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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum DIET & CARE My Bunny rather starve than eat hay

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    • Jojo
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        My bunny is 3 years old.  He has always refused to eat hay so my family just give him pellets and snacks. I know it is such an unhealthy diet so I want to train him to eat hay.  It has been 5 days and I know he is starving but he still refuses to eat hay.  I tried cutting the hay into small pieces (around the size of a pellet) and mix it with the pellets.  But he would just pick out all the pellets and leave the hay behind.  What should I do to make him eat hay?


      • Jessica
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          if it fresh he might eat it or try different types , putting a treat in it to see if it entices the rabbit to eat it. (of course once it starts eat the hay remove the treats from the daily rotuine of putting it in there) , if his teeth are fine like no molar spurs then he might just be picky but if you dont know id sugget having them checked cause it can cause them not to eat hay. . just thinking  of tips i know and ive tried. one of my rainbow bunny had issues with eating hay. i had to get him orchard grass hay cause he didn’t like timothy. of course this was before i know it grew in my backyard. i could of saved a bundle lol.


        • Mikey
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            A lot of buns like Alfalfa hay. I would suggest getting Timothy hay and Alfalfa and mixing it together. You can also try different types of grass hay instead of Timothy in case he just doesnt like Timothy hay


          • Bam
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              Don’t let him starve himself. It works with dogs, but it’s dangerous for bunnies.

              There are all-hay pellets and there are many types of grass hay that you can try. Oat hay and orchard f ex. There are different cuts, the first cuts are crunchier, the later cuts are leafier. I had to try many hays before I found one that my buns were interested in.


            • Whitesnowy
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                Sounds so familiar. You might find a relief if the pellets you buy are hay based (Timothy based for example).

                What may help – put hay in his toilet. They like to chew there. Also – try different brands. Offer him hay after he ate veggies. 
                Eating veggies drives the hunger for hay.
                And don’t starve him! It doesn’t work. For the last four years Whitesnowy reduced hay intake to almost none. He did fine on pellets. I think if you give quality pellets, there is no danger for the health. 


              • flemishwhite
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                  My God.  Don’t starve your rabbit.  Feed it what it wants to eat.  Don’t force the rabbit to eat something that for whatever reason it doesn’t want to eat.

                  If your rabbit is having eating problems, you need to know if they have a problem with their mouth/teeth.  You need a vet to look at their teeth. Rabbits teeth are always growing and if they are not grown down by eating abrasive food, eating can be painful for them. 

                  They are such sweet little animals. Need to take care of them. 


                • Bam
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                    I know vets sometimes (or rather often really) tell people to withhold all other food and just give hay and when the bunny gets hungry enough, it will eat the hay. It’s NOT a good way to go about things, though. So don’t try to switch your bunny over to hay by starving it. Go slow. Be patient.

                    This is why you should never change a bunny’s diet radically- it’s kind of scary, but important info for all bunny-owners:

                    A bunny needs to have food in its belly all the time and must eat at least every 6 hours, or it’s intestines can stop working properly from lack of stimulation. This “gut slowdown” in turn often leads to very painful gas build up, and then proceeds into full GI stasis (the intestines stop moving altogether). Stomach trouble/inappetence must never be allowed to progress this far without intervention (if you have any chance to spot it early – that’s not always possible, buns hide pain extremely well). GI stasis is a deadly condition. It is in fact the number one killer of pet bunnies. Even if when treated with proper meds, tummy massages, fluid therapy (sub q), mortality is high once full stasis have occurred.

                    There are more reasons why it’s not a good idea to put a bunny on a suidden hay-only diet: Rabbits depend on their gut bacteria to extract the nutrients from their food. Humans can’t derive any nutrients from grass, but bunnies can if they have the proper amount of the proper types of gut bacteria. If you radically switch a bunny onto a more fibrous, healthy diet, the bunny gut isn’t prepared for all that fiber, and it might not be able to make use of the food. The bunny eats the hay, but it starves. The bunny soon starts living off it’s own stored body fat, and this can lead to hepatolipidosis (fatty liver), meaning all that released body fat becomes too much for the rabbit’s liver to deal with. The liver can’t function properly.

                    I hope this isn’t too scary, but I wanted to clarify.

                    I had to try for ages to get my Bam to eat hay. Eventually I found a good, leafy, late-cut organic hay that he loved. And then that farmer went out of business and I had to start over =( I finally found some good oat hay that he will eat.


                  • Theodorusrex
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                      I know your pain with this – I must have tried upwards of 10 different types of hay to find one that Theo would so much as sniff, never mind eat. He loves Oxbow orchard grass hay and I occasionally get a small pack of Oxbow botanical hay to mix it up for him. It’s expensive because it is imported from the US I think but worth every penny to keep his teeth and gut healthy. What serving of pellets is he getting? I know when we first got Theo we just fed him what he had been getting previously which was way too much! I think he was honestly too full to eat hay. We gradually reduced his pellets and with that came better hay eating – just a thought and something to consider.

