My bunny won't eat hay, any suggestions?

I've had Chewy for 4 months now, when I first got him/her ( I'm not sure of the sex )
would eat hay all the time. Now my bunny rarely touches the stuff. I have it in a hay rack, on the floor, in the play boxes. I am getting concerned. I'll even sit down with Chewy and take out some hay and try to get Chewy to eat the stuff. I don't know what to do. Any ideas? TIA.

How many pellets are you feeding her each day and what breed/size is she?

Sooz22 said:

How many pellets are you feeding her each day and what breed/size is she?

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I feed her a rabbit mix I purchase at the pet store. It has different things in it. I also give her a little fresh veggies, not a lot though. I don't understand it. I'll sit down and take the hay and put it by her mouth. Chewy will eat some, but not with much enthusiam. I was told that Chewy was a dwarf rabbit. That is all I know. The vet here ( we only have one vet ) does not treat rabbits unfortunately.

Rabbits tend to stop eating hay when they are filling up on another food type.

Ther rabbit mixes are very low in fiber to start with so if she is filling up on that and not eating hay its a bad combination.

I would recommend switching her to a high fibre PELLET such as Science Selective or Allen & Page, allowing her one handful per day in the morning and a bowl of veg at night and only hay inbetween. This should encourage her to graze between meals and also up her fiber intake anyway.

Have you tried her with any hay varieties such as the sample packs available from the hay experts website?

I agree with what Sooz says about the rabbit mix - but also there's hay and there's HAY - pet shop hay is quite inedible, whereas you will get nicer hay from a riding stables or farm - they should dive into it and it should smell nice and 'herby' and not musty, and be quite green and long.

:wave:
Here are some suggestions that I was given:
.Take his favorite treat, hide it in the hay and make him forage around to get to it.
· If he gets any veggies, mix hay in with them, hay will stick to the moist veggies and he may grow to like the hay.
· If he likes baby carrots, you can shred a baby carrot and mix it in with the hay, the carrot will also stick to the hay.
· You can also mist the hay with a diluted fruit juice (if he likes a certain flavor) which may entice him to eat it.
· Also, put hay everywhere that he frequents; make it so he can’t get away from it.
· Rabbits also like to eat hay in their litter box; most rabbits will only use one side of the litter box for waste. Place the hay in “clean” side. There is no need for concern about him eating soiled hay, he will just pick around it.

I have also tried to "liquidise" hay with his favourtie cabbage and put it into balls for him, he was fooled for a couple of times but then figured out what it was!

I am still persisting with trying to get him to eat it but I have now had to try and look at alternatives like the "grow your own" barley/wheat to get him to eat long "grass" - he loves this but it would be a lot easier if I could get him just to eat his hay (my other one eats it no problem)

Forgot to say I agree with the comments above (which is probably where I was naive and went wrong initially), reduce the pellets.

You could hide treats in it, or put it in his/her feed bowl. You could try stuffing a toilet roll tube. Cut down on pellets and make sure that hay is ALWAYS freely available.

I would take the rabbit to the nearest vet that does treat rabbits and get him to check his molars. There's no point in trying to trick him into eating hay if he's not able to.

One of my rabbits went from eating hay to not eating it suddenly, tried all types including short strands and readigrass without success. This happened when he started having teeth problems and even after dentals when the vet insisted he should be able to eat hay, he couldn't even though he would sometimes try, so it might be your bunny's teeth.

bunny

my little rex wont eat hay he never has and he is solid he is two years old

:wave:

weve had bandit almost 2 months now and he is finally eating hay..hes 2 yrs old btw! Sue at SRR said he was one of their few buns who absolutley hated eating hay.
well i chnaged his diet from a mix to allen and page pellets and offered him timmy hay 2nd cut..no luck..bits from the hay experts selections..sort of nibbled...then one day we took himdownstairs whilst bif n bertie were free ranging ( they have to be penned up when its willows five hr run round tho) and bif has decided she likes banit very much whereas berties going to eat him if he catches him:shock:
bif and bertie usually nibble bits of willows hay from through the dog rate bars..they did this with bandits little pen area...especially bif and ever since then hes taken to scoffin the stuff..also im not letting him eat as much pelleted food..hes getting it once a day and hay..hes got a dodgy tum veg wise sue said but tonite i tried him with a weeny bit of carrot.
seriously some hays arent very nice! i get my timmy hay second cut from bunny basics and is a fave with our buns always has been since i bought it the first time! they also love the samples from the hay experts.
one thing they have in common..they all love spillers readigrass!! also i found a hay in pampurred pets that is dandelionand camomile..went down a treat!
be patient and i agreebefore anythng else..a moalr check by a rabbit savvy vet is essential..
bif gets dental probs and only touches oddbits of hay but manages to eat fod but then she doesnt eat as much and rushes to food bowl only to skulk away.oh yes molars!!
its far easier to eat bun food than hay with molar spurs..please check them out first.