hi all! first post… writing because after getting better and better at eating her hay over the 6 months that she’s lived with me (to the point where she wouldn’t leave a scrap) my silver marten Matilda has suddenly, practically overnight, started to turn up her nose at the timothy I give her. I’ve tried to spread out her pellet servings more in the hopes that she’ll get hungry enough to be less discriminating but that hasn’t worked at all; I don’t want to give her more pellets and throw off the balance of her diet! I try to feed her by the HRC guidelines (though I don’t always have access to fresh greens in large quantities, I serve fresh vegetables daily, spread out a reasonable amount of pellets over several small servings, and as much hay as she’s willing to eat) and as instructed by the shelter I brought her home from I serve her hay in her litter box, which has always been totally fine. I tried changing the box — much sooner along than I usually do! — and it didn’t seem to help. she’s eating some hay but not nearly enough, it seems to me. today I’m going to clean-overhaul her crate to see if that helps… any ideas what could be going on?
it’s possible that the hay isn’t the freshest (I bought two bags at once about three weeks ago, but the second has been sealed until I opened it a few days ago so I don’t know how it would have gotten stale… still, there are some brown strands in it, which may be indicative?) but this was really sudden and I don’t know what could be causing it. she’s still pooping fine, thank goodness.
(for background, she’s also been really grumpy and unfriendly the last week or so… things have been a little stressful on account of her having had to share the room with the kitten for almost three weeks last month when her (the cat’s) spay incision got infected and I needed to keep her in the house — they don’t get along super well despite my best efforts at bonding but their disagreements are limited to mutual chasing, nothing scary or I wouldn’t have left them alone together! but that was a while ago. for a long time I felt like our relationship was getting closer every day: she was much more open to extended pets, etc. and would even ask for them by sticking her forehead under my hand — but for this week she’s been awfully standoffish, sometimes running away when I try to pet her. I’ve been kind of depressed on account of life stuff and endless new england winter, so perhaps that’s rubbing off? she does still take a nap at my feet most mornings, which is a comfort. I try to engage with her as much as possible but don’t always know what to do — the shelter folks told me right off the bat she doesn’t like toys at ALL, which I’ve found to be true, but they didn’t suggest any real play alternatives. when she first came home she lived in a large crate/hutch attachment I built for about a week, coming out into the room only when I was home, but since that second week she’s been free-range. when I first used to let her out she was SO excited, running around in circles and binkiing left and right, but as she got used to the space and freedom she hasn’t been binkiing much at all. I know her energy isn’t pent -up anymore but it seems she should be showing more signs of happiness! I just worry I’m not providing for all of her emotional needs, especially now that she’s eating oddly.)
wow, this ended up being long and not 100% relevant to this specific forum… just a couple months of thoughts out at once! paranoia and my first bun; please forgive. I’ve wanted to get her a bondmate for a while but am unemployed for now and can’t justify it until I’m more financially stable. in the meantime, does anyone have any ideas what I could do to keep her as happy/healthy as she deserves?