Rabbits of different sizes – Pellets and Hay

[FloppyBunny]

Hi,

I got my first rabbit as a 8 week old boy 4 years ago, and he has never been interested in hay. He completely refused to eat it, and since I didn’t know everything I do now, I wasn’t too worried. His poops were normal and he seemed healthy. Fast forward 2 years later, and we had now fenced our backyard for him and he was now spending at least 6 hours a day outside and eating grass and vegetables. He was extremely healthy, and according to our vet the most muscular rabbit she has ever seen (this comment was in April this year, just before his neuter). His neuter had complications afterward because he would not eat and they had given him too little pain meds. Since then, he has never fully recovered. He regularly has mushy poops (that seem to be cecal dysbiosis) unless he has about a tablespoon of oatmeal or eats enough hay. The only way I could get him to eat hay was by removing the pellets. My routine was leaving them overnight until about 9 am, then removing until 5-7pm. He wouldn’t eat anything until about 5pm, where he would cave in and eat the hay. Now, I have added a tiny girl to his life since he was very sad about no longer being able to go outside (for various reasons, but it broke my heart to see him run to the door and stratch everyday). This rabbit also ate hay, which I thought would encourage him to eat some, which it did… for a while. Now SHE has stopped eating hay. She weighs 1/3 of his weight, so obviously needs less pellets, but I have a bit of a problem with how to restrict the pellets since they do not eat at the same time (so if I remove after he ate, she still hasn’t eaten, and when she does, it’s now his turn). If I simply calculate the amount of pellets they should have per day, he will just eat his share and she won’t have enough (she eats about a tablespoon a day). She’s also extremely picky about vegetables since her previous owner didn’t give her any and the only way I get her to try them is because I keep offering until she gets mad, tries to throw it with her teeth, and realizes it tastes good, but even then it doesn’t always work. She usually runs away, flicking her feet. My boy eats almost all vegetables though.

My issue is how can I make sure they have enough fiber, but not starve either one of them?

[LongEaredLions]

You might try allowing to eat as many pellets as they can for 10-15 minutes a day, then removing the pellets completely. Somewhat a variation of what you are doing, but wouldn’t allow them to save pellets or eat the others helping if that makes any sense.
If your boy was thriving on fresh grass, i would provide them with as much grass as you can. You will have to bring in new grass every couple hours, but it might encourage them to eat more fiber.
Other than that, hopefully others can help. It is quite odd that his neuter had such a great effect on him. It might be worth consulting another vet.

[FloppyBunny]

Thanks for the idea! I will try this. Unfortunately, this summer was very dry and we barely have grass. If I were to mow the lawn, I would barely have a handful. My girl was spayed by a different vet, and it went so much better. They gave her more pain meds than he got (she got near the maximum dose for her weight, while he got the minimum). They ended up getting the same amount, but he is much bigger than he is. Also, with her spay I had everything I needed to syringe feed her at the begining, which I didn’t with my male.

I have also been giving them rose petals almost everyday, which they LOVE.

[Author]

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