                      Agree with all above though – if he refuses to eat hay you need to provide him with other food. Starving a rabbit is so dangerous- you do not want to risk stasis it is so scary and potentially life threatening


                    • tobyluv
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                        Besides trying a lot of different varieties and brands of hay, you can buy hay toppers. They are dried flowers and herbs that you sprinkle on hay to make it more enticing to a rabbit. You can buy some here in the BB store
                        https://store.binkybunny.com/bunny-bouquet-hay-topper-floppers-p118.aspx, and I assume that they are available other places too.

                        I’ve seen some people mention putting a little fruit juice on hay to encourage a rabbit to eat it. You wouldn’t want to use much, since fruit juice does have natural sugar, plus you wouldn’t want to have really wet hay sitting around, but maybe it’s worth a try.


                      • beebun
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                          My family buys dried peppermint leaves and rose buds for tea- sometimes I cut them to smaller pieces and mix it with Chito’s hay. It might help!

                          When Chito was younger he hates his hay too. I’ve had to try different brands, and different suppliers, until he finds what he likes. Try the smaller pack of oxbow hays- they’re supposed to be hand-sorted and Chito really likes it


                        • Whitesnowy
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                            Just to mention here – some people think they can substitute hay with packet of dried herbs /see pic/. Wrong. Dried herbs for bunnies are treats and not food nor can replace hay. So if such though goes through your mind – chase it out. 


                          • Mykl
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                              I trained one of mine to eat more hay when I found that dropping some through the roof of the cage onto his head and directly in front of him made him eat it! Then I found he would only eat small amounts but I could encourage him to eat more hay by dropping small amounts on him frequently. Now he eats loads more than he used to. Of course, he never rejected hay completely like yours.

                              Right now I’m giving VERY small amounts of pellets to mine throughout the day to make sure they eat regularly but if they want to eat more they need to eat hay.


                            • Bam
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                                I absolutely second the small portions! There should always be some hay the bunny could eat if it needs to -but I find mine eat more if I serve small portions of “new” hay throughout the day.
                                Hand-feeding is another thing that can help. You don’t have to get him to eat loads of hay right away. Every strand he eats is a victory
                                I now try to rotate hay, buns get bored if they’re fed the same greens every day, so I’m thinking that might a apply to hay too (it doesn’t seem to with pellets, my buns never get bored with their pellets). I currently have Oxbow oat hay, Burn’s green oat hay, Oxbow orchard, a local organic hay that’s mostly fescue and Timothy and orchard. I buy small bags because otherwise my home would be filled to the brim with hay.


                              • Sparky04
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                                  Try different types of hay. Rabbits have their own preferences. Orchard hay is softer and sweeter. Oat hay is thicker. Mordecai and Ava’s favorite is oat hay because they like thick hay. Plus they find the oat heads very enticing.


                                • paskulita
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                                    my rabbit is 2 years old and he never ever eaten hay. now his teeth are growing and he still doesn’t eat it. i did all 5 tips, but still he just refuses it. it is the third day that i put only hay and water in his litter box and he prefers to be hungry than eat it. at first he ate very little but now he has been hungry for to days. I’m very worried and will be very glad if u can tell me what to do to make him eat hay. He had his surgery 2 months ago and his teeth are growing day to day and my vet says that if he wont start eating hay he will need another surgery soon and she says that it is very dangerous and he might die. I’m desprate and i don’t know what to do i just can’t loose him please help me


                                  • Bam
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                                      Hi paskulita!

                                      Do you have access to fresh grass? It’s just as good for bunny teeth as hay is. My bunny is a lousy hay water too, but his teeth have gotten much better with lots of grass.

                                      Fresh grass must be pesticide free and you shouldn’t pick it where there are raccoons, because they carry parasites in their poop that can be very harmful for rabbits. If you are in Europe, your rabbit should be vaccinated before you give anything you’ve picked outside on the ground.

                                      It’s dangerous for a rabbit to starve, so don’t let him do that. If he refuses his hay you should only cut back on pellets, not cut them out completely. There must always be food in the rabbit tummy, or the intestines can stop moving and the bun goes into GI stasis.

                                      We have many buns here that need regular dental burrings under full anesthesia. It’s not at all fun for the bun owner because there is always a risk that anesthesia goes wrong (that’s true even for humans), but the majority of buns do fine with modern day rabbit anesthesia. Does your bun have any medical issues that makes him especially sensitive to anesthesia?

                                      This is an old thread, and contrary to many other forums we ask our members to start a new thread even if the topic has been discussed here before.
                                      You can start a new thread here if you like:

                                      https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/afv/post/aff/1/Default.aspx


                                    • Marie
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                                        What about Sherwood pellets? It’s my understanding they are made of mostly hay?

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                                    Forum DIET & CARE My Bunny rather starve than eat hay