Switching Hay

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

Hi there I currently using oxbow timothy hay for my buns. The quality of the hay isn’t what it use to be so I am thinking of switching to Sweet Meadow Farms hay. I was wondering if I have to switch it like I switch pellets and if my buns will eat the new hay? I ran out of oxbow hay a few months ago and went to my local petco to buy some hay and my one bun wouldn’t touch any of it. Thanks

[Beka27]

I would get the new hay and see how they react to it. It’s not usually necessary to slowly switch hays as long as it’s grass hay to grass hay. Is your one bunny not eating any hay at all then?

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

Know he loves the oxbow hay. I switched brands I bought the petco brand and he didn’t like it. Probably because the petco brand wasn’t a good quality. What brand of hay do you currently use?

[Beka27]

I’ve used Oxbow exclusively with my buns. I used to give timothy, but then I switched them to a timothy/orchard mix. Now i just give orchard because I buy the big 50lb boxes of hay (SO MUCH CHEAPER!)

Petstore hay is usually pretty poor quality, very flaky and dusty.

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

I am going to try to switch to the sweet meadow farms hay it actually is cheaper even with shipping. The quality of oxbow hay isn’t what it use to be.

[Lagomorphic]

I recently started a thread about the quality of Oxbow hay, too. I wonder what’s going on with them?

I just tried American Pet Diner hay. It looks great and my buns are chowing it down, so I think I’m going to stick with it.

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

I emailed the oxbow company to ask them if they changed something with there hay. The hay use to be so long and hard now it is short and soft. I am actually looking for a good quality hay that is cheap. I have 2 buns and hay becomes expensive.

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

I emailed the oxbow company to ask them if they changed something with there hay. The hay use to be so long and hard now it is short and soft. I am actually looking for a good quality hay that is cheap. I have 2 buns and hay becomes expensive.

[LoveChaCha]

Oxbow changed as well. THey had a bad season for hay.

I bought a bag of American Pet Diner in Orchard Grass late last year. My bunny WAS snubbing it, but I still had it handy and gave her some a few days ago and.. SHE ATE IT RIGHT UP … I ordered a bag of the Timothy Gold, and despite me being allergic to timothy, my allergies have not been triggered. It may that dust has something to do with it.

[MimzMum]

I think everyone had a bad season for hay last year. I haven’t been able to find any decent with the exception of the BB.com store for a long time and the buns are definitely suffering for it. We’ve gone back and forth on different hays all through last summer and up till now.

If my bunnies are getting a mix of hays; some timothy, some bluegrass, some oat, some orchard, changing up from day to day, is that bad for them? And what about different brands of the same type of hay? Timothy by KayTee for example is a lot more stalky than APD, and I notice a difference in Fiver’s bunny bb’s and cecals depending on which brand he eats.
I’d love some consistency, but it’s not possible lately.

[MimzMum]

Okay…been trying to edit out this double post for the last hour easy…please work! *covers eyes and clicks mouse*

[tobyluv]

I don’t think it’s bad to give rabbits a variety of hay. I’ve read that different hays are helpful in keeping their teeth ground down and since they may get tired of one kind of hay and not eat as much, having a variety will cause them to eat more. I mainly feed Oxbow-Timothy, botanical and orchard grass, but I also have Zupreem Timothy and Valley Organic orchard grass. I love the Valley Organic, but they are out of business now. I just ordered the blue grass mix from BB, along with a bag of APD Timothy Gold.

[LoveChaCha]

I’m giving Chacha some of the Organic Orchard, some of the hay Monkeybun gave me, and the APD hay.

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