What do you give your Rabbits for...

[shadow05]

I agree with the above.

Failing that have you tried Fenugreek crunchies? be warned, you will get mugged for these once the little dude gets a taste for them!

this is true i got some for scooter recently and ive never seen him act like that. he really loves them enought that hell attack me for them lol they cost me 2.49 which i thought wasnt bad.

 

[Elena]

With pellets sometimes you have to be crafty. Mischa refused pellets for weeks. I was gradually reducing the muesli and upping the pellets until we got to 100% pellets and still he refused them. I think we must've been going for about a week or two before he finally tried them (he was eating plenty of hay in this time). Now he's the first to the pellets :lol:

 

[steph182]

I tried to change her to pellets over a month, (from the food she came to us from the breeder with) gradually introducing them but she just didn't take to them at all. And would not eat any, no matter if I changed the brand (I tried three different types), even the brand I thought she liked as she ate a bit of it, but it caused her to have runny poo, (can't remember what it was, will have to dig it out, it wasn't excel though)
In the end I took her to the vets to check her teeth/tummy and they were both fine and she advised I tried museli instead as she obviously isn't a pellet friendly bunny!
Penelope now loves her museli, and will eat most of it daily.

As for the hay, Penelope is actually really fussy. I have four different types of hay :
Timothy hay
Meadow hay
Birch Herbage
Natural hay from the market

I give her Timothy hay regulary and interchange with the others. However some days, she is genuinely bored of hay. She won't eat any for a day and just avoids going near her hay boxes (she has three around my room) and just doesn't care for it.
When she first started to do it, obviously I got worried about it, and went to my vet for advice. She told me that some fussy bunnies can become bored of hay on some days - like us if we constanly had the same food. It doesn't mean anything is wrong with her, she's just being a very fussy madam!!
On these days, I try to get Penelope to eat her salad mix (leaves,seeds, etc mix) and she still eats her museli. The next day or sometimes the day after, she decides she likes hay again and noms it like mad!
Thats just the way she is.


Robyn - "sounds like you need a better vet check out the diet section.
thats a lot of mueseli (sp) my 2 adult bunnies only get 1/2 a cup of pellets between them, and even that little bit is slowly being reduced."

I trust my vet totally, she has a rabbit of her own similar to Penelope so I trust her word on what she says. She is a trained rabbit vet and does know what she is talking about. No offence, but I'd rather trust her word and advice as a trained professional then your opinion.
Also, how do you know the size of the cup I give Penelope?? It's actually a small glass, and is a perfect size. So please do not critise when you are unsure.

Thanks to those who advised me to try the crunchie thingys, have ordered some from THE, so hopefully she'll like those!!

She would eat them eventually, but some bunnys are awkward and take longer. Can't blame them, it's like being told they have to live on lettuce leaves rather than chocolate.

Sorry, but just because your vet is apparently a trained rabbit vet doesn't mean they're right. Breeders give rabbits life and the majority of them don't know a thing. I don't think a real rabbit vet would advise keeping a bunny on museli, the first thing my vets ever did when I took Charlie there as a baby was give me a free sample pack of pellets to get him changed off the museli.

I would use a few little bits of it a day as a treat, but I'd rather have my bunnys on a hay only diet for a few weeks while they decided to eat the pellets rather than have them on museli.

As for hay, try ordering from Hay For Pets. Most people on here have said their bunnys love it. Mine have Ings hay from there and one of my bunnys loves the hay so much she prefers her fresh hay to her and treats.
Also, don't know how you feed the hay but I top mine up with fresh hay twice a day, bunnys prefer it fresh.

 

[Penelope's Mama]

She would eat them eventually, but some bunnys are awkward and take longer. Can't blame them, it's like being told they have to live on lettuce leaves rather than chocolate.

Sorry, but just because your vet is apparently a trained rabbit vet doesn't mean they're right. Breeders give rabbits life and the majority of them don't know a thing. I don't think a real rabbit vet would advise keeping a bunny on museli, the first thing my vets ever did when I took Charlie there as a baby was give me a free sample pack of pellets to get him changed off the museli.

I would use a few little bits of it a day as a treat, but I'd rather have my bunnys on a hay only diet for a few weeks while they decided to eat the pellets rather than have them on museli.

As for hay, try ordering from Hay For Pets. Most people on here have said their bunnys love it. Mine have Ings hay from there and one of my bunnys loves the hay so much she prefers her fresh hay to her and treats.
Also, don't know how you feed the hay but I top mine up with fresh hay twice a day, bunnys prefer it fresh.

Look, to be honest you don't know me and you don't my bunny. I am not going to force her to eat things she does not like, especially when it makes her unhappy.
I think it is highly rude of you to say that about my vets. She is a trained rabbit vet at Companion Care, and knows exactly what she is talking about, she even owns three buns herself. I have seen her many times, and each time I have raised Penelopes non eating pellets to her and if it was a problem. The first few times she gave me various samples and as I have already said I tried to change it to pellets myself and it has no worked at all.
She says there is NO problem with her not eating pellets when I asked her again recently, she said museli is fine in small amounts - ie a cup.
I've already mentioned Penelope's random aversions to hay so to keep her on a hay only diet would not work becuase on the days she would not want it, she wouldn't eat.
Also I do not have lots of money to spend on buying lots of differnet hay! I have found what works for Penelope and me and me and my vet are happy with it. It's not like Penelope is malnurished or overweight. She is in fact perfectly healthy and slightly underweight (which I am working on).

