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How do rabbits on hay only diets maintain their weight?

cpayne

cpayne

Warren Veteran
I was just wondering as I've had to put Doughnut on alfalfa hay since she has less pellets, so that she is getting protein from it and also to help maintain her weight. I would have thought that rabbits on hay only would lose weight but I know some rabbits on RU are on hay only and obviously aren't.
 
As long as its a high quality hay, it has pretty much everything a bun needs.

We only bolster with a few pellets each, just to ensure vitamins and minerals are there too.
 
Bee is a hay only bunny has been since he was a poorly baby bun.

He has hay4pets meadow hay and/or ings, excel dandelion and marigold herbage, and fresh mint a he loves it and it agrees with him. Also apple and pear twigs supplied by Jen :) he also had small handfuls of grass when I lived at home. Just waiting for our grass to grow a bit more so he can have access to it :)

He has maintained a consistent weight and even being a dental bunny has remained at the same weight for the last year.
 
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Oh that's interesting as because Doughntut is having the alfalfa hay to maintain her weight, but I guess because she's been poorly we don't want her losing any more.

She is gorgeous and such a friendly little rabbit. She follows me everywhere!
 
Our new arrival Mini has actually GAINED weight since we moved him on to a hay only diet, and quite quickly! Before his dysbiosis likely meant that his gut wasn't working as efficiently as it could/should and by restabilising his gut flora he has actually been better equipped to absorb the nutrients that he needs. As Graham says, a good quality hay is paramount and substitution with alternative hays and dried/fresh forage is also beneficial.

Are you aware that Alfalfa is very high in calcium? What is Doughnut's history? In what way has she been poorly. Like us, decreased appetite when poorly can and does lead to weight loss in rabbits. x
 
How do I add a link from a previous post regarding Doughnut, it is too much to type the whole saga!!

Yes I am but my specialist says she needs it for the time being.
 
cpayne said:
How do I add a link from a previous post regarding Doughnut, it is too much to type the whole saga!!

Yes I am but my specialist says she needs it for the time being.
Click to expand...

Ahh well then I'm sure she will be fine on it. It's great that she is eating so much hay and i'm sorry I missed the details of how poorly she has been but I hope that she is fully on the mend now x
 
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?371470-Doughnut-hospitalised-again-u-d-post-204

She's cut herself internally so has been badly infected and inflamed for 3 months as the specialist said she was fine and making awful noises, being wet and frantically rubbing her throat is normal!

I told her to another specialist who is now treating her and she's off the nystatin and veraflox just on metacam now.

Not sure the link works. You probably have seen it anyway as I put 3 videos up wanting to confirm that it isn't normal behaviour.
 
Just skim read through it all - gosh what a nightmare! Very pleased to hear she is under the care of Mark, she is in excellent hands and he knows what he's doing with the hay only diet so no worries there. Hope her weight picks up again soon. x
 
Yes it is a bit long winded!! Hoping it will come to an end soon.

She's not on hay only, I was just interested in how rabbits maintain their weight. She's having some veg and also 5g of pellets and a handful of alfalfa. I had put her on hay only when she was ill and had splats but it obviously didn't clear up and she lost weight but this was probably due to her having the diarrhea!
 
When I had a bunny on a hay only diet her weight remained completely stable. I used to feed several types of hay and a small pinch of dried herbs twice a day.
 
ive stopped pellets lately and they have actually put on weight :? i still give some veg too but they love their hay so much!
 
Ours have lost some weight on a hay/forage diet but then again they needed to loose a bit. We've now added in Fibafirst & SS Mature pellets as Willow is fighting a chest infection, and he gets a few veggies purely to put his meds on!
 
The majority of mine are hay only, or only a couple of pellets with mounds of hay. I've found it's made them all so much healthier.

Candyfloss is a right fatty on it!

What you might want to do (but check with the vets) might be to use Protexin pro-fibre alongside just hay because that will get his metabolism is best possible shape so he will absorb the more nutrients from the hay.
 
I know you need good quality hay but I find baled hay and hay 4 pets hay make my asthma and hayfever terrible. Doughnut seems to love the wilkinsons hay which doesn't affect my hayfever. I have tried so many different ones. Was thinking of also trying the oat and barley hay but can this be feed like timothy hay?

She's getting a few vetcare digestion pellets too and a few SS pellets.
 
bisc and matt have no pellets. they have loads and loads of hay, a plate of fresh herbs once a day, and dried herbs aswell sometimes. also grass when it's dry.

they both lost weight when ill, especially bisc, but they have protexin profibre aswell and it made a real difference with them keeping very stable weights. just incase anyone is considering a diet like this for buns with long term illness. :wave:
 
I will see what the specialist says about the protexin profibre.
I was giving her a probiotic but because she drunk it all up, that made her full up which lead to her throat rubbing, noises and being generally ill again. I just need to make sure she's never too full at any one time!

It's all fun having a sick rabbit, you live and learn though.
 
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