Moving a rabbit onto rabbit pellets from Tesco value guinea pig muesli ....

[bekki2308]

My bunny is an adopted animal that used to live with 3 guinea pigs so ate guinea pig food, she was on tesco value gpig muesli so thats what she has now and I know full well its wrong nutritionally for the rabbit but how do I move her onto another food - with my 5 gpigs it was really easy just mix 25:75 new to old then 50:50 then to 100:0 and that could be done in 2 weeks to move them completely onto a new food but this bunny will have none of that I have mixed in maybe 10:90 burgess rabbit pellets:tesco rubbish and she leaves all the pellets and selectively eats only the coloured parts of the muesli and leaves the rest so I thought ok then ill try adding a few supreme science fibafirst sticks in like one little bit in her dish and she leaves that completely as well and as I had nearly ran out of her tesco value guinea pig food I got her wagg rabbit muesli which she is taking well as it looks the same as her old food and she eats the same bits as the tesco muesli so thats about 30:70 wagg:tesco - I feel I am probably trying to rush her and I know that as she has had a couple of non normal poops but only 1 or 2 and she is eating her veggies and hay - but then the veggies shes getting off me are different to her previous owner as well so its all totally new to her

end of my waffle but how do I move an animal from muesli to pellets when they are blatantly not interested in pellets

 

[Fayelou]

It will be gradual, just add a small amount to their muesli to start with. They WILL eat eventually. Then begin to increase the amount and decrease the musli, they may not take to it straight away.

Provide loads of fresh hay, as that is the most important part of the buns diet. I am sure you already know that buns love fresh herbs too

 

[bekki2308]

I didnt know buns loved herbs - I havent had a bun before and I didnt plan on getting one but a friend needed her bun and pigs rehomed or she would be thrown out of her house so I took them

Ive just been making her a portion of veggies along with my pigs so she has had a mix of veggies from day one - looking at safe food lists they are pretty much

She eats her hay she has a litter tray filled with the stuff and she sits in there stuffing her face and she eats her veggies (well nibbles as she has actually never had much variety only ever lettuce, cucumber,carrot and tomato) so its not hugely important that she eats all of her food but the packet says she should be eating about 100g a day she doesnt eat half that I dont think but she doesnt look skinny and she is just settling in so ill give her some space

I have mixed some burgess in with her muesli and I will stick with it , ive been lucky with my guinea pigs they eat almost anything so its a bit of a shock and its like a concern that she has been eating poor quality food and the wrong food - theres not enough oil/fat in piggie food and Ca ratio is all wrong too.

Poor bunny x

 

[BattleKat]

I'd reduce the amount of the muesli she's on until she's eating 100% of it, not just the coloured parts. Rabbits really only need a tiny bit of commercial food each day and, generally, if they aren't eating it all then they're having too much (obviously not the case when introducing something they really don't fancy!).
Once she's eating all of the muesli, then start introducing the pellets. If after several weeks she's still not eating the pellets then start reducing the amount of commercial food until she really doesn't have a choice but to eat the pellets. So long as she has her hay and veg she'll be absolutely fine.

Some people do have an impossible time trying to get their rabbit to eat pellets; in which case you could always consider swapping to rabbit royale mix, which is a really good muesli and imo a nice varied diet for a single rabbit who you know is going to get all the right stuff out of it.

You're definitely on the right track with introducing any new food slowly, definitely the way to go with rabbits.

 

[bekki2308]

Thankyou

The portion on the Wagg food is based on only have hay and veggies a few times a week! It actually says that on the packet to feed a small amount of veggies and hay 2-3x weekly!

She munches her hay and veggies and also likes a bit of readigrass (not much though theres some in her hay rack and she has the odd bit)

 

[Bobbybobtail]

I took on a 6 year old bun who had only ever had the museli type foods- its taken 2 weeks to get her onto 50-50 with pellets and she still picks out all the bits first. I only give her a tablespoon a day and when she's really hungry she will eat the pellets. I guess it will take them a while to get used to it. I'm making sure she has tonnes of hay to fill up on. It's worth persevering- already I have noticed that her teeth are wearing down slightly (they were overgrown before).
GOOD LUCK:wave:

 

[bekki2308]

Update!

Mrs mop now eats nuggets , she is on a 50:50 mix of burgess to wagg muesli and she eats it all apart from some seed like thing from the muesli she eats what the packet says she should eat in a day and she eats all her veggies , however she doesnt seem interested in hay , she doesnt eat it , I have seen her chew on straw in her litter box and she will nibble a little readigrass but not much at all.

I havent had a rabbit so I dont know what is normal but compared to my guinea pigs she does eat any hay at all. she eats her nuggets and any veggies no problem, chews on plastic if she can get some (e.g. the poop scoop when I am cleaning her cage she comes over grabs it with her teeth and yanks it , throwing the poops back in her cage ... grr) and she eats her veggies so there isnt anything wrong with her teeth ... does she perhaps not like hay? (tried her with tesco value, wilkinsons timothy and meadow and another shop brand)