starving bunnies 'for their own good'

while I was offline for a few months I noticed that Maa, who's a big lop, was getting increasingly desperate for her tiny ration of pellets morning and evening - Tiny ration being what I thought was best for my rabbits, in the aim of getting them to eat mostly hay :?

I had used up the last of the timmy hay a few weeks previously, and since all the other rabbits loved the meadow hay and ate tons, I assumed she would too - not so! :shock:

She got quite aggressive one evening when I tried to get her back in off the grass, and when I felt her she was literally a bag of bones Obviously too stubborn to eat the meadow hay, she was starving herself to death, and was just desperate to eat a bit of grass - Her stomach had been puzzling me for weeks too as she was passing clear, foamy mucus, which was rock solid when dried onto her fur, like glue :shock:

She was also passing very soft, puddingy stools, with normal poops mixed in - and my response to this was to cut her pellets even more so she'd eat more hay - except she didn't.

I finally twigged where I'd seen similar mucus - when my son was violently sick on an empty stomach - and realised that poor Maa must have an empty stomach :shock: And with no food passing through of course the bad bacteria were taking over, settling down and making a permanent home in her guts

Far from encouraging her to eat more hay, cutting back her pellets had nearly killed her! So I increased the pellets over the next week till she was having 4 good handfuls a day, instead of 4 teaspoons! She changed from being frantic at feeding time to being calm, and as she put on weight her poops improved too - I guess the probiotic in Science Selective, plus the high fibre was flushing all the pockets of nasty bacteria out, although she still wouldn't eat any hay at all.

So anyway - after this experience I no longer advocate reducing pellets to increase hay intake, unless your rabbit already loves hay!

I now give all my rabbits more pellets - about 2 handfuls a day - and am reducing Maa's slightly, now she's a big, bouncing bunny again - She's got her favourite timmy hay again too and today, instead of sitting on it and kicking it all over the hutch, I saw her eating it with great enthusiasm!

Glad to hear that maa is OK I think what ever works for your bunnies is fine, the theory of " they will not starve them selves if you take their pellets," is wrong as some bunnies obviously will :shock:
In my opinion, if you bunny is not over weight a handfull of pellets does no harm at all, along side hay and veggies. My bunnies get a large handfull of science selective between them in the morning and another large handfull at night and lots of timothy, oat or orchard hay, which they eat lots of, and of course mixed veggies.
In some cases I think it can be dangerous to cut out pellets all together, I've heard of a few bunnies being reduced to bones I guess it depends on the bun :?

Awww poor Maa, glad you've worked out what the problem was, silly bunny!

I guess one other thing to bear in mind is that saying a bun won't eat 'hay' is a bit like saying a person won't eat 'bread'. There are loads of different types of hays and they all seem to taste different - if I cut out pellets to make my lops eat bunnybasics first cut timothy for example, they would rather starve, but if I gave them second cut timothy instead, they would happily munch their way through the whole lot.

Just in case people are thinking of increasing pellets because their buns don't eat hay either - I just wanted to clarify that there are loads of different hays to try and bunnybasics/the hay experts do some sample bags too so you can test several types out for a reasonable cost. I'd suggest trying this approach first :wink:

I can see that it is risky if the rabbit doesn't start to eat hay, but my 2 have really thrown themselves into eating hay since I cut down their pellets. There was one day last week when Dusty even carried on munching her hay when the pellets arrived in her bowl! I even had to scoop some out for her to make sure Clover didn't get them all!! :lol:

wow, Dusty is a star pupil :lol:

All my other rabbits loved the other hay, but it seems it wasn't to Maa's taste for some reason - she has expensive tastes I guess, being queen of the bunch :roll:

awww elve , Maa reminds me so much of Thumper .
He would rather eat his woodshavings off the floor than eat hay :?
if i cut out his dried food hed def starve

Bunny's are a bit dappy sometimes! She's a bit stubborn bless her!

Hello Saturday girl? I have only just realized about first and second cut of hay. My lot would not eat the Oxbow because it was coarser and we tried a new meadow hay (Kimberley hay) which has worked out well. They are loving the new cut of this as its green and I love the price now 4.99 instead of Oxbow at 9.99.
Glad Maa is doing well.

Eating pellets may work for their guts but it doesn't work for their teeth.

If your reducing pellets because they aren't eating enough hay then you do need to monitor that their hay intake increases. It's obviously easier to do with a single rabbit as you can tell how much you put in and how much you take out. With pairs or groups you'll have to watch.

Trying different types of hay, dried grass or real grass - as long as you build up the quantity daily then you can use fresh grass instead of hay. It's chewing a large amount of roughage thats the important bit.

If you are making changes to a rabbits diet then monitor their weight regularly. It's easy enough to do with kitchen/bathroom scales and a carier. As well as their weight check their poop, positive changes in diet should mean positive changes in poop - more hay means larger fiberous poop. If the poop gets worse then something isn't right and you need to rethink the diet or make changes more gradually.

You don't have to starve the rabbit but gradually reduce one type of food and increase the other - you'll need to do that at a rate that works for your bun.

Tam

This is very interesting, as when I first got Alfred he wouldn't eat hay, I then got him some just grass which he loves, that for some odd reason has got him eating hay, it was almost like it stimulated his desire to eat.

he does get some SS pellets, but not a great deal, as I know the just grass is more rich then hay.

Jx