Chronic stasis and picky bunny

Hey. For 2 years now we have had a problem with my bunny, the worlds pickiest bunny. He has stasis about once a month, and it is exhausting... He only eats one kind of hay, but this season the hay changed, and he won’t even touch it. It is perfect, green and good smelling. I have a little bit of the old hay left, but i don’t think it’s good anymore. It’s smelly and yellow but it is the only thing he is willing to eat... I have tried herbs in the hay, mix it with the old and all of it, but he wont touch it. I am feeling hopeless and i would do anything for him, but i have no idea what to do. i don’t know how to keep him alive.

Which hay is he currently fed and which ones have you tried?

Does he have access to fresh grass?

Have dental issues been ruled out with use of examination under sedation and xrays?

Does he eat any fresh forage such as brambles?

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Hey. It’s a hay bale from a farm. I am not feeding grass to him but dried leaves and dandelions. His teeth have been checked multiple times and bloodwork and everything, all came out fine. Very frustrating situation.

Bambiandbani said:

Hey. It’s a hay bale from a farm. I am not feeding grass to him but dried leaves and dandelions. His teeth have been checked multiple times and bloodwork and everything, all came out fine. Very frustrating situation.

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I'd suggest trying hay from different places, different types etc.

Most bunnies like the hay from www.timothyhay.co.uk

Also try some from various pet shops.
I think the hay experts still do a sample pack of 6 different types of hay to try and see which one bunny prefers best.

Access to grass is a good alternative for now as it has silica in it which will help wear down teeth and obviously eating will encourage gut movement. Gradually introduce this if he's never had access to grass before.

Also consider trying him on forage such as apple branches (fresh is best, pet shop brought ones tend to be very old and uninviting to bunnies), hawthorn, pear, brambles etc. More woody type forage etc as it will hopefully have a better fiber content.

Does he get any shop brought treats?

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I have been thinking about giving him grass, so maybe ill do that. We have tried so many hays already , but we’ll keep trying. I give branches as treats, he loves them. For a while i didn’t give him any pellets either, now i’m giving a little in the morning. thanks for the advice.

Bambiandbani said:

I have been thinking about giving him grass, so maybe ill do that. We have tried so many hays already , but we’ll keep trying. I give branches as treats, he loves them. For a while i didn’t give him any pellets either, now i’m giving a little in the morning. thanks for the advice.

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What are his drinking habits like?

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He is not the best at drinking, but i do make sure he is drinking regularly. He only drinks from a bottle even tho i have a bowl too. I think he is a little lazy, he often will wait for me to offer him water instead of going to drink himself.

Any wet veggies?

They often get a lot of moisture from those.

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Yes i do give him veggies. He won’t eat them if i wet them tho.

Fussy bun!

Some veg have high water content so he might be getting some from that.

Does he like hay cookies or sticks?

What sort of treats does he like?

If he likes herbs you could try him on cooked herb tea. Rodney likes coriander tea when hes feeling yucky.

Have you tried weaning him off nuggets?

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I could try hay cookies for sure. He has sticks but never touches them. He has been without pellets but that didn’t seem to help so i am giving high fibre pellets now again.

Its probably not ideal long term but what about a daily dose of recovery food like critical care?

Or fibreplex?

Probably best to consult vet on whether it's a good idea long term as the recovery food is high calorie for them.

Timothyhay.co.uk stuff is a bit like farm stuff. Very long strands and nice and fragrant. Might be worth a try.

I also buy one of these every so often to mix things up a bit for my two.

https://smallpetselect.co.uk/collections/hay-for-rabbits/products/sampler-box

Its sold out at the mo but you can get tiny sampler bags of each of them on the site.

They also do the cookies which my guys think are enrichment but they also stuff their faces with.

Which hays have you tried?

I get the grass growing kits from here as treats for my two and the hopes of avoiding dental problems.

https://galensgarden.co.uk/shop/graze-trays/

They also do some forage bits but I've not tried them.

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I have heard that some rabbits like the recovery powder but he hates it . We have tried timothy, different cuts, oat hays, readigrass and some others. It just seems that he likes bad hay?? Like he won’t touch a very good quality hay, but the only hay he eats is yellowish and old, so i don’t get why that would be. I don’t wanna feed him bad quality hay. And i think the hay’s smell is a big part. He never touches the hay that smells fresh and good. So weird...

Bambiandbani said:

I have heard that some rabbits like the recovery powder but he hates it . We have tried timothy, different cuts, oat hays, readigrass and some others. It just seems that he likes bad hay?? Like he won’t touch a very good quality hay, but the only hay he eats is yellowish and old, so i don’t get why that would be. I don’t wanna feed him bad quality hay. And i think the hay’s smell is a big part. He never touches the hay that smells fresh and good. So weird...

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The colour of the hay depends on the type of hay and when it was harvested. Older hay is light in colour, more yellow than green. As long as it does not smell mouldy it will be fine to feed to him. What smells good to you may not smell good to him. Readigrass smells lovely to me, but none of my Rabbits are keen on it. Their favourite hay is the bales I get from a local farm. They don’t eat any of the ‘posh’ hays with nearly so much enthusiasm.

Yeah it's funny isnt it. Mine dont really like the readigrass and I think it smells like really good hay. But then their noses seem far more sensitive than ours.

I think Galens garden do pellets of hay which he might like as they'll be similar tecture and size to his usual nuggets.

The timothyhay.co.uk stuff I get does yellow after about a month but doesnt go damp if stored in a cool dry spot. Have you tried keeping some til it gets to the colour he likes?

Sometimes they have a bag of last years available which will be the older stuff.

I must admit the only yellow hay my guys will go for is the pets at home chopped stuff but they only pick at it.

Does he like dried forage like plantain,dandelion and bramble etc? Even some of that would up his daily fibre intake.

My two also hate critical care,I tend to mix a small amount of baby food like unsweetened apple puree or canned pumpkin in to help the smell.

I used to buy the apple banana one but found myself being mauled by the healthy bunny while trying to feed that one to the sick one!

Meadow hay can be quite yellow and a different texture that some buns like more. My sisters wouldnt touch anything else.

What type of strands is the hay he likes?

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I have been teying to figure out what causes the hay to be like that so i can look for it. Maybe it was harvested earlier this year? But it’s very hard to find specific kind of hay...

He loves dried leaves and dandelions. I have dried some myself for the winter. He likes very coarse hay, doesn’t really eat grass like or softer hay. It just so weird, he used to eat some random hay from a petstore for years, then he just started to get picky. And so i first thought it eas his teeth, but there was nothing wrong with them. I don’t know what started it.

Do you have a rough daily food diary for him?

If you give him a mix will he pick out bits he likes or just ignore it all?

Before we stopped nuggets for teeth reasons.We used to hide pellets in hay in the hopes some hay would be eaten while they were diving for them. I'm not sure how successful it was though.

It sounds like you've tried loads of options already. I remember going through all the pet store hays as my guys stopped eating each one and finding it very frustrating.

Timothyhay.co.uk and Small Pet Select are the only ones they eat consistently. The 1st cut of the small Pet Select ones is very coarse but also very green.

Is his poo output unusual?

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He usually just ignores it without event trying. Some hays he has taken little bits but definetly not enough for him to eat. I have tried purting herbs or pellets in the hay, but he just finds them and ignores the hay. When he doesn’t have stasis it is normal. The thing is that he can go into stasis so easily. Luckily they are usually short, but if he doesn’t eat for a few hours (like he didn’t when i tried to give new hay) he gets sick. So he is so sensitive.