Alfalfa Hay!!!

[Lulu Cuteness]

So my best friend live in a barn and they gave me a ton of alfalfa hay for my Rabbit. I heard your rabbit can get a disease from other rodents urinating on it but then it goes away when the urine dries do you think it is still ok to give too here??

[Peony]

I do not know about that issue but I know from your other thread that your rabbit is young. 2 and 1/2 months right? So she needs alfalfa hay. When she is an adult though, you will be only using Alfalfa as a treat (meaning a tiny bit) or none at all, depending how you want to arrange your bunny’s diet when she is an adult.

[Lulu Cuteness]

I have alfalfa cubes. Do you think that is ok?? And i thought that it was timothy hay that they needed

[tanlover14]

Alfalfa hay is encouraged for rabbits until 7 months of age. It helps them grow! BUT it’s not necessary. If Timothy hay is the only thing you can get – your bunny will be fine. Is he on alfalfa pellets currently, unlimited?

[Lulu Cuteness]

No she is not is that ok I am really worried now

[DaisyBunz]

Alfalfa is good for young rabbits, and you can start making the transition at six or so months. This means to slowly change the alfalfa to Timothy. You just mix the Timothy hay with alfalfa, and slowly increase the amount of Timothy hay until you are only feeding it. About the urine part, it isn’t very good for bunnies to eat soiled hay. I’d recommend keeping it in a feeder off of the ground that your rabbit can reach. 

[DaisyBunz]

I just read the part about rodents urinating, not rabbits. Oops.
I’m sure it probably isn’t good for a rabbit to eat hay rodents have urinated on….. Maybe you should get it somewhere else.

[Lulu Cuteness]

Ok thanks Then does that mean you have to have it or it is ok to just give timothy hay or is it even ok to give her timothy???? Sorry for all the questions I am new to this

[DaisyBunz]

That’s okay…I understand you want to make sure you’re doing the right things for your pet.

After 7 months, the bunny should be fed only Timothy hay.

You can start the transition(like how I described) at about 6 1/2 months. The rabbit is considered an adult after 6 months, and as an adult Timothy hay should be the only hay fed. 

[tanlover14]

I got confused somewhere along the way! How old is the bun bun?

Don’t be worried – we all learn somewhere! This forum helped me a TON when I became a new bunny momma.
Alfalfa hay and pellets is not mandatory for rabbits under 7 months. You can feed timothy hay and timothy pellets if that’s what you have. It’s just a good pellet for growing bunnies.
At 6 months is usually when I transition my rabbits from the alfalfa to the timothy pellets/hay.
Until 6-7 months old bunny should be getting unlimited pellets and hay. Around 6-7 months, you can begin limiting pellets but continue with unlimited hay.

I imagine any barn would have some little rodents running around so I’m not sure it’s really that big of a deal. Did they just mean like typical mice and other things found in barns or something else? I also don’t worry too much about a hay rack unless you want to conserve your hay. Your rabbit will just pick around the pieces they have urinated on unless they don’t have enough in their bin. Mine are pretty good about only going on one side of the litter pan though and eat from the other side. Not something I would be concerned about though.

[Tibbs]

Is the hay dried and baled?

Is it in a well kept barn, or is it an older barn?

Rats and cats share diseases with rabbits. Most notably E. Cunili. (which causes head tilt, runny eyes, etc) and that is passed through urine. If a rat, mouse, cat, wild rabbit, etc urinated on the hay, your rabbit is at risk of catching or provoking the disease (which he probably already has, as many rabbits contract it within the first couple months of their lives and it remains dormant) E. Cunili requires life long treatment and it aint cheap.

Just something to keep in mind!

[Lulu Cuteness]

It is dry and in a plastic bag and their cats are healthy they have had there shots and the barn is old

[Lulu Cuteness]

And she is 2 1/2 months od

[Author]

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