Fedding

[JellybeanJenna]

She is 3 pounds and she is 8 months. She is a lion head bunny. I am giving her unlimited hay, water, veggies and 1/4 cup of pellets a day. I give her the whole 1/4 cup of pellets all in the morning and by 3:00 pm they are gone.

I don’t want to starve her but I don’t want to give her too much food. Other websites say 1/4-1/2 cup pellets per 6 pounds but she is 3 pounds and 1/4-1/2 is a big range. I just got her a month ago so I am still a little new to this bunny stuff. I really don’t want to starve her. 

[tobyluv]

An adult 3 pound rabbit should only get about 1/8 cup of pellets per day. So it would probably be best to slowly start decreasing the amount you are giving her. Is she a good hay eater? Hay should make up the bulk of her diet. If she isn’t a good hay eater, try different types and brands to find ones that she might like better.

[JellybeanJenna]

She loves her hay. She is a very good hay eater.

[kmurphy]

One of my bunnies finishes his pellets within 10-20 minutes of me giving them to him. He gets 1/8 of a cup because he is 3 lbs. Your bunny will then snack on hay the rest of the day. They shouldn’t really be snacking on pellets all day unless they are super slow eaters.

[JellybeanJenna]

The old owners gave me the scoop that they used for her pellets. They said that they gave her 1 scoop a day. The scoop is about 1/4 cup. I don’t know when she is finishing them because I feed her right before I go to school so she might be finishing them in 10-20 minutes. I really don’t know. Should I limit her two 1/8 of a cup even though she has had 1/4 cup her whole life?

Thanks

[tobyluv]

It’s natural to cut down the amount of pellets when rabbits reach adulthood. Most diet guidelines say to give young, growing bunnies unlimited pellets (but not to overfeed them) then as they reach adulthood, you limit their daily pellets according to their weight. At 8 months, your bunny is still growing, but it would probably be best to slowly decrease her pellets in the near future, so that the amount is closer to 1/8 cup than to 1/4 cup, by the time you have finished transitioning her to a smaller amount. You could wait another couple of months to do so. It’s great that she is a good hay eater. When you do start decreasing the amount of pellets, hopefully she won’t mind too much as long as she has plenty of hay, and a variety of greens each day. As rabbits get older, they can become overweight, and the culprit is usually too many pellets (for their weight).

[JellybeanJenna]

Okay. Yeah, she is still really young and that was part of my worry about how much food to give her.
She is not on alfalfa hay anymore. We stopped giving it to her a few weeks ago. Is that okay? We read that after 7 months to give them timothy hay, but just to make sure.

[JellybeanJenna]

Her birthday is June 21 2013 (if it helps to know)

[tobyluv]

I’m confused about her birthday. You said that she was 8 months old, but if she was born in June 2013, she would be almost 3 years old.

Regarding the hay, after rabbits reach 6 months of age, or a little older, you are supposed to transition them to grass hays – timothy, orchard grass, meadow hay, prairie hay, oat hay, etc. Some people say that they shouldn’t have any alfalfa hay at all when they are adults, but others say that it’s okay to give them a small amount every once in a while as a treat. Pellets for an adult rabbit should be timothy based.

[JellybeanJenna]

Oh, I am sorry I typed it wrong. She was born in 2015. Sorry to confuse you.

[Author]

Messages