Litter eating

[Beanie Bunny]

Is it ok for my rabbit to eat hay out of his litter tray? This is in the lounge where he is still warning to use his litter tray but has done a couple of times yet he keeps eating from it. I try and encourage him to eat fresh hay from a bowl but he isn’t interested. He is always so adamant about finding the ‘right’ piece of hay and will often dig in the pile until he finds it. Will it cause him any harm not eating the fresh hay? Thank you. I am always curious to find out about rabbit behaviour and what he is OK to do.

[Deem]

Same here with my bunny.

I just bought a playball for cats, removed the bell inside the toy and filled it with hay.

The ball is in the litter tray, he can choose which particular pieces he wants to eat without eating dirty ones.

In the other litter tray i refresh the hay twice a day so it would not be as harmful i think.

this is the ball filled with hay.

Good luck!

[Bam]

I think the idea with the ball sounds great! Many bunnies like to eat hay while they do their business in the box. I know that some members have the hay rack next to the box so the bunny can reach it.
I have to try the ball idea myself, I have free standing litter boxes.

[Beanie Bunny]

Thank you for the ideas. He is literally eating it not even when he is doing his business, he just stands next to it munching away. I have tried the rack in his cage but he is not interested in that. I put a bowl down under his nose but he seems much more interested in eating the dirty hay. I guess if he was outside he might have ended up eating it and this isn’t his main source of hay. He enjoys eating it from lots of other spaces, such as his boxes and bowls. I do try to stop him but I don’t want to discourage him from eating hay either

[Deem]

if his litter tray habits are good then i would try to just remove the dirty hay. He will get hungry anyway, and find his hay somewhere else.

I can understand that you don’t want to discourage him to eat hay in generally. But maybe you can just try it for a couple of days and give him hay with herbs added to it or just another brand of hay to encourage him.

If he’s really not eating hay anymore.. simply put the hay back and let him make it dirty again haha

[BB & Tiny]

I put litter in with a skiff of hay on one end and the majority of it at the other. These were the instructions from the rabbit rescue folks when I first adopted BB. I was told rabbits won’t eat soiled hay. They both happily munch hay all day long from the litter box, which I replenish at the one end in the evening.

[Jadeo09]

That’s completely normal and safe.
Rabbits eat their poo remember. So its completely safe as long as you change the litter tray regular.
How often do you all change your litter trays
I do my rabbits daily?
My rabbit has always preferred to eat it the litter tray no matter what I do.
The only thing that has ever worked is getting a large tuppaware and filling with fresh hay but putting next to where their favourite spot to sit is .it gets much more hay eaten as they munch whilst chilling

[Beanie Bunny]

I do completely clean it out every day so he isnt eating hay that’s been there for days. I have found putting a food bowl right near his tray in the cage helps. It’s more so when he is roaming around in the lounge. He isnt too great at using this litter tray either so it isn’t always too messy.
Maybe when he is digging in the tray he is searching for those bits of hay that haven’t really been soiled

[Jadeo09]

Sounds perfectly normal and safe to me ☺

[Beanie Bunny]

Thank you. Sometimes u just need someone to say it’s all ok and safe. Thank you for all your help and suggestions

[RosiePosie]

Rosie was doing this as well but then I switched to this litter http://www.petsmart.com/small-pet/bedding-litter/national-geographic-trade-comfort-small-animal-bedding-zid36-21586/cat-36-catid-600012?var_id=36-21586&_t=pfm%3Dcategory  

The one we have has chamomile buds in it which she seems to really like, plus her litter pan doesn’t stink at all anymore which rocks. We have her hay manger hung right next to her litter pan so she can eat and poop at the same time. 

I wouldn’t worry too much about it unless they start acting sick or something. 

[Jadeo09]

Its always better to check, your doing great!
If you see them eating the actual litter that’s bad though.
Care fresh held with the smell because my boos litter tray has never smelt.

[Author]

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