How and when to reduce pellets and alfalfa

[Silly Sungura]

Hodari isn’t eating much alfalfa, but she does get some regularly each day, usually in one of those grass treat balls and a hand full in her litter box. My intention was to just stop giving her alfalfa altogether at seven or eight months, but she wasn’t put on alfalfa at all until the first week of April. Her vet said it was best for her to have a little along with her timothy. So I’m wondering, if I quit buying it for her two or three months from now is that going to be adequate, or should she continue to eat it up until she’s a year old since she got a late start? The book I have says to start weaning them off of alfalfa between seven and 12 months. That’s a long time span. I don’t really need to “wean” her off it anyway, do I, because she is already accustomed to grass hay? I just want to stop buying it at some point, but I need to know when.

I haven’t got a clear idea what to do about pellets either. I know I need to cut back on them gradually, but to what amount and how gradually? She is a Lion Head, approximately five months old. I know that pound for pound she’ll require more calories than an average sized bun. I was going to feed her 1/8 of a cup as an adult, but I don’t know if it’d be too much or too little, especially since some of you feed that much to your bigger bunnies. What should I do? Thanks.

 

[Beka27]

I would have the base of her hay timothy, with just a handful a day of alfalfa. You could give it til a year old with no ill effects.

For pellets, it take 3 full weeks to gradually switch.
WEEK 1: 3/4 alfalfa, 1/4 timothy
WEEK 2: 1/2 alfalfa, 1/2 timothy
WEEK 3: 1/4 alfalfa, 3/4 timothy
WEEK 4: FULL timothy

It’s normal for awhile that the timothy pellets will not get eaten. Just toss and feed the next day again according to the schedule. Eventually, as the amounts change, the bun is going to get hungry and will have to eat what is given.

A small bun needs very few pellets. 1/8 of a cup is plenty, and as she gets older and has a wide variety of veggies, you may be able to decrease that further. Many people give only a tablespoon a day.

[Silly Sungura]

Thank you, Beka. This helps. She is already eating timothy pellets, too. She snubbed the alfalfa ones. I think I will just go ahead and continue giving her a small amount of alfalfa hay until she’s a year old since she’s had so little of it in her diet up till now. Thanks again!

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