshe might eat the hay xxx georgie tell me how it goes

 

[bluebird]

I cant tell fom the picture if shes a hollandlop or a minilop.but a cup of food is too much my hollands get 1/2cup.Give her a little bit less pellets she should then eat morehay.bluebird

 

[Malo]

She is a mini lop, her pellets are timothy Ibelieve, so she really doesn't get any alfalfa. I put her hay in herchube last night, I think she ate a little bit. I'll see how it goes