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carrots and diet in general sorry quite long....

sarattie

Alpha Buck
Just read in an old thread that carrots are not the best veggie for a bunny.

this might help me!!!

Buddy doesnt eat anything practically.
All mixes are left or picked at he does pick more at Alpha herbal more than others, as is burgess supa rabbit excel.
I finally found that he does eat some supa guinnea excel. so now hes on that as a main diet.
I cant even force feed ANY kind of grass or hay and believe me I have tried them all. starvation wont even make him eat it!! LOL
ive tried other fruit and veg and this is the outcome:
he will eat dwarf corn (not any other type of corn)
he will eat bread (but not toast or crusts)
he will eat baby leaf greens (but no other form of cabbage or broccoli etc)
he will eat a carrot (only if it is wedged in the bars - once it has fallen out he doesnt touch it)

I see that herbs are good for them so they are on my shopping list! they are the 1 thing i havent tried.

Now vets have said that he is fussy and if he is hungry he will eat hay and other veggies. but he won't and i have tried, he would sooner starve.

Now the problem i have is his poos are always very hard and small on supa guinnea exel. as soon as he has anything else (as mentioned above) even in v small quantities it goes very runny and stodgy.

He also has deformed back teeth which do not meet at all so grinding is not happening at all, he has them rasped about every 4-6 months. so i know the importance of trying to get him on hay etc but no go!!

Please help!!!! any advice would be greatly appreciated!!:bunny:
 
What kind of hay have you tried? Most of mine won't touch what you can buy in pet shops, but they love West Wales Willows hay, good quality meadow hay, dried grass... might be worth finding different kinds of hay. If desperate, even alfalfa hay can be an option (most bunnies love that).

Vera
 
What kind of hay have you tried? Most of mine won't touch what you can buy in pet shops, but they love West Wales Willows hay, good quality meadow hay, dried grass... might be worth finding different kinds of hay. If desperate, even alfalfa hay can be an option (most bunnies love that).

Vera
 
Ive tried alfalfa hay and grass
Timothy hay, grass and hay cakes
fresh hay and grass from farms and garden!
readigrass
orchard grass from bunnybazaar
and a couple i cant remeber the names of but they were very green and smelled nice!!!

I really have tried them all!!! LOL
 
Spring greens are a firm favourite of my guys - have you tried that? Broccoli and cauliflower leaves too. The tops off organic carrots (and the rest when they are allowed) are always wolfed down.

About the hay I can't advise - I could send you some samples of hay I have if you want (one from WWW, one from a local farm and one from my local petshop) they are all available in bales and my four love them. As you don't live that far from me the farm and pet shop wouldn't be too far to travel if it turns out they like it!

I have never had a problem mine all love grass, when that isn't available next fave is Timothy grass and then the three hays mentioned. In fact they love it so much that is why I have to buy bales. Maybe I should send my lot over to talk to him about what real bunnys eat ;) :D!!

I have been told that Science Select is a good complete food to try if they don't like Excell.

Caz
 
thanks caz i might take you up on that offer if you dont mind. Im willing to try anything!!!

Do you know of a place where I can get science select? or will i need to buy online?

thanks again

Sarah
 
He sounds like a little toad!

What dry foods have you tried? Try to stick to bunny ones as they have the right balance and also pellets rather than mix so he can't pick bits out. Mine enjoy the taste of Supreme Science: http://www.fswebpages.co.uk/pv.exe?p=suk118

There is also Allen & Page Natural Pellets: http://www.allenandpage.co.uk/crabbit.htm

If you ask the companies they are usually willing to send samples so you can see what he thinks.

Supa Guinea is very high in protein and doesn't contain enough fibre. I'd suggest gradually switching to one of the other brands I mentioned over a period of two weeks or so. Gradually increase the amount of new and decrease the old. If he still picks out the new after a couple of days then you could try mixing the pellets with water until they go mushy and use a fork to mush them altogether so he can't pick and choose.

Herbs would be a good one to try as there are a nice range of flavours, I'd also recommend dandilion leaves as these tend to be popular.

