Picky eater!

[Surstarky]

So both of my buns are having this issue that I'm sure some new bunny owners have had.

Like a bad mum I went to Walmart and bought the generic pellets with the uh, treats? in it.

Now Both of my buns pick through and refuse to eat the pellets.

Has anyone else had this problem, and does anyone know how to solve it? I feel cruel starving them by buying purely pellets, but I might just have to do that. Any suggestions or input?

 

[Flirtycuddle]

As far as I know a bunny wont starve itself even though we all worry they will. I had my boyfriend buy me some food for Ziggy and he came home with the stuff with the treats and I sat for a couple hours picking out all the extra stuff he didn't need. Ziggy loved the extra treat stuff and started to leave his pellets also but once I removed all those treats and got him his old food mixed in with the new stuff he ate it all.

 

[Tweetiepy]

I pick out all the extras (I got Nutriphase it has little orange bits) after picking them out - I put them in a separate jar & give them out as treats - like when I want him to go back into his cage - he gets one. Eventually he'll eat - I got some oxbow pellets and had to wean him off his alfalfa based pellets - I gradually increased the oxbow & reduced his other ones - well for that whole period, he left those darn Oxbow pellets till he was hungry enough to eat them. Now I give the Nutriphase pellets as a treat once in a while

 

[Bunny parents]

I got this issue a while ago. I used to buy so many treats for her, along with fruits. Yes, I was a bad momma. Then Kimiko totally stopped eating pellets. She didn't touch even one small piece of it. " Tough love " is very helpful in this case. Now she eats her pellets and I still give her treats from time to time, just not that much like before. It might take some time before your bunny gives up and eats pellets, some bunnies can be very stubborn- well, one is mine ! - they will know that pellets are edible too. Oh, and don't worry, just like Flirtycuddle said, they won't starve themselves. Trust me I've been there before. It was so hard for me, I started to doubt it's her Tough love period or mine, lol, but eventually she ate pellets. We just have to be tough ! Oh yes, be tough for little beggar :whistling I kept telling myself " I'm doing this for my girl own good ! ". Good luck !

 

[Debacus]

If I have a picky eater I just leave the bowl until it's empty..esp as the pellets are the most nutritionally balanced bit of the feed... they always eat it and never starve.

 

[Surstarky]

I feel awful doing it to my big bun, but I know she doesn't need to eat that Junk food. Only good thing is I was warned far before that she wasn't to eat any alfalfa hay! Thanks for the advice, it was what I expected to hear, but just wanted to hear it from others haha!