rabbit wont eat pellets but hay and greens..

[Jessica]

flopsy had stopped eating her pellets. shell eat her hay like crazy an any greens and treats offered. poops, drinks, flops and acts normal. just wont eat her pellets. she sniffs them and pushes them away or backs up. but if i open her pellet container shell get excited and run to her cage door.  i don’t know if its cause we changed her pellets during the winter to a bigger bag so she didn’t run out and they went bad or she just doesn’t like them anymore. during the winter she was scarfing them down.. idk if i should reget her old brand or get a different one. 

[Rhian]

If she’s been eating the current brand for awhile and the bag has been opened for a few months you may want to try buying a brand new small bag of whatever you’re feeding her. From what I’ve heard, most pellets should be used within a month or so of opening for maximum freshness, but I typically stretch a large bag for 2-3 months by keeping it in smaller sealed containers/ziplock bags in cool, dark areas.

[Jessica]

Thank you, I’ll just get her brand she’s use too again. We changed her to a bag of duma something from tractor supply during the winter and I think we got more then we should have for her. Was 25 lbs but she ate a good chunk of it and has 3 containers left. Not even kidding she’ll sniff them and back up from them now or if I try hand feeding she’ll sniff chin them and won’t eat them. I’m taking that as they went stale. I didn’t know about the ziplock idea, thank you for that info. I’ll remember that for winter. I thought it was her teeth at first but she’ll use her chews and eat a treat if offered, so I’m assuming it’s not a tooth issue as she is an avid hay eater and wood chew enthusiast lol.

[jerseygirl]

Ive put some in ziplock bags & container in the freezer before, to keep them fresh. Seemed to work well.

Is she moulting or ingesting more fur then usual at the moment? Sometimes mine don’t want as many pellets during that time. Like they know they need fibre, fibre, fibre. (Excuse my Aust./English spelling )

[Jessica]

She was molting a week prior to it and I helped her get most of her hair off but she doesn’t like her behind messed with but I was able to get most of the fur lose and away from her cage. And she did have a few mother of pearl poos in her cage today so yea I think your right, jersey. She’s been eating her hay and pooing and drinking her water. Also being giving her greens wet for extra water.

[jerseygirl]

Oh well, that’s all the best thing for her while she’s moulting. It will be interesting to see if she comes back to the pellets after it’s over.

[Jessica]

I’ll keep you guys updated on her, hopefully she’ll having some today with her veggies. She hasn’t lost her appetite for her greens and response to her favorite treats so that’s a good sign. I just been making sure she gets handfuls of Timothy hay and more greens. And thank you so much, I’ve been one very worried bun mom. This is the first time this has ever happened to me and I’ve been researching and I know as long as she’s eating and drinking and using the toilet that she’s okay. Not showing any signs of pain or tooth issues. No grinding, drooling. It had me stumped and scared to all hell.

[Jessica]

Update: she’s starting to take a few pellets by hand again, just waiting for he to eat from her bowl again.

[Bunbun]

It’s probably just a phase. Sigh. my bunny is exactly the opposite. Always wants pellets, never eats hay. I don’t really give him veggies, his poops turn funny when he eats veggies – he may or may not have megacolon. 

[Bam]

I’m glad she’s eating pellets again, but I agree with the others, it’s worse when they only want pellets and not hay. That can indicate dental problems. Hay is the most important food for them, so as long as they are eating a good amount of hay, it’s really not very worrisome if they refuse certain other foods.

[Jessica]

Update:
She’s eating her pellets again thank you everyone! From her poops it looks like she went through a heavy moulting and she needs to let me brush her more during it instead of trying to toss away my comb and brush :p she started eating them from the 1/4 cup before I could but them in lol I’m glad she’s feeling better and being the greeting, hyper, loving bunny she’s been. I was so worried it was her teeth, her tummy or both.

[flemishwhite]

Not an expert on bunny nutrition, but I understand that a diet of 100% straw and green leaf vegetables is just fine for them.   My previous bunny ate this diet, along with treats, and didn’t often eat pellets even though they were always available.   If your rabbit is heartedly eating straw, greens, treats, then there can be a concern that eating pellets can introduce too many calories into their diets.  Look at the contents, list of ingredients, when you buy pellets….there’s can be a big difference.   Pellets intended to be the sole diet, such as for caged rabbits..such as breeder rabbits, can be high in calories…they contain molasses, corn syrup, etc.   When I buy pellets for my rabbit, the pellets are only intended to be supplements to the straw, greens, treats…so I buy low calorie pellets.   I try to avoid pellets with added sugary carbs…just pellets that are essentially ground up hay, grasses, and maybe some vitamins.  Another way of saying it is I try to buy cheap pellets that the rabbit probably won’t like to eat as well as her hay,greens, and treats.

Unlike my previous rabbit, my two Flemish babies chomp through straw, greens, treats, and pellets!  They eat like little piggies!  They also eat the cardboard on their cardboard play boxes.  I”m a little nervous about them eating cardboard, but so far, not problem.  They are very chewy.  I hope their chewing behavior settles down with age.    

[Jessica]

Mine chews a lot on wooden, bunny safe toys and cardboard also. I’d say watch that they’re not just chewing it to eat it. Not really an expert either on that. I just know she’s a chewer. She rather chew and digger then a toss kind of bunny. But I would ask the vet if that’s a sign of anything wrong. Better safe then sorry. I noticed flopsy did it when she had her hair ball issue and she did it for more fiber. After that she stopped trying to munch on paper and her cardboard tubes.

[Beka27]

My girl will get into moods where she doesn’t eat as many pellets but she’s always into her hay and veggies! First time it happened, I freaked of course! I thought it was a bad bag of food or she was horribly ill! But she was fine. I watched her and within a few days she was scarfing them down again!

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