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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Bunny not eating hay?

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    • CJG1993
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        When I first got Bandit whenever I filled up his box with Alfalfa hay he would eat it…then I noticed the hay was hardly being touched…I switched to Timothy hay, as soon as I made the switch I seen him go right for it and start eating…Now again he isn’t eating it.  I am starting to get worried because I constantly change the hay and it remains at the same level and looks like it isnt being touched.  I also give him pellets which he eats/loves…but I try not to fill up his pellet bowl if he still has some in his bowl(since I want him to start eating the hay more..)

        When I went to the vet she recommended Oxbow brand of Hay or a mashed hay possibly. 

        Currently using KayTee Timothy hay and LM Farms Vitamix.  Worried about Bandit…want him to be happy and healthy and don’t know what to do….

        Also after my trip to the vet I found out Bandit is about 6months old(somebody abandoned him at my girlfriends pet shop and I took him in).  Should I go with an Oxbow brand like my vet suggested?…Or try something else.


      • Rhubarbcrumble
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          I had a similar problem with my two house bunnies, they went off the Timothy hay I was buying and I tried another brand and they still wouldn’t eat it. They also wouldn’t eat any of the hays that had added herbage.

          After much googling I found a farm in Scotland that sold it but the bale direct and they absolutely loved it. They have now been happily munching that for 18 months with no sign of stopping. Mine only seem to like it if is still a nice green colour, they even leave the slightly brown bits from their current type.

          I think I saw in another post that you are in the US, so obviously Scotland wouldn’t be any good but I would recommend buying it direct from the grower as it’s much greener and smells fresher. (There were quite a few US farms that came up in my searches selling it direct).

          Bunnies can be very fussy unfortunately, mine will only eat one type of black kale, if I buy it from another supermarket they won’t even go near it!

          Good Luck.


        • Mikey
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            Do you fill up his pellet bowl every time its empty? I ask, because pellets are good for rabbits, but not that good for rabbits. A rabbit should only get 1/8th cups of pellets per every 6 pounds of rabbit, per day. If you are over feeding pellets, i would start with this fix first. Then if he still wont eat his hay, search around for different types of hay thats good for adult buns


          • CJG1993
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              I havent been refilling his pellets because I want him to eat the hay…didnt fill up his pellet bowl for a day and a half and his hay remained untouched…What brands would you recommend for a 6-8month old bun?


            • flemishwhite
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                I’d be interested in some comments.  For the last 12+ years, I’ve been feeding my rabbits oat hay. Bunny chomped on oat hay for about 11 years before she died.  My two Flemish babies (8 month old) have been fed oat hay for about 6+ months.  I can buy them alfalfa if I want to, should I buy them alfalfa? We line their litter boxes with oat hay.  They poop and pee in one corner and eat at the other corners. We refresh their boxes once per day. Hay is an important food for rabbits.  It’s abrasive and helps wear down their constantly growing teeth. (An aside..it’s relative cheap for me to buy hay since a food and grain store for horse owners is nearby)

                Oat hay is only a portion of our house rabbits dietary intake.  They live mostly on green leafy vegetables.  Carrot tops, fennel tops, romaine lettuce, dill tops, dandelion leaves, cilantro, parsely, bok choy.    We get the carrot tops and fennel tops free from the local farmer’s market.  This is great because green vegetables can be expensive from the grocery stores. My wife can often buy Romaine lettuce heads at the 99 cent store for 99 cents.  Because of our two very large Flemish rabbits, she might buy 12 Romain lettuce heads a week!  In main stream grocery stores, a head of romaine can be $2.99.  For all other store bought vegetables the cost goes up!

                In addition to providing food for our rabbits, we also have bowls of rabbit pellets available for them to eat if they want. I do buy pellets that don’t have molasses or sugar contents.  My rabbits get all the sweet stuff they want.  My pellets are just for munchies to satisfy their need for something to chew on that has a lot of cellulose.   

                As long as I’m discussing food costs, every week at the farmer’s market we buy Fuji apples.  $5.25 a pound and we buy about a pound or so for the rabbits.  After being fed farmer’s market vegetables and apples/fruit, they do not want to eat the same from grocery stores!  The obvious thought is that farmer’s market stuff  is fresher and vine ripened.  For rabbits, apparently they can sense the difference!!!


