Veggies & Hay

[Angel0607]

My bunny doesnt seem to eat very much hay. I have oxbox timothy hay for him and hes had the same handful in the hay rack since yesterday and when I clean out I seem to be dumping a lot out.

He gets about 2cups of veggies a day (morning & night) which include mustard greens, spinach, kale, broccoli, carrots, celery, red pepper (not all at once of course! I mix it up for him and he enjoys that a lot. However, he isnt eating many pellets or hay. Should I cut back veggies so he'll eat the other stuff? He LOVES his veggies and already knows when its time to eat lol. Im worried his teeth arent gonna be filed and hes squirmy so I havent gotten a good look at them yet and even if I did, Im not really sure what to look for as far as a problem goes.

 

[SweetSassy]

That's what was happening to my rabbit. She was eating her Veggies and wasn't eating pellets and hay. And her molars weren't getting ground down, so next week she has to have her molars filed down cause their sharp and slanting in toward her tongue. So I cut way back on veggies once a day, and put her on a good pellet(Oxbow) and she's eating alot more (Oxbow) Hay.

 

[SweetSassy]

Something else that helped to get her to eat more hay. The vet suggested mixing the Oxbow Botonical Hay in with the timothy hay. It has a purple color on the bag. And I do that too. It has a nice smell to it.

 

[Maureen Las]

I agree on cutting back on veggies ; I recently cut back on pellets after already cutting back on veggies as my rabbits were getting too heavy ; they now eat enormous amounts of hay compared to previously.

 

[Angel0607]

I will cut back on veggies for sure, thanks!

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Another trick is to cut back on pellets, their main food, then they will be ept to eat the hay. I've done it for years and it works!

 

[Angel0607]

Well hes only 6 months old so I dont wanna cut back to much on the food hes supposed to eat without limit

 

[SweetSassy]

Unlimited hay. Not food, as in veggies.

 

[PamsWarren]

Personally, I would try another brand/type of hay. My rabbits were not fond of Oxbow, either. Are you mail ordering your hay or buying it locally? If you are mail ordering it, here are some suggestions for other companies who sell hay on-line:

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#mail

 

[tonyshuman]

He is still supposed to be on unlimited pellets at 6 mo. It is about time to consider getting him neutered, so it may be time to see the vet in any case, just to get the vet to double check his cheek teeth for spurs.

 

[Angel0607]

Yeah I plan on taking him in for a check up within the next week or so and then two weeks later do the neuter.

 

[Angel0607]

SweetSassy wrote:

Unlimited hay. Not food, as in veggies.

He is also supposed to have unlimited pellets. I know hes not supposed to have unlimited veggies lol

 

[Angel0607]

PamsWarren wrote:

Personally, I would try another brand/type of hay.  My rabbits were not fond of Oxbow, either.  Are you mail ordering your hay or buying it locally?   If you are mail ordering it, here are some suggestions for other companies who sell hay on-line:

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#mail

This is actually the second one we've tried, first brand was Kaytee. I will try that again as I still have a whole bag and see if that makes a difference.

I am buying from a feedstore.

I have oxbow pellets as well and he seems to like those ok. However, I have noticed with this pellet and the last brand, every once in awhile I'll go to fill up the bowl and it looks like he had chewed them all and spit them back out. I know he cant vomit so hes not puking them up. Any ideas what thats about?

 

[missyscove]

I would try mixing it up. Offer him something other than timothy. I feed timothy, orchard grass and oat hays.

 

[Angel0607]

Ya I'll grab a couple different ones this weekend and see if that helps. Any one he shouldnt have? My feedstore only sells oxbow brand

 

[SweetSassy]

It took Sassy a couple days to get use to being cut back on Veggies. I gave her Timothy and Botonical Hay(w/Orchard grass too)and after a couple days, she started eating her pellets and Hay really well. It was sad cause she would lay by her empty bowls waiting for her Veggies. I fed herveggies twice a day and now it's once in small amounts. And her poo even looks better. I think it was a positive change.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Angel0607 wrote:

Well hes only 6 months old so I dont wanna cut back to much on the food hes supposed to eat without limit

that doesn't matter, they're Herbavoresthe wild doesn't have pellets, but has hay and veggies. So, all in all, a bun won't "die" because of this sort of incident (or change so to speak).

 

[PamsWarren]

Angel0607 wrote:

PamsWarren wrote:

Personally, I would try another brand/type of hay. My rabbits were not fond of Oxbow, either. Are you mail ordering your hay or buying it locally? If you are mail ordering it, here are some suggestions for other companies who sell hay on-line:

http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#mail

This is actually the second one we've tried, first brand was Kaytee. I will try that again as I still have a whole bag and see if that makes a difference.

I am buying from a feedstore.

I have oxbow pellets as well and he seems to like those ok. However, I have noticed with this pellet and the last brand, every once in awhile I'll go to fill up the bowl and it looks like he had chewed them all and spit them back out. I know he cant vomit so hes not puking them up. Any ideas what thats about?

That's strange. I would have no idea why he would do this. I'd ask my vet when you take him for his preneuter appointment.

Re: the hay - it may be the type of hay that he's not liking rather than the brand. Maybe he would like another type of grass hay better other than timothy. My rabbits much prefer a mixed grass hay over straight timmy. Does your feed store sell hay by the bale? If so, maybe you could buy a flake and see if he likes that more.

Your bunny looks like an English Spot? Smaller breeds mature more quickly than larger breeds. If he is reaching maturity, you can start to limit pellets soon, but I don't think I would limit pellets until you have a chance to ask your vet.

 

[tonyshuman]

Re: the chewing up and spitting out

Are you sure that's what's going on? It sounds really strange and would definitely be something to mention to the vet. I would guess that perhaps the pellets are falling out of his bowl and getting wet (either peed on or water spilled from the bowl or bottle) and then they fall apart when wet.

 

[Flashy]

If he is chewing and spitting that might indicate molar problems or tooth problems in general. One of ours showed his spurs that way, he wanted to eat, just couldn't keep them in his mouth.

In terms of ulimited pellets, I had to start controlling my kits pellets when they were about 4 months old because we had excess cecals EVERYWHERE. They are now nearly two and, touch wood, a very healthy bunch (7 of them), so I wouldn't worry too much about cutting back on his pellets either.

Different types of hay can entice them, as can a handful of fresh hay (I imagine it starts to smell of its surroundings quite quick), lso try spraying a most of apple juice, or camomile tea or mint tea, or cranberry juice on the hay, maybe try hay cakes, maybe also try having a load of hay in his litter tray.

I buy a 25kg bale of hay eveyr 6 days or so and most of it goes in the bin. I would never expect them to eat it all, but they eat a ton of hay. Despite that, we do still have some molar spurs problems though. On that note you won't be able to see molar spur problems, so you have to go be behvauour and other signs. You would be able to tell if the front teeth were growing misaligned (which is a possibility if he is eating pellets and they are potentially falling out his mouth).