How much hay?

[BevBunny]

Its a well known fact that a rabbits diet should be predominantly hay - I've always just fed mine as much hay as they want, and monitored it by their weight ie if they're putting on weight I reduce pellets/veg to encourage more hay eating etc.

The vet always says 80% - 90% of their diet should be good quality hay. I've never actually bothered asking how on earth I measure that! Anyone know?

So, is it 80% of .....their daily calories? :?...the weight of food they eat per day? :?.....a pile 80% the size/volume of the bunny? :lol:

I have two big bunnies - Lavender is a large lop cross (3.8kg) and Darwin is a young french lop (4.3kg). Between them they go through 2kg of hay a week, its usually timothy hay and none gets wasted cos they don't have it in their litter tray and they eat almost every bit. Is this a lot? Not enough?

 

[Silly 'bunny mummy'!!!]

:wave: Hello, I know it can be confusing and I'm sure you will get lots of response on this forum. I always give my buns as much as hay as they can eat and a bit more as this really is the main part of their diet. I really don't think you can give them too much, just be careful you don't put in too much hay and it just gets soiled as it's just a waist then. So long as you keep them clean and top them up with fresh hay regulary I'm sure they will be fine. Make sure you always use good quaility hay and not dusty or bad smelling in any way. Good hay should smell fresh be dust free and a good colour. don't forget to include a small amout of yummy veg too. Almost forgot, mine also have a small bowl of pellets at night time as they seem to enjoy them then. Hope this info helps

 

[The Duchess]

In general terms the buns should eat at least their own body size in hay every day. Mine eat at least one litter tray full per rabbit each day - and I use underbed storage boxes so that's a lot of hay.