Switching a bunny off parrot food

[April LD]

@Spitfire!

I believe that using fresh fruit to stain is a great idea, however watch for mold...you don't want them eating that...avoid seeds if at all possible...they love clover, dandelion greens, parsley (mine prefer Italian), oregano, etc. but you can find a list of bunny save herbs online and find seeds for your mom to plant. You can also try food store that sell in bulk dry herbs save for bun and make those a treat too...there are lot of options.

Lemongrass is ok in small quantities.

It's ok for the bun to ingest some cardboard as long at it is not shiny, make sure there is no toilet paper on it either. As long as the bun eats lots and lots of hay it will not be an issue; if bun is not eating enough hay it could cause some issue - depends on the bun. You don't want them eating an excessive amount of cardboard but some is ok.

Also, with the hay feel free to mix it up...add some sweet grass hay, orchard grass, botanical hay, timothy hay, and even a little alfalfa. I mix these all up in a plastic bin and feed my buns from it for a week or less and mix again. There are also different cuts of hay and you may find the bun prefers a different cut than another - if bun isn't really eating hay switch it up see what he/she likes.

I commend you for trying to correct this issue and wish you luck...it can be difficult trying to help someone/something and not have a lot of support.

 

[Alek]

Honestly, your mom sounds like my grandfather. It wasn't until I told him that he would kill my dog, and I would never forgive him that he started feeding it better when I was away.
what is it about the parrot food she likes, is it because it's brightly colored? Because she could make treats for her bun that are healthy and colourful. Like frozen berry cubes, and cookies from hay and dandelion. Or is she also lazy and just likes to feed her bun garbage?

 

[CharlieRae]

How would she feel about mixing the bird seed WITH the rabbit food? Like a 75% rabbit food and a 25% rainbow-y food. That might be a decent compromise until you can get her sorted out. Also, what about dehydrated/baked apple chips? I know they still have some sugar, but if they say no sugar added its a bit better, my rabbits LOOOVE them and get all sorts of excited about them. I buy organic ones, but that isn't really necessary. And you can get them online anywhere.

And another thing, you could freeze fruits in ice cubes My rabbits usually really like those

 

[ChrissieK]

A few weeks ago I found out my mom has been feeding her outdoor bunny parrot food (the kind with the bright colorful pieces and tons of dried fruit) as her staple. I was appalled. The bunny is a couple years old and has been eating the parrot food since she was a few months old. On the bright side, the bunny does get veggies and herbs (I don't know how often) and regularly gets to run the yard and graze. I convinced her to start feeding a healthier diet and I'm trying to work with her to find a diet that everyone is satisfied with. It won't be an ideal diet. She's going to feed foods rabbits shouldn't have regardless, so I'm trying to find lesser evils and compromise. If I try to make her completely cut out all foods that aren't ideal she'll get annoyed and go back to parrot food, so I'm picking and choosing my battles.

I got her a bale of mixed hay and some Oxbow bunny pellets. The bale of mixed hay does have some alfalfa in it, which I know isn't great for adult bunnies but it's better than parrot food and better than feeding nothing but alfalfa. I'm trying to find a decent mix of dried fruit and seeds that can be used as a healthier treat. I was thinking of getting her a small bag (everything has to be small bags because she's terrible at portion control) of BOSS for the winter, some rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, and dried bananas.

What other not terrible (but not ideal) things can I get so she's satisfied that she's giving enough treats (I can't convince her to give zero treats. Never happening.) that the bunny gets really excited about? She's thoroughly unimpressed with the Oxbow treats I got. I'm sure the bunny does get fresh fruit sometimes, but that alone won't satisfy her need to give treats.

Again, the goal isn't an ideal diet. Maybe someday, but no time soon. I'm just trying to get her to feed less awful alternatives.

I’ll admit I’ve been tempted to buy a bag of parrot food, also! What I actually do is mix food with interesting bits into a bag of plain pellets. I use a covered bin, and have a scoop for one day’s food. The next day I pour the leftover food into the scoop and top it off. This way my bunnies can’t just skim off the junkiest bits.

A few weeks ago I found out my mom has been feeding her outdoor bunny parrot food (the kind with the bright colorful pieces and tons of dried fruit) as her staple. I was appalled. The bunny is a couple years old and has been eating the parrot food since she was a few months old. On the bright side, the bunny does get veggies and herbs (I don't know how often) and regularly gets to run the yard and graze. I convinced her to start feeding a healthier diet and I'm trying to work with her to find a diet that everyone is satisfied with. It won't be an ideal diet. She's going to feed foods rabbits shouldn't have regardless, so I'm trying to find lesser evils and compromise. If I try to make her completely cut out all foods that aren't ideal she'll get annoyed and go back to parrot food, so I'm picking and choosing my battles.

I got her a bale of mixed hay and some Oxbow bunny pellets. The bale of mixed hay does have some alfalfa in it, which I know isn't great for adult bunnies but it's better than parrot food and better than feeding nothing but alfalfa. I'm trying to find a decent mix of dried fruit and seeds that can be used as a healthier treat. I was thinking of getting her a small bag (everything has to be small bags because she's terrible at portion control) of BOSS for the winter, some rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, and dried bananas.

What other not terrible (but not ideal) things can I get so she's satisfied that she's giving enough treats (I can't convince her to give zero treats. Never happening.) that the bunny gets really excited about? She's thoroughly unimpressed with the Oxbow treats I got. I'm sure the bunny does get fresh fruit sometimes, but that alone won't satisfy her need to give treats.