How much pellets are you feeding? Rabbits will often eat those over other types of food. If he's full up on those he won't be as interested in other stuff so feed the new thing just before you would usually feed pellets and give those later.

Make sure he has plenty of water available, a bowl in addition to a bottle would be good. Without greens etc. he will need more water.

Tam
 
thanks for the advice tam
as far as pellets go ive only tried the excel by burgess as ive not come across any others as yet, ill get on and try out the ones you suggested.

He has pellets always available but only picks if he is desparate! a normal size rabbit bowl half full will last about 2-3 days.

Hes not underweight or anything, though is lean! its his digetion of it im concerned about mainly as like i said its either none, smll and hard or runny! no happy medium.

thanks for the links
 
Hi Sarah,

Just looking at your last post here - thats a fair amount of pellets for a bunny to eat - I feed mine half a cup each per day.

I don't know what other peole do but my buns have set feeding times for their pellets (burgess, supa rabbit) - once in the morning and once a night. the bowl is normally empty within 20 mins or so. Looking at my buns standard sized bunny bowl - half full i reckon would be 3 days feed for the two of them. And thats what you said Bud eats.

Hay - mine never used to eat hardly any - then I switched to pure timothy grass (oxbow) and now they eat a good amount, a 1kg bag probably lasts about 3 weeks. If you;ve not tried this and want to then let me know, I'm happy to send you a few handfuls to try him on.

Herbs - my little girl bunny is a fussy eater, but since my vet suggested herns I never had problems getting her to eat them - basil, parsley and coriander are her favourites.

Veg - same again, Fern used to be fussy madam, and now beings as Charlie can't have any thing with calcium in I've put quite a lot of effort into finding out which ones are good and which are bad. The healthiest veg for normal bunnies are - kale, spring greens, broccolli and peas. Best for bunnies with calcium issues - peas and coriander. Peas might be good for Bud cos he won't have any probs chewing them. I tried frozen peas - defrosting them a few at a time - no joy, Charlie will eat them but Fern won't - they'll only eat proper fresh ones! The only brocolli I can get her to eat is the tenderstem stuff - its sweeter.

I think its trial and error. Charlie bun used to have the same probs as Bud - if he just ate pellets he was fine but as soon as any veg was introduced he got very runny poo - now the only veg he eats are peas and coriander, and we rarely have any bottie issues.

Good luck with Bud, its a pain to get a bunnies diet right, but you'll get there with him.

Bev
 
I forgot something, I was having problems with fern eating and my vet advised me to get broad stem grass out of the garden - the tall dark stuff with broader blades, wash it and give it to her wet to eat - she wolfed it down. Bit of a bother to find it (especially living in a flat in central london!) but it worked!
 
Hi Bev,
thankf for the tips Ill try those.
from the weight guidelines on the burgess rabbit he was eating less than half suggested, but i guess he had other stuff too.

Samples are always greatly appreciated as I will try anything! If he eats it and it is good for him I am willing to get it for him!

Im thinking I might change to supreme science or science select for him now as to get of the guinnea

im definatley going to try the herbs and peas!! He doesnt eat frozen peas but he might eat the sugarsnap or in-pod variety. ive give kale a second try..

thanks for the tips

Sarah
 
Hi Bev,
thankf for the tips Ill try those.
from the weight guidelines on the burgess rabbit he was eating less than half suggested, but i guess he had other stuff too.

Samples are always greatly appreciated as I will try anything! If he eats it and it is good for him I am willing to get it for him!

Im thinking I might change to supreme science or science select for him now as to get of the guinnea

im definatley going to try the herbs and peas!! He doesnt eat frozen peas but he might eat the sugarsnap or in-pod variety. ive give kale a second try..

thanks for the tips

Sarah
 
please does anyone know where I can buy allan and page or supreme science pellets?
my local pet shops dont have it, perhaps i could order some online?

thanks

sarah
 
Well just to feed back, Ive been to wyevale and got S Selective and buddy seems to be really enjoying it so ive dumped the supa guinnea and ordered a bi bag of SS!!!

Also Caz is sending me some different hays too try so hopefully he'll take to one of those!

*HE WILL EAT HAY!!* demands mommy
 
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