At the end of the day, this is YOUR opinion not what is actually right.
I would rather take the advice on Penelopes diet from my vet.

I started this topic for recommandations on good treats, not what I should feed my bun all the time, which from some friendlier members I have got, thanks to those people.

You however are not being friendly, you are just trying to make me feel bad for what I am feeding my bun (under vet advice!) and trying to come across as you being the only one who is right.
Anyone else reading this who feeds their bun the same things but has not said anything - new members for example, will prob be feeling bad now because they think you are right.

I will continue to feed my bun what is right for her and what she likes, and until my vet or any other trained animal professional says not too if I am putting her in danger.

End.

 

[Elena]

--

 

[steph182]

Look, to be honest you don't know me and you don't my bunny. I am not going to force her to eat things she does not like, especially when it makes her unhappy.
I think it is highly rude of you to say that about my vets. She is a trained rabbit vet at Companion Care, and knows exactly what she is talking about, she even owns three buns herself. I have seen her many times, and each time I have raised Penelopes non eating pellets to her and if it was a problem. The first few times she gave me various samples and as I have already said I tried to change it to pellets myself and it has no worked at all.
She says there is NO problem with her not eating pellets when I asked her again recently, she said museli is fine in small amounts - ie a cup.
I've already mentioned Penelope's random aversions to hay so to keep her on a hay only diet would not work becuase on the days she would not want it, she wouldn't eat.
Also I do not have lots of money to spend on buying lots of differnet hay! I have found what works for Penelope and me and me and my vet are happy with it. It's not like Penelope is malnurished or overweight. She is in fact perfectly healthy and slightly underweight (which I am working on).

At the end of the day, this is YOUR opinion not what is actually right.
I would rather take the advice on Penelopes diet from my vet.

I started this topic for recommandations on good treats, not what I should feed my bun all the time, which from some friendlier members I have got, thanks to those people.

You however are not being friendly, you are just trying to make me feel bad for what I am feeding my bun (under vet advice!) and trying to come across as you being the only one who is right.
Anyone else reading this who feeds their bun the same things but has not said anything - new members for example, will prob be feeling bad now because they think you are right.

I will continue to feed my bun what is right for her and what she likes, and until my vet or any other trained animal professional says not too if I am putting her in danger.

End.

All I've done is post every drop of advice I've been given.
It's not rude for me to not agree with your vet.
I'm not saying what you have to do, I said what I would do in your position.
Don't wanna listen to what I've been advised then fine, I was trying to help you with options for your bunny to give her the best possible diet.
You'll find that everyone on here will only post what they believe is best for the rabbit.

 

[*lily*]

Louie also likes the bags of dried herbs, I sprinkle a bit in his forage tray a couple of times a week.

 

[BattleKat]

What muesli are you feeding her on? I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with muesli so long as it's fed in the right quantities but some are worse than others.
Chudleys rabbit royale is a lovely mix which doesn't have any of those brightly coloured sugary bits so if I were you I would consider making a switch to this if it's not what you already feed. It's excellent value as well.

I think the advice being given is just because people are trying to help you do the best thing for penelope. There are a lot of people on here and many have had rabbits for a long time. The advice on diet given on this forum hasn't come out of nowhere, it's originally come from experts and years of experience so I wouldn't disregard it so quickly .

The only reason people are showing concern over her day to day diet rather than giving you suggestions of treats is that being picky and having days where they are off their food are commonly signs of dental problems. People are only trying to help, not to be rude.

 

[helgalush]

For treats they get maybe one fenugreek crunchie but maybe once a week if that. They also get Burns dried plantain and Burns dried meadow mix that has wild flowers, weeds, grasses in it. They get fresh dandelions or parsley or sage because I have them growing in my garden.

On a very rare occasion, maybe every few months or so, they may get a tiny piece of fruit, but that is rare.

Hay wise they have timothy hay, and then their treat hay is green oat hay (not every day) and we are just trying to get them back used to readigrass and real grass.

 

[Elena]

I'm saying this from my experience...

A few years ago before I found this place my rabbits had a cupful of muesli a day and didn't eat much hay. Mini constantly had excess cecals (dysbiosis) and Mischa had this too on occasions.

Thanks to this forum they are now eating masses of hay, have two tablespoons of pellets a day (which my exotics trained vet agrees is the best amount for them) and Mini's dysbiosis has completely cleared up. They both have masses more energy and are much healthier for it.

Any treats that contain things they would not naturally get in the wild (milk, eggs for example) we have completely cut out. Now their treats are either made up of things they would find on odd occasions in the wild or natural forage from the garden.

Believe what you will but my experience has told me this is the way to go.