Help with diet!

[Lunathelop]

So I have a Holland lop, she is almost 6 months old. I would say she’s almost 2 lbs I haven’t weighed her in a while. Am I feeding her too much? She eats a quarter to 1/2 cup of her pellets daily. Doesn’t care much for hay anymore. She’s been eating lots of kale, spring mix, mint, basil, parsley, carrots, raspberries,strawberries, apples, blue berries. I’ll usually give her a “salad” in the morning with a small mix of some greens with a little fruit. I don’t know if she isn’t eating her hay because me giving her her salads everyday. I have tried switching the hay to see if that changed her mind but she didn’t like it. So I switched. I haven’t had her fixed yet, was wondering if that would change her demeanor? Shes playful and she’s litter box trained until recently she’s just pooping and peeing in her cage. She will only leave a few pellets when she’s out running in the house. So I can’t get too mad that she does it outside her litter box but in her cage at least. Anyone else have that issue? Thanks for your help.

[jerseygirl]

Welcome Lunathelop!

What type of pellets is she on? Alfalfa based or timothy?
I think at 6 months old you could definitely start to reduce her pellets. You’d want to reduce it to about a third of what she is currently getting. Fingers crossed that will have her looking for her hay more often.
Here is the House Rabbit Society diet recommendations. http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/

What type of hay does she have? What type did you try switching too?

As for her toileting habits in the cage, it’s possibly due to her age and hormones… It could also be that she has outgrown her litterbox.

Does she use a litterbox when she’s running about or does she hop back into her cage to go?

[Lunathelop]

I feed her Dumor pellets from tractor supply. Which says it’s mainly alfalfa. Then the hay is dumor Timothy hay. I’ve tried switching to the oxbow Timothy hay but she’s very picky. She likes to eat the little fluffy flowers out of it and leaves the rest. Should I try going to an alfalfa hay?
I bought her a bigger litter box so she’s using it from time to time but ends up pooping and peeing all around the litterbox then she’ll go in there after I’ve cleaned it up and I’ll put the paper towel in the box with the scent. But she still will go around the cage. Ahhh. Lol.

She will poop every once in a while outside the cage hopping around but mostly goes back to the cage to go to the bathroom. So like I said its not too bad that it’s in the cage just wish it was in the litter box.

[Author]

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