How to get my rabbit to eat more Hay????

[Deleted User]

I would like my rabbit to eat more hay, how to I encourage it more????

Thanks so much!

_Lizzy6879_

[Pandorachik]

How much hay is your rabbit consuming?

[Deleted User]

I’m not sure, but not a lot. Sorry, I don’t watch him as much as I did in the begining.

[tobyluv]

If you don’t already offer a variety of hay, that is one way that you might encourage him to eat more. Also try different brands to see if he likes one better. Oxbow Botanical is Timothy hay with a few dried flowers and herbs added, and it smells very aromatic which might tempt a picky rabbit. Orchard grass is a good hay and it is sweeter, so that also tempts rabbits. You may need to cut down on his pellets to encourage hay eating too.

[kinggoblin]

Try a variety, mine really likes botanical/herbal hays. He also eats a lot more hay now that I started buying sweet meadow farm hay instead of oxbow. It looks better than oxbow and I guess it tastes a lot better too because he eats tonnnns of it.

[littlemissflip]

You might also try placing baskets of hay in different locations around your home–places where you bun likes to hang out and relax…. If he encounters hay in different places while he’s hopping around and exploring, he might be more inclined to eat it than if it’s just in his cage area.

[HappyHopperz]

As tobylov said, try mixing up varieties. I use all of the Oxbow hay apart from alfalfa (as it is not age appropriate for my bunnies) and mix it all together. The taste is more appealing and the meal is more overall nutritious.

[Eepster]

I put rose petals I dried and saved from last summer when they were blooming into Porky’s hay. Porky actually liked timothy hay better than orchard grass, but my husband is very allergic to the timothy, so we stick to orchard. I was thinking of trying out oat grass too.

[BinkyBunny]

Vivian definitely eats more when I have a variety of Timothy, Orchard and Oat. I will also use the hay topper blend we carry in our store which helped Jack eat more hay, but for Vivian, as long as I offer a variety of hay she’s good!

Another trick I use is to offer a small fresh handful into their exisiting hay. 

[KytKattin]

Variety is a good suggestion already made. Nova gets 4 different types of hay. The blue bunny mix from BB, some random timothy, Oxbow botanical mix, and Oxbow oat. Though I also notice that if Nova’s dinner is later (8-10 instead of 5-6) she will go and eat hay when I would normally give her veggies. All of her veggies are still gone in the morning, so I know she is just eating even more! And a very small amount of pellets. Though I will admit her hay topper gets put on her pellets so none get wasted. lol.

[SuperCheesetastic]

Some rabbits do not like hay in their litter boxes.
Those rabbits mind eating poopy hay or hay seasoned with pee.

[mindy10]

I had the same problem with Blossom and what i did was give her pellets during the day with hay but at night i took the pellets away and when i wake up almost all her hay is gone.

[Quantum]

Posted By SuperCheesetastic on 02/25/2012 06:18 AM
Some rabbits do not like hay in their litter boxes.
Those rabbits mind eating poopy hay or hay seasoned with pee.

I put a little hay over the Yesterday’s News paper pellets just because it feels a little more “normal” to bun feet (or so I imagine).  I pile hay up at the front of the box for eating.  Seems to work fairly well–Bun does his duty towards the rear of the box and has clean hay up front to nibble while going.  I’ll try and get a pic later today (after the box is clean  .

 

[LoveChaCha]

I always put hay in the litter box for Chacha. She looks at me like I’m stupid if I don’t refresh the hay in the box daily. She loves pooping and eating. However, it has lead her to eating the hay from the litter box while she is OUT of it, and pooping right outside the box! HAHA. Well, at least she associates hay eating with poop

[Effie]

I am also having this problem and was wondering if putting a little bit of honey on her hay would help?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Hi, Effie. This is an old thread from 2012. We ask members not to respond to old threads because it can get confusing. Feel free to start a new thread for member feedback.

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