Picky about pellets

[alexa]

Okay, Spooky has been eating alfalfa pellets since he was a baby, and he is a year and a half now. I tried to switch him off them a while ago but I gave up. Now the vet says its time or he will get problems. So I am mixing his old pellets with new oxbow timothy pellets. He picks through and eats all the old ones and leaves the new ones. I even left the bowl out for a few days to see if he would just get hungry and eat them, but he won’t!

 

How am I supposed to get him to switch if he won’t try the new ones??

[Sarita]

Well, pellets are the absolute smallest amount of their diets. I would continue just giving him the news ones.

How much are you feeding him of the pellets now?

[alexa]

one cup of them mixed like 1/4 old ones. but he won’t touch the new ones for days and then I will just throw it out and give him a new cup of them and he picks the old ones out, etc.

[Sarita]

You give him a full cup of pellets? How much does Spooky weigh?

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Wow 1 cup is a lot. He only needs 1/4 to 1/2 cup of timothy based pellets per 6lbs of bunny. Does he get greens too?

[alexa]

oops, I give him 1/2 a cup. I just checked the little measuring cup that I have in his bag.

He weighs 5 lbs. The vet said he wasn’t worried about his weight when I took him the other day, because I asked about it. I was getting concerned with his pellet intake.

[Sarita]

I do think that 1/2 cups is too much for a 5 pound rabbit.

I would reduce his total intake of pellets per day to 1/4 cup.

What is the rest of his diet?

[alexa]

He gets kale and a carrot every night. He is picky, he wouldnt eat hardly any, if any of other greens I would give him. Only the kale.

[Sarita]

Have you tried any other greens lately? Have you tried Romaine?

How is he at eating his hay?

[alexa]

I’ve tried a bunch of stuff before, but maybe now that he isn’t eating hardly any pellets he will eat more greens. I will go to the store tonight. What should I try now?

He munches on hay pretty consistently throughout the day. But I have noticed that he is eating more hay since I changed the pellets.

[Sarita]

That’s good he is eating more hay.

I would try again with the romaine and see if you can get him to eat that. Maybe just put a leaf out each time with his kale and carrot. Is it a baby carrot?

Your right, Spooky is definitely a picky little rabbit :~)

[alexa]

Ha ha, yes he is. Its a regular carrot, but he usually eats half of it. I will start doing a few baby carrots instead. Maybe he is filling up on the carrot and skipping the other greens. I will try something new tonight. Thanks!

I will let you know how it goes

[Sarita]

That sounds like a good plan.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

You might even cut the baby carrots back to 1 at the *most* a day, carrots are more of a treat than greens since they have a ton of sugar
I’d keep trying with other greens, there’s nice long list here on BB, I printed it out and take it to the store with me. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 times of offering, parsley of all types is a big hit here, along with romaine, mint, dill, collard greens, kale (but I limit that to about 3 times a week at most since its high in calcium).

I’d just go cold turkey at this point, or maybe mostly timothy with a sprinkling of alfalfa. What kind of pellets is he eating? I switched from oxbow baby to oxbow adult without any issues from Samson, but shes just not as picky maybe?

[Author]

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