Meet Donny :)

This is Donny My new baby boy (Hope the link works:?)Mom is a lion head, Dad is a lop. Got him from my sisters friend who (even though she is only 13) is the nicest girl I have met in a long time! Has LOADS of animals and takes the best care of them all. The rabbits were in 6ft breeder blocks! Tbh the best I have seen and they were in the runs everyday. Thought it was fantastic. He is a lovely little boy although a little skitty but I've had him for a day so I'm not expecting miracles lol :lol:

http://yfrog.com/gyvi4mvj

My question is this
How much should I feed him?
((Unlike my lady bun Poppy, he is a furious chewer and loving his hay Good job he has plenty of chew-able toys! Going to have to invest in some more soon though the way he's going!! ))

I read on here it's about an egg cup a day. So I gave him that last night. Just wanted to make sure. I'm gradually lessening Poppys food intake in the hope she starts eating hay.. I gave her more pellets because of the fact she didn't eat hay so maybe now :s Also going to give her different veg and things to try Love this forum because I have a massive list of things I wrote down from another post!

Also
Will I ever be able to get Poppy on to hay? :shock: She's never been bothered by it at all

Thank you!!

he's lovely
please don't reduce Poppy's pellets if she's not eating hay. any changes must be very gradual and some bunnies are just not great hay eaters. it's important for bunnies to be able to chew frequently for their gut and their teeth, as I'm sure you know, so if Poppy's chewing pellets rather than hay, thats ok, imo, with regard her food intake, but do give grass or thin apple twigs or similar as these have a different teeth wearing action than pellets..

If you have weighed Poppy and your vet thinks she's within a normal weight range and she's healthy, then I wouldn't change her diet.
sue:wave:

sdf76 said:

[...] some bunnies are just not great hay eaters.

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That is reassuring, I thought not having enough hay would be dire or something :shock: Anyway maybe try different brand and/or type of hay as not all brands taste the same. Your bun might love a new kind of hay, it's worth a try anyway.

whiskers said:

That is reassuring, I thought not having enough hay would be dire or something :shock: Anyway maybe try different brand and/or type of hay as not all brands taste the same. Your bun might love a new kind of hay, it's worth a try anyway.

Click to expand...

I should have said they need something in addition to pellets to make the similar chewing action to hay- grass is an obvious alternative or thin twigs like apple twigs.

I will amend my post to make it clearer.
sue:wave:

trying different types of hay is a good idea.

Beautiful bunny:wave:

Thank you so much! I have asked people who have owned rabbits for years and they put the fear of god in me telling me she would die because her teeth would grow into her nose.. But she hasn't eaten hay at all, not even as a baby and we have never had any problems with her teeth. Donny on the other hand is tearing everything apart ^^
Poppy does have a hutch with an under run and a run attached to that but has never really bothered with eating grass either :roll: :? I am giving her hay everyday and have tried all the ones I could get my hands on but she just doesn't care :? When she goes for spaying I'll be sure to ask the vet lol When we go shopping I'll be going to P@H and trying the forage bag stuff and the forage food, so hopefully :?
At the moment she has apple twigs but my boyfriend cut them a bit short for her so he's cut and washed some big sticks ^^

I'd say that hay is essential for buns due to the way they chew fibre...it helps keep their teeth down...chewing the odd stick now & then wont be enough unfortunatly....they are grazers so should be grazing for quite a few hours each day...this is what helps keep their teeth ground down. Id try differenty types of hay, dont reduce the pellets less than an egg cup a day....if any reduction is made - it important to do this very gradually...also feeding too much pellets means they fill their tums up & dont have the urge to graze as such...this is where we try & get the balance of feeding enough for them to have various nutrients and then to graze and forage on various leaves, twigs, planst & hay hay hay!
Buns who dont eat hay or not enough often develop dental issue later in life....just because the action of the mouth required to keep those teeth ground down has not happened often enough...or sometimes teeth mis-alighnment...
Im not very knowledgeable about dentals...but I do know that if you can get bun to eat as much fibre as poss...so hay ....there is less chance of there being a problem. Though sometimes it can also just be genetic.
Hay is also essential in keeping their digestive systems working....if no grazing is happening...and no fibre being passed through...this can lead to stasis...which in turn hay helps to sort out....so try get bun to eat as much hay as poss! Hope this helped...may have rambled abit...:roll:

What a cutie

Gorgeous bunny. Welcome to RU :wave: