RedFraggle
Warren Veteran
I hope I am not tempting fate here, but after several months of perseverance, and some "being cruel to be kind tactics" we have finally managed to get Scarlet to eat a decent quantity of hay. I just thought I would share for the benefit of others who may be at the "I wish my rabbit would eat more hay but it won't" stage to hopefully offer some support. Scarlet is a dental bun, about 3 to 4 years old and was not "into" hay at all when we got her last year from the RSPCA. She was very much a "give me the nuggets" kind of girl, we would rarely if ever see her eat any hay, and her diet was almost solely greens and nuggets. Her poops were plentiful but quite small and quite dark as you'd expect.
We have tried hay from the 3 local pet shops we have access to and have also bought from Hay 4 Pets. The hay for pets hay was a bit of a breakthrough, there was some interest, but she still didn't eat a great deal after the first day or so. I also started collecting the "nugget dust" from the bottom of the container we keep the nuggets in and sprinkling this into the hay tray to "season" the hay for her. There was more interest, but she still wasn't really eating much hay. I then told my husband (who is a bit of a soft touch and means well) that we were going to have to cut her nuggets and greens right back. I didn't like the idea, and he hated it and said I was mean and she'd be hungry, but by that point it was clear that she could (he was worried about her teeth) and would eat hay but it was never going to be her preference unless we did something to change that. She had just had a dental at that point, so we knew that her teeth would not be uncomfortable which might perhaps make eating hay harder than the crunch and swallow nuggets require so we bit the bullet. Over the course of around a month, we cut back the nuggets and the greens and made sure she always had plenty of fresh hay. We also held off feeding her first thing in the morning, if she had no choice she'd eat hay (even if it was the hay cookie things) so we would leave her an extra hour before giving her a very small portion of nuggets. We also put half the nuggets into the hay tray, to make her forage, and nose through the hay in the process. I felt mean, but could see the different in her poops so knew she was eating more hay and not starving herself so we kept at it. The other thing I have noticed is that she is quite contrary with respect to which hay she likes, and she seems to get bored with one kind very quickly, so we give her (and Ori) three different kinds each day. She varies which one she likes to munch on, but is now eating a good quantity of hay each day, I would estimate it at in excess of 60% of her diet currently and I hope to up it further. So if anyone else is struggling, keep with it, it can be done, even with an older bun. She's still first in the nuggets, and she still has the lions share of the greens each night, but she is now most definately a hay eater.
We have tried hay from the 3 local pet shops we have access to and have also bought from Hay 4 Pets. The hay for pets hay was a bit of a breakthrough, there was some interest, but she still didn't eat a great deal after the first day or so. I also started collecting the "nugget dust" from the bottom of the container we keep the nuggets in and sprinkling this into the hay tray to "season" the hay for her. There was more interest, but she still wasn't really eating much hay. I then told my husband (who is a bit of a soft touch and means well) that we were going to have to cut her nuggets and greens right back. I didn't like the idea, and he hated it and said I was mean and she'd be hungry, but by that point it was clear that she could (he was worried about her teeth) and would eat hay but it was never going to be her preference unless we did something to change that. She had just had a dental at that point, so we knew that her teeth would not be uncomfortable which might perhaps make eating hay harder than the crunch and swallow nuggets require so we bit the bullet. Over the course of around a month, we cut back the nuggets and the greens and made sure she always had plenty of fresh hay. We also held off feeding her first thing in the morning, if she had no choice she'd eat hay (even if it was the hay cookie things) so we would leave her an extra hour before giving her a very small portion of nuggets. We also put half the nuggets into the hay tray, to make her forage, and nose through the hay in the process. I felt mean, but could see the different in her poops so knew she was eating more hay and not starving herself so we kept at it. The other thing I have noticed is that she is quite contrary with respect to which hay she likes, and she seems to get bored with one kind very quickly, so we give her (and Ori) three different kinds each day. She varies which one she likes to munch on, but is now eating a good quantity of hay each day, I would estimate it at in excess of 60% of her diet currently and I hope to up it further. So if anyone else is struggling, keep with it, it can be done, even with an older bun. She's still first in the nuggets, and she still has the lions share of the greens each night, but she is now most definately a hay eater.
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