Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

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.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

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.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum DIET & CARE How is Carefresh Hay?

Viewing 6 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • Maylol
      Participant
      8 posts Send Private Message

        I had Carefresh beddings from Shop-rite before, it worked good as beddings, my bunny loves it. But since I changed the cage, he no longer has beddings..because he kicked all them out (not intentionally, just jumping around)

        I have bought rabbit food and Alfalfa from local pet store. I didn’t notice the brand at the first time until I had my first bag of Timothy Hay recently. The Alfalfa’s name is Sunatural Summer Sweet Alfalfa Hay, and the rabbit food Complete & Timothy are Carefresh.

        Firstly, all of them are good food, my bunny eats them and has been healthy until now. But I’m a first-time bunny mummy, and I don’t have any comparison, so my concern is which one is better.

        After searching online I noticed most people recommend brands such as Oxbow. Many people reject Kaytee which I thought was good. Nobody gives a clear opinion on Carefresh.

        They do have great beddings, and the food seems like good (though it’s my only food ever had). The Timothy hay is not very green (I thought its because of the season), and is tough, have many long stems.

        I don’t know what Oxbow or any other brand Timothy hay looks like, and whether they are better than Carefresh. Some people like to give their rabbit stems while some others prefer green leaves. I don’t understand why.

        (My boy is a 3 months old Dwarf. He’s not picky and eats whatever I give him.. though he obviously prefer rabbit food to timothy hay.)


      • Maylol
        Participant
        8 posts Send Private Message

          I did want to try multiple brands together.. But my rabbit isn’t a big eater.. If I have more than 2 bags of Timothy, we need 3+ months to consume that.. I want him to have food as fresh as he could, and no waste.. If CAREFRESH Timothy is really unpopular, or any other brand is REALLY better, I can have one more Hay.


        • Maylol
          Participant
          8 posts Send Private Message

            I use a small dog bowl for my rabbit, he eats Timothy Hay only approximately one bowl a day. It’s hard to measure, he has timothy all around his cage, and keeps kicking them out
            He absolutely prefer Alfalfa, and rabbit food. If there’s rabbit food in the bowl, he would scrabble the hay out. He eats the hay only when he feels enough with rabbit food.

            I just wondering if I can find any Timothy that is more tasty.


          • litheandgraphic
            Participant
            608 posts Send Private Message

              Hi and welcome Maylol!

              Indeed, Oxbow is one of the best brands on the market due to its high fiber content, which is what you want in Timothy hay. CareFresh hay is fine; ideally, you want a dark green hay with lots of leaves and variations and as little dust and brown pieces as possible.

              Mixing two brands together is a good idea. I have used Sunaturals and Kaytee Timothy hay before I finally switched to Oxbow and both brands are fine.

              Since your bunny is 3 mos. old, you will want to transition the alfalfa out of his diet entirely, over the course of a couple weeks. At this point alfalfa hay and pellets are far too high in protein and will result in unhealthy weight gain.

              Also, most commercial “rabbit foods” are garbage. You want a high quality Timothy hay pellet, like Oxbow’s Adult Bunny Basics, with no added mix-ins.

              Hay is far more important to the rabbit diet than the pellets are, however. It sounds to me like he doesn’t like the brands of hay you’ve tried thus far. You may want to try other brands – Sunaturals produces Timothy hay as well, for example – to see if he will go for another brand.

              By the way, be sure to leave a huge quantity of Timothy hay available to him at all times.

              Welcome again!


            • Flopsie
              Participant
              388 posts Send Private Message

                In want to add to what FLR said, and that is most commercial rabbit food or treat products with the exception of oxbow is junk.

                So let me be clear I’m not talking about the chews or toys, although some of them are suspect.

                But any of the food pellets you see at the store, especially the ones with nuts and seeds and colorful bits, those aren’t good to buy. Oxbow is the way to go here, even if it is a bit more expensive. The good thing is they don’t need a lot of pellets so if you store the bag right it can last a while.

                All the commercial treats are usually bad. This includes the cookies, the crunchy seed bars and especially the yogurt drops. So avoid these if possible. For treats, very small quantities of fresh fruit is better

                In terms of hay, I feel oxbow is superior although I’ve tried other brands. This is one area I’m less adamant about as compared to the treats and the pellets. But after experimenting with other hays I found that my bun enjoys the longer strands. I’ve also paid attention to the other brands and I’ve found oxbow to have less dust and small bits at the bottom. Now I order the giant 9 pound bag which sadly doesn’t last as long as I would like

                On a side note, I’m not thrilled about oxbows hay stacks. They seem great in theory but after trying a sample I just don’t feel it’s the product for my bun


              • Flopsie
                Participant
                388 posts Send Private Message

                  Sorry I forgot to ask several pertinent questions first.

                  1. How much pellets are you giving? Yes my bun would rather have pellets than hay if given the choice but you want to limit pellets. I give pellets in the morning and veggies at night so during the day and after dinner only hay is available.

                  2. How old is your bun. Alfalfa is always preferred because it’s sweeter. But alfalfa shouldn’t be fed after a certain age hence my question. You need to wean off of alfalfa and transition to Timothy when the time is right.


                • Maylol
                  Participant
                  8 posts Send Private Message

                    Sorry, I didn’t get online last few days.
                    Thanks for all advices!

                    Flopsie,
                    1) I used to give him 2 handful (with very small hand ) of pellets every morning and 2 handful in the evening. So it fills half of the shallow food bowl each time (about 4inch diamiter).
                    But recently I only give one handful at night to “force” him eat more hay during the night. That’s one thing I’m worried because he looks very hungry when I feed him. He always have plenty of Timothy and few Alfalfa still. Will he get starved? Yes I forgot to mention he’s a dwarf, and weights less than 1.5lb now. I didn’t give veggies because he’s young.

                    2) Yes, I’m reducing his Alfalfa Hay and put them together with Timothy. He used to get Unlimited Alfalfa Hay but now only a little handful each day. I can’t distinguish Alfalfa and Timothy, so I don’t know which kind of hay he has left in the bowl every time..

                    Your all advices shocked me! I Wow, “most of the commercial treats are garbage”! Well, his pellets does have some mixed things.. ok, I just taste some.. mostly are grass pellets, and few grass mixed in. But also little dried carrot pieces, white crunchy thing taste like grains, and very few seeds. So it’s not good to have them in food?

                    I’ll go back to some “pellets only” rabbit food, and keep these things as treats.
                    Also I have bought a bag of dried papaya dice.. they are said to be treats for pets (though I eat them too..) I treat him 1 every 2 days in average. I’m afraid it would be way too sweet or something.

                    Now I’m going to buy an oxbow Hay and see which one he prefers, and maybe provide him 2 brands together. Thanks!!

                Viewing 6 reply threads
                • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                Forum DIET & CARE How is Carefresh Hay?