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5 Rabbits gone off pellets - advice appreciated

toffee

Mama Doe
Hello.

I have 5 buns all of which would trough down their pellets in 10 mins but for the past couple of weeks they've not been eating them.

I've bought several different brands and used each brand for a few days with little success. They stopped eating their original pellets which are similar to SS. I tried them on excel lite, P&H :oops: pellets, a pellet from the local pet shop - own brand, I can't get A&P near me so can't try them on that. The only pellet they'll eat any volume of is dwarf & baby excel but that's a bit rich and gives some of them sticky bottom so don't want to use that.

I wouldn't mind feeding just hay and veg but they're very slim bunnies and I don't want them to lose weight.

They will eat weetabix (I gave them half of one each in desperation).

Any suggestions?
 
Are you changing brands slowly? Usually it's a good idea to swap over a 10 day period, so maybe the swift changing is upsetting their tummies! I've always fed Excel, - all my buns except the babies are on it now, & any that weren't bothered about it, eat it now they are used to it.
 
They don't have a problem with upset tummies as a rule and they've never been bothered by changing their food. I've just been changing it because as they weren't eating the previous pellet I didn't see any point mixing it.

Excel and Excel dwarf gives some of my buns excess caecotrophs - they used to be on excel all the time. Would feeding a smaller portion reduce the number of caecotrophs? They used to have about a heaped tablespoon morning and night
 
toffee said:
They don't have a problem with upset tummies as a rule and they've never been bothered by changing their food. I've just been changing it because as they weren't eating the previous pellet I didn't see any point mixing it.

Excel and Excel dwarf gives some of my buns excess caecotrophs - they used to be on excel all the time. Would feeding a smaller portion reduce the number of caecotrophs? They used to have about a heaped tablespoon morning and night

An upset tummy might not have a visible sign though - might just put em off eating pellets. I'm not really up on bunny feeds TBH - I've not had any probs on Excel so never thought to change it. Someone else will post soon :D :lol:
 
Excel have just upped the level of fibre in their pellets so you might find it doesn't cause the same problems as it has previously. If you've done lots of swapping, chances are it hasn't given them a chance to 'get used' to something and start eating it, buns can take a good couple of weeks before they will readily accept a new product. I'd stick with one brand for a good period of time before giving up on it.

Porridge oats are good for fattening up slim bunnies, I mix about a teaspoonful with a little warm water and they gobble it down!
 
buns can take a good couple of weeks before they will readily accept a new product.

I didn't realise this.

Excel have just upped the level of fibre in their pellets so you might find it doesn't cause the same problems as it has previously.

I didn't realise this either - what is the fibre content now? It was 14% before wasn't it? They do like excel and go madder for it than anything else.
 
Excel have increased the fibre to 16% in the adult version. It seems a lot lighter in colour and doesn't feel as oily as before. My buns are enjoying it and so far, I've not had a problem with excess caecotrophes. In fact, Teddy seems better as he suffered from these before.
 
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