Not Eating Hay

[3LO]

Freelo is around 12 weeks old now and for the past 3 weeks we have had him, I have never seen him eating any hay, and the hay doesn't seem to go down either.

He eats nuggets no problem, and eats the lawn like I don't know what, no need for a lawnmower (seriously!).

I'm just worried? He started off with Timothy Hay, but as he didn't eat any I then tried Medow Hay.. but still nothing /

 

[Zoobec]

If he is eating lots of grass he probably feels like he doesn't need hay, but he might not be getting enough fibre. I would persevere with trying him on different hay, you could mix grass in with it that you have picked for him, or grated carrot or herbs, or readigrass and also his pellets, to try to encourage him to eat it. It is important that he eats hay and gets into the habit of it.

When he is 4 months or so I would start to very gradually reduce his pellets so that he is eventually getting an eggcup full per day, this will ensure he is not filling up on pellets.

 

[Babsie]

Just to add that they will only eat fresh hay. I know it seems wasteful to throw away the old stuff but that's rabbits for you! Do you put hay in the litter tray - lots of rabbits (mine included) will only eat hay from their trays as they like to sit, munch and poo all at the same time, which is fine as long as you change it daily and top it up a couple of times a day.

Have you thought of trying a free sample pack from HayforPets to see which he prefers.

 

[3LO]

I have just picked some fresh grass from the garden and mixed it with some hay, I also put it into his food bowl which he ussualy dives into for his nuggets.

It seems to have worked so far, he's eating something, wether that's the grass or hay I don't know, but I'll sure find out in the morning .

 

[tonibun]

If he is eating lots of grass I wouldn't worry too much as grass is better than hay anyway. I have noticed that youn bunnies don't tend to take their hay very seriously but as long as they are not overfed they will eventually come round to it.

 

[Linette]

Think of it from a buns point of view.

Hay is dry grass. In the wild, the rabbits will go for the fresh over the dry, just as most of us would prefer fresh salad to dry salad.

When no fresh is available, rabbits eat the dry because there is no option. A reason why they have babies in the Spring when there is a lot of fresh food with high nutrition to be had. They can have babies year round, but Spring is the "hot" time, for this reason.

I have put hay in all my buns favorite hang outs and he'd gotten into the habit of nibbling while he's lying down somewhere, but when I give him fresh grass, he goes for it first.

It would actually be rather odd if the rabbit did choose hay over fresh grass, other than the odd nibble, unless the hay is from a sort of grass that is very much tastier!

 

[HappyHamster7]

Rabbits usually only eat hay when their is nothing left you eat - somewhat like a last resort! Try maybe varying the amount of veg they get each day, so they turn towards the hay! Hay is very important in a rabbits diet, and 90% of what they each should be hay! It may also be that they chew on strands of hay when you're not around, so I wouldn't worry that they're completing ignoring it You could also try moving him off the grass, so he pays more attention to the hay

 

[Neve]

if he is 12 weeks old should he be on alfalfa?

 

[yaretzi]

How do his poos look? They should be circular, well formed, dry all the way through and a little crumbly. Lots of people aim for very golden brown poos which indicate lots of hay eating, but bunnies eating more grass than hay have darker poos. As long as they're a decent size and consistency he'll be getting enough fibre. Feel free to post a pic if you like, we'll be able to let you know if they look good. shock

You'll probably find that he eats more hay as the grass stops growing as much, because there probably won't be enough to satisfy him. In the meantime you can encourage him by placing the hay in his litter tray as suggested above, by replacing it a few times a day and by mixing it with other bits and bobs. Even getting him to have to dig through his hay to find his vegetables will be helpful as he'll get to investigate it and may decide he finds a tasty bit. In this case it might be a good idea to give readigrass a try - you can get it from oetshops and it's a very green dried grass. It might help bridge the border between the two!

I'd also recommend slowly cutting down on any fresh veg he gets. My two will only eat hay if there's nothing better and they're hungry, so I had to reduce their veg until the point where they ate a good amount of hay!