Again, the goal isn't an ideal diet. Maybe someday, but no time soon. I'm just trying to get her to feed less awful alternatives.

A few weeks ago I found out my mom has been feeding her outdoor bunny parrot food (the kind with the bright colorful pieces and tons of dried fruit) as her staple. I was appalled. The bunny is a couple years old and has been eating the parrot food since she was a few months old. On the bright side, the bunny does get veggies and herbs (I don't know how often) and regularly gets to run the yard and graze. I convinced her to start feeding a healthier diet and I'm trying to work with her to find a diet that everyone is satisfied with. It won't be an ideal diet. She's going to feed foods rabbits shouldn't have regardless, so I'm trying to find lesser evils and compromise. If I try to make her completely cut out all foods that aren't ideal she'll get annoyed and go back to parrot food, so I'm picking and choosing my battles.

I got her a bale of mixed hay and some Oxbow bunny pellets. The bale of mixed hay does have some alfalfa in it, which I know isn't great for adult bunnies but it's better than parrot food and better than feeding nothing but alfalfa. I'm trying to find a decent mix of dried fruit and seeds that can be used as a healthier treat. I was thinking of getting her a small bag (everything has to be small bags because she's terrible at portion control) of BOSS for the winter, some rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, and dried bananas.

What other not terrible (but not ideal) things can I get so she's satisfied that she's giving enough treats (I can't convince her to give zero treats. Never happening.) that the bunny gets really excited about? She's thoroughly unimpressed with the Oxbow treats I got. I'm sure the bunny does get fresh fruit sometimes, but that alone won't satisfy her need to give treats.

Again, the goal isn't an ideal diet. Maybe someday, but no time soon. I'm just trying to get her to feed less awful alternatives.

Maybe it would be easier to mix one part parrot food to two parts pellets in a bin and use a scoop for one day’s ration? The next day you put the leftover food in the scoop and top it off, so the bunnies don’t keep skipping the healthy food. Over time, you cut the parrot food in smaller pieces, and add more pellets to the ratio. Eventually it becomes a mostly green bowl with a few small colorful pieces.

 

[Spitfire!]

Sorry guys, the notifications were all in my junk folder!

The hay bale I chose for the bunny has alfalfa (I know it's not ideal for adults, but my mom really likes giving her alfalfa. This way the alfalfa is at least mixed with other things), timothy, orchard, and "Idaho native grasses." Apparently, the bunny prefers whatever the leafier bits and pieces are.

Bunny is not pleased with the pellets. She has thrown her bowl numerous times in protest. From what I hear she's quite the sassy little thing. I've been told the bunny gets tons and tons of veggies so a temper tantrum over the pellets doesn't sound too concerning. I did tell my mom to try dehydrating some fruit but she didn't seem thrilled with the idea. I also mentioned all kinds of treat recipes I found online but those were also not exciting. I had gotten a bag of timothy treats that the bunny wasn't enthusiastic about, so I think that scared her away from any treats that aren't yogurt drops or a ball of seeds. She might be willing to try fruit ice cubes in the summer. For Christmas, I'm going to try and make some bunny treats to mail her.

The issue with her combining parrot and bunny food is her lack of self-control. It may start out as 90% bunny food, 10% parrot food, but it'll end up as 99% parrot food, 1% bunny food. The woman seriously has zero self-control. It'll just turn into "but it's so pretty and colorful! Scarlet gets so happy!" and then bunny food gets forgotten in a corner and parrot food is back. I got her the smallest bag of BOSS I could find for when it gets cold and told her all the terrible things that happen when a bunny eats too much fatty food that I read at a meat rabbit forum. If she doesn't heed my warning I'm going to find pictures to send her so she doesn't overfeed fatty food.

Side note: I overheard people yesterday talking about feeding some large breed of rabbit or another cat kibble. It sounded like the rabbit was only eating cat food. Is there any kind of rabbit this is ever acceptable for??? I can't imagine it ever being ok based on the anatomy of a rabbit.

 

[JBun]

Uh, that is a definite no. Cats are carnivores, and their food is formulated with the nutrients that cats need. Rabbits are herbivores with completely different nutritional needs. Rabbits may be drawn to cat food as most of it contains some sort of grain like corn, which rabbits tend to like. Not that parrot food is good for rabbits, but it would be a far better option over cat food. At least parrot food is composed of seeds, which is a normal food for rabbits to eat in limited quantities.

 

[Spitfire!]

That wasn't the first time I've heard people talk about cat food for bunnies, so I was confused. Everything I've ever learned about anatomy and physiology says rabbits and cats should most certainly not be eating the same food. People do tend to take breeding to the extreme though, so I wasn't sure if some monstrous rabbit beast was created that needs extra protein. I mean it's not like hay is that expensive, so they can't blame it on cost. It's only $20 for a 50 lb bale, which would take a single bunny quite some time to eat. These people also seem to talk about feeding cheaper foods that I personally don't think are even appropriate for any creature to be eating, besides perhaps scavenging coyotes and raccoons. Does feeding high protein food make bunnies grow bigger faster or something? Do these people just want to have an abnormally huge bunny to show off? It also seemed like they didn't have their bunnies long (I'm assuming early death due to the cat food) yet they didn't seem to think it odd that the lifespan was so short. At least my mom's bunny has lived a few years on parrot food!