              • Mikey
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                  If hes not eating his hay or his pellets (since you said he hasnt eaten them in about two days), im going to assume something might be wrong internally. Rabbits need to eat at least every 8 hours to keep their GI track going normally. If he hasnt eaten very much in two days, that calls for concern. A trip to a rabbit savvy vet is recommended

                  Otherwise, i would cut back on pellets. Fill them only once a day using the little formula i gave you (1/8th cups of pellets per every 6 pounds of rabbit), and throw out any uneaten pellets before refilling the bowl the next day. My boys arnt so picky about hay, so i dont have much advice there. But i googled “Safe hay for adult rabbits” and got this: http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/fiber.html On that link there is a small chart with hay safe for adult buns. I would check to see which ones you can get, and go from there


                • Bunbun
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                    My bunny doesn’t eat much hay either.

                    I try to cut down on the pellets, and I don’t give him much vegetables. Yet he STILL doesn’t eat hay! Now, in a bout of desperation, I have mixed shredded/small pieces of hay into his pellets. It works – he has to eat hay in order to get the pellets. Perhaps you can try it out? I also have a huge box filled with hay. It’s like a very large hidey-hole. He can go inside and munch on hay. He does occasionally eat from there.

                    Good luck!


                  • flemishwhite
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                      I’m not a bunny nutrition expert, but I have been house feeding rabbit(s) for about 12 years now.  I’d say the most important thing is to make sure they are eating!  I know they can get tired of eating the same thing…just like humans…and they want something different. Number One thing is that they have to be eating.

                      I’d be very surprised if someone had a rabbit that wouldn’t eat green leafy vegetables.  Maybe a rabbit  that lived in a cage and ate only pellets and had nothing ever different over it’s lifetime might be slow to take up greens.???

                      In some ways, its not important that your bunny doesn’t eat hay. There are certainly other bunny nutrition stuff ..particularly green leafy vegetables.  The main reason it’s important for bunnies to eat hay is that it’s abrasive.  Their teeth are always growing and if they don’t wear down their teeth naturally, your’e looking at a big vet bill to have their teeth grown down.  If their teeth become overgrown, eating becomes painful and,,,bottom line …they will die of starvation (GI Statis).  

                      ‘ve never done anything to encourage a rabbit to eat hay.  They just eat it naturally in my experience. For us, it’s oat hay..the bunnies like the oat grain kernels in particular.  We bought our two Flemish babies at 2 months old and at the time they were living in a large outdoor pen.  Their pen was hay lined and I think all they had to eat in their lifetime after being weaned was pellets.  When we got them home, they just started chomping down on everything.   8 months old and 12 pounds and still growing.  PBB’s…Pretty Big Bunnies. 


                    • Theodorusrex
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                        I feel your pain – Theo is a nightmare when it comes to getting him to eat hay.
                        We’ve bought him 3 different brands of timothy hay, timothy hay with dandelion and marigold added, oat hay, readigrass, meadow hay, botanical hay, orchard grass hay – all the best brands oxbow/alfalfa king etc and he barely nibbles the stuff. We’ve cut his pellets way back which helped a little but not massively. We’ve also tried ‘hay toppers’ of dried herbs/flowers to entice him but he just rummages and eats the leaves rather than the hay. We’ve tried putting his pellets through his hay – again he just picks out the pellets and leaves the hay. The only hay he eats really is in his litter box – if you don’t already try putting lots of hay in his litter tray. The only other suggestion is trying out different types until you find one he likes – Theo likes the alfalfa king timothy hay and oxbow oat hay the best but again he still its very little – still more than before though.
                        Consequently the vet has warned us his teeth are becoming sharp but its fighting a loosing battle trying to get him to munch his hay – so I understand your frustration. Maybe some of the above will help with your little one !

                        EDIT: I forgot to add that Theo goes mad for hay cookies and will munch away on them much more eagerly than normal hay. He gets this brand although not sure if they’re available in the US –   http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/woodlands-hay-cookies-1kg

                        These ones are 100% hay and nothing else so healthy for them – but obviously not as good for their teeth or digestive system but definitely better than nothing. 

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                    Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Bunny not eating hay?