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Bit of a dilemma

marchi1990

marchi1990

Mama Doe
I am currently going through a bit of a dilemma with Woody.

He has SERIOUS dental disease - spurs need sorting every 4 weeks. This is FAR too much for him to have to deal with :(

He outright refuses to eat hay and will only touch a few strands of grass. Have tried EVERYTHING possible to change this. It's a constant battle with him.

This week I decided to reduce his pellets in an another attempt to get him to eat more grass and hay. I have noticed that he is eating more grass as a result.

However, he has lost weight. Around 4 weeks ago he was 2.45 and now weighs 2.31 - this seems like quite a drop. I don't know how quickly that happened.

What would you suggest? I know the grass will be helping his teeth but I don't want him losing weight.
 
He used to have about half a bowl (standard rabbit bowl) a day - it was quite a lot because I wanted to keep his weight up because of the lack of hay.

He is probably now having half a handful?

I have also cut out his evening veg - used to be about half handful of herbs and maybe a cabbage leaf.
 
I would possibly increase it gradually until you find the correct balance.

Alternatively with poorly buns who have weight issues I use junior pellets so I can give them the same qty and not affect the hay consumption as they are excellent for putting on weight. I think its probably the extra protein.
 
Last edited:
Hi :wave:

Have you ever tried him on fibafirst?

2 of my buns love it and have a couple of the "sticks" every evening. It took a while for them to decide to like it but does a good job of topping up their fibre.

x
 
Rabcat said:
Hi :wave:

Have you ever tried him on fibafirst?

2 of my buns love it and have a couple of the "sticks" every evening. It took a while for them to decide to like it but does a good job of topping up their fibre.

x
Click to expand...

Hi :wave:

Yeah I tried this and he wasn't interested at all!! Sooooooo fussy.
 
Amy104 said:
I would possibly increase it gradually until you find the correct balance.

Alternatively with poorly buns who have weight issues I use junior pellets so I can give them the same qty and not affect the hay consumption as they are excellent for putting on weight. I think its probably the extra protein.
Click to expand...

Both great suggestions - I will work out the right balance and sit with that! Thanks.
 
Have you tried getting other forage other than grass to encourage him to eat more fibre such as hawthorn, apple leaves and twigs, dandelions, cow parsley etc. Also what about giving him a small amount of oats daily...I'm sure I read someone who said they were good for putting weight on bunnies. Check this out though as I'm not sure if it's correct advice or not!
 
Lady Logamorph said:
Have you tried getting other forage other than grass to encourage him to eat more fibre such as hawthorn, apple leaves and twigs, dandelions, cow parsley etc. Also what about giving him a small amount of oats daily...I'm sure I read someone who said they were good for putting weight on bunnies. Check this out though as I'm not sure if it's correct advice or not!
Click to expand...

He is a dandelion lover and has also become partial to hawthorn so that should make a difference :D

:wave:
 
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