Optimal Hay in Diet for Coat, Condition and Teeth

[MyRabbits]

I almost feel as if I should put a "Trigger" notice or warning on this. I am thinking that I may somehow step on some toes in my ignorance on this subject matter.

Our vet seems to think that rabbits can never have too much hay. He would actually like me to seriously limit my house rabbits' pellets so as to force them to eat more hay. Of my four house rabbits, none have particularly liked hay from early childhood. I don't know how to explain it any better than that. They eat very little hay. They eat far less hay per day than my sisters' house rabbits, for instance. One of my house rabbits, Dorcas (how I love that little girl!) has apparently developed "points" on her teeth, indicating that she does need more hay in her diet to keep the teeth from growing painfully into her cheek area. So this time around I have been diligently placing hay in all litter and sitting pans as well as in the hayrack. I am even spritzing it with apple juice to give it an attractive aroma. This does seem to be helping.

From reading the ARBA Official Guide Book: Raising Better Rabbits and Cavies, it is clear that a lot of nutritional and show science can go into the decision of the mix of hay you want in the animals' overall diet. I am leaning toward going from having free feed for the rabbits to just giving pellets in the evening and then their daily kale (our vet really pushes 1 C. greens per day per rabbit as a minimum) and other treats in the morning, with hay being steadily available throughout. At present, I only feed them Orchard Grass and a little bit of Oat Hay because they will not touch the Timothy Hay (with the exception of Suzette, our breeding doe, who seems to love any and all hay and to eat it in abundant amounts). I am thinking that the Orchard Grass is probably a little deficient in nutrition in comparison with other hays. That makes me wonder if I shouldn't be limiting the hay consumption after all, but then I worry that the vet's prognosis on Dorcas' teeth will come true and that she will start having painful mouth difficulties.

Any thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Also, in case it makes a difference -- we live in Maryland, a temperate clime. Suzette and the kits we get from her will be outdoor rabbits. I am thinking that in wintertime, too, we will be giving lots of hay to use as insulating material against the chill. . .

 

[clevername]

I think everyone is gonna have something different to say about this, but it the past I have been able to persuade reluctant rabbits to eat hay by switching brands until they found something they liked.

I also use a feed (Manna pro sho, http://www.mannapro.com/rabbit.htm ) which is high in dietary fiber and has a lot of other aspects that "reportedly" make hay unnecessary. I provide unlimited timothy hay anyway because my rabbits seem to like it and I'm really not going to take any chances with wool block. But since your rabbits refuse hay completely, it may not be too bad an idea to offer them a better pelleted feed until you can persuade them otherwise.

That's all I got. Good luck.

*edited to fix a broken link*

 

[tonyshuman]

A couple of things: breeders often feed less hay and more pellets because their rabbits need to grow quickly and have litters quickly. The way I understand it, there are two classes of rabbits in the US (for every breed): junior (usually 6-8mo old) and senior (older than that). That means that after a year or two, a rabbit is kinda old for showing, so it becomes a breeder or a pet. The only bunnies that get shown are teenagers and young adults (at least what I can deduce). Breeding females need lots of food to have good litters, and young bunnies need lots of food too. The best way to get a rabbit to gain a lot of weight quickly is to feed it pellets, not hay. Many breeders do feed hay too, but they feed more hay and less pellets (in general) than a pet rabbit owner.

Pet rabbits, who are just living their lives, not being in shows, and not having litters need less energy/protein/etc. It's better for them to have fewer pellets and more hay, especially once they become adults and are past that showable age. I each of feed my guys who are each 5lb 2c veggies a day and 1/8c pellets a day. They go through about half a pound of hay a day, depending on their mood and what type of hay I'm offering them. The 3lb nethie gets 1c veggies and 1/4c pellets (I'm not in charge of his diet, I'd feed less pellets, but he's my bf's bun and a very active, young guy). They're all quite healthy (knock on wood) and haven't had any spurs that needed to be ground down. I have had the vet tell me to get them more hay and fresh grass for their teeth sometimes, but that was Muffin right after I adopted her, and she had been neglected so she didn't have food at all, let alone hay.

I think the difference in what to feed rabbits is based on age and activity level. A brood doe needs a lot of energy, so does a hyperactive nethie, and a young growing bunny. Older pet bunnies that sit under the futon and sleep all day don't need as much energy, hence less pellets. A lot of breeders have bunnies that are young, pregnant, or nursing, so they feed a lot of pellets. It also would be cost-prohibitive to feed all the buns in your rabbitry 2c veggies a day!

I think your vet sees your bunnies as pet, house bunnies. Because you want to breed and keep them outside, more pellets may be better. However, spurs are a very painful thing that you don't want to deal with. Finally, although giving veggies is good, you don't want to give exlusively kale. It is high in calcium and oxalates, which can cause damage to the liver, kidneys, etc. My guys love kale, but they only get it once in a while. I'd reccomend a green like romaine or parsley as a staple food, with kale as an occasional food for variety. My guys get a variety because we think it's fun and we like to keep life interesting.

Of course, some breeder may come on here and tell me I'm completely wrong, that they show their 4 year old doe all the time and feed her just pellets, etc.

It's confusing because there are different diets out there depending on what you want to do with your bunnies. A breeder may reccomend a completely different diet than a vet or the House Rabbit Society. Different breeds will need different foods. This is a complicated question, and I hope the combined expertise of people on this board can help.

 

[MyRabbits]

Thanks for your comments (and I am definitely open to a continuing stream of comments on this one.) Thanks also especially for the warning about the kale. One vet I used to have when I still lived up in New Jersey had given me a list of foods for rabbits making the distinction between those to offer the first year of life but not afterward. Kale was on that list and I wondered what it was about kale that it should only be offered the first year of life. . . In fact, I rather suspect that's not a very good distinction to make. Now that I understand about oxalates and possible tissue damage, kale will only be occasional. Thanks.

 

[NZminilops]

Have you dried feeding grass? My rabbits that don't like hay love grass, it keeps the teeth trim as good as or better than some hays.

 

[MyRabbits]

The "hay" I give them now is a dried orchard grass, as others had recommended that buns liked that better than timothy but after a positive experience would move on to the timothy. They do go out in the pen in good weather, and I have never thought of trying to dry some of the grass from the yard . . .

I will say that they really don't seem to like the hayracks. To the extent that they eat hay, they seem to like to take it from ground level piles. . . Much messier for eating area maintenance, but I guess if it makes them happy. I also put hay in their litter pans so they can munch as they go, which they seem to do sometimes.