Any ideas or experience of supplementing greens only diet for a rabbit? (Posting for dinahnow)

[LittlePuffyTail]

My 12 year old Mr.Grey (though going slowly silver grey now) – needed to come off his high carbohydrate treats of toast crusts/raisnis/.muesil pellets as he wasnot only overweight, but developed upset tummy/rumbling loud tummy a few weeks ago – cecal dysbiosis. So stopped treats and took away pellets, and bought lots of lovely top bags of hay over the internet, as he’d never eaten more than a few strands out of his full of hay litter tray (changerd daily/freeroam indoor bunny). Most of the time he ate all sorts of wild leaves I’d pick locally, and thyme/mint/parsley/romaine/kale/celery/tomato pieces. 

But .. only eating greens has seen all that fat get used up, which is good in one way – but I’d hoped he’d eat hay or the top quality hay-based pellets I got him (3different sorts). No way. And he REFUSES to be syringe fed Oxbow critical care – he hates if. And I don’t want to really force him, far too stressful for him. 

Simethicone and metacam have seen off the gassy intestines at last, and I’ve found banana is the only ‘high calorie’ food he can eat, and a few little bits of carrots. I’m wary of upsetting his flora again – his cecals are nearly normal again, though without even the hay in his old muesli foo, his poos are hard and very dark. 

I’ve just bought a tin of 100% pumpkin to try, IF he’ll try it, and then like it. 

Any ideas or experience of supplementing greens only diet for a rabbit? Many thanks.

[Deleted User]

He really should be eating hay. He won’t get enough fiber just eating veggies.

He shouldn’t be eating any of what you were giving, besides maybe the raisin but only as a treat… I have to wonder why he was eating toast crusts and muesli… totally unacceptable diet for rabbits.

[Deleted User]

I am just so confused why he was on a high carbohydrate diet. Fiber, fiber, fiber. That is what they are evolved to digest. I’m honestly surprised that he’s 12 years old and survived on that diet

[Bam]

Maybe FibaFirst sticks could be worth trying? Theyre made by Supreme Petfoods. They might not be available where you live, you need to check online. They’ve 30% fiber (Oxbow hays have 32% fiber) and they are yummy according to my spoilt lop bun.

Otherwise fresh grass is good for rabbit teeth, and its yummier than hay. This time of year there isn’t much grass to be had though, at least not in the Northern hemisphere.

[sarahthegemini]

I can confirm – according to my two lops – the Fibafirst pellets are delightful 🙂

[dinahnow]

Mr Grey has never had any health issues – we got him at three years old as a rescue rabbit who needed a home, and we needed a partner for Mrs.Bunsie, and they bonded fine. He later bonded with BettiLola, who died last year, and so he is now on his own, They had fallen out and chosen to live separately about a year before she died, and he’s showed no signs of loneliness. If anything he is more outgoing now, with us, free range in our sitting room and bedroom.

I tried to get my husband to limit his treats, but I could not get through to him, and as Mr Grey had no apparent problems, always eager for his little treats at 11, 12, and 7 o’clock each day, all was well. He never ate more than a few strands of hay a day, his poos always small and dark, but producing lovely cecals from all the salad/veg/wild plants/willow leaves mixture every day, as well as his muesli-style rabbit food mix twice a day.

Now my husband can see the consequence of Mr Grey’s diet that has come about maybe due to his advancing age. He is producing cecals that he is eating again on the various leaves and grass that I get from the supermarket/growing outside (all washed), which I am supplementing with thin slices of banana and a teaspoon of porridge oats morning and then at night. He refused pumpkin.

The vet doesn’t think x rays are a good idea, needing anaesthetic to sedate him, at his age – to see if it’s his teeth that are stopping from eating hay. He shows no signs of spurs. But then he never has wanted to eat hay.

Thank you all for your comments…

[Dface]

Have you tried the small bags that are offered of dried herb mixes ?When my male was sick he was against all food, so we experimented with just giving him what he wanted for a while. -we used a lot of the rosewood naturals brand of “treats”. I found they were wonderful appetite stimulants too!
Mine werent mad about the fibrafirst sticks.
You could try shredded bark off of safe trees as well? that would certainly add some roughage in ( apple try bark is very sweet )

Sunflower seeds and oats will see him gain weight again aswell, they arent very good for him, but he is an old boy so I think there wont be time for them to have a hugely negative affect (my rabbtits get sunflowers to help with coats and weight problems too!) They are addictive to them as far as I can tell!

[Rain]

There are different flavors of Critical Care, I’ve seen. Have you tried the banana flavored one from Oxbow? He might like that more.Oxbow also has healthy treats for bunnies, like little baked treats with peppermint or cranberry, herb mixes, digestive support tablet, freeze-dried fruits, etc. Oxbow has a variety of good things for your bunny. They also have many types of hay. Have you tried Oxbow yet, or no? Sometimes its hard to find their stuff, so you can try to look for them online. You can also try alfalfa hay. It IS fattening, but you can mix it with some normal hay to tempt him maybe? When I got my bun, I almost had to starve him to get him to try his hay. I put nothing around him but hay ( mixed with oatmeal oats to tempt him) and water for the whole day. I let him out of his cage and made him run around (I held a treat in my hand that I didn’t feed him and made him follow me around with it) to get him to work up an appetite. I see that your bunny is an elderly rabbit, so he might not have the energy to run around. I would not feed him anything but hay for an hour or so and see if he eats. If he doesn’t, then I guess you don’t really have a choice to feed him anything but veggies. If he won’t eat at all, then that’s worse isn’t it?

[joea64]

I give my own two buns (young ones; the elder is somewhere around 1 1/2 or a bit more, and the younger is coming up on his first birthday next month) Oxbow Simple Rewards treats (the ones Rain mentioned) by preference, since they’re based on ground timothy hay meal and provide needed fiber (though not as much as whole grass hay, of course) along with the sweet stuff; I usually give them apple/banana, varying with carrot/dill or cranberry. I also have a package of the Oxbow freeze-dried banana right now, too. I also give them a small amount of oats once per day in the evening as an evening/bedtime snack.

Both Petsmart and Petco sell Oxbow treats in the U.S.; Petco usually has better prices than Petsmart ($4.99 for a 3-oz. bag of apple/banana as compared to $6.99 at Petsmart). What varieties of pellets were you offering Mr. Grey? Mine get 1/4 cup total (1/8 cup for each, they being small buns) of Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit food, which is timothy-based, every morning; I’ve been considering trying out the Garden Select for a while but it’s more expensive for a smaller amount (Essentials is $14.99 for a 5-lb. bag, Garden Select is $14.99 at Petco for a 4-lb. bag). Small Pet Select also sells timothy-based pellets online, if you haven’t tried those. (If you’re outside North America, you might not be able to get Small Pet Select though.)

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