Have you tried readigrass? you could chop it up really small and mix it with the pellets and maybe "trick" him in to eating some and then increase the amount if he starts to eat it. Or while he is out on the grass, throw some pellets on the grass and maybe while he is foraging for the pellets he might have a chew on the grass. hope you get him eating grass/hay as it is really the basis of a bunnys diet x
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Will a rabbit be ok if he only eat pellets?
- Thread starter Morgana
- Start date
GrunBunMum
Warren Scout
VickiP
Wise Old Thumper
:thumb: Good thinking.
I completely agree with this. Comet was a nightmare hay eater, I tried everything, mixing herbs in with it, sprinking with grated carrot, piles in litter trays, hay racks you name it. He'd nibble every now and then but not much. One day I moved the hutches so they were facing each other and would you believe after he saw the other buns munching away he started to copy! When I later bonded him with Autumn who is a champion hay eater it improved even more. I seriously believe he did not know that the hay was for eating.
Those are some great ideas, thanks everyone 
I'm going to put him in a run next to the girls on concrete with some hay, and he can watch them eat it. And I'll also try chopping up grass and mixing it in with his pellets to trick him, he might get a taste for it then! I'll try mixing a few herbs then, then maybe some greens if it's working. I will get this bunny to eat more variety!
I'm going to put him in a run next to the girls on concrete with some hay, and he can watch them eat it. And I'll also try chopping up grass and mixing it in with his pellets to trick him, he might get a taste for it then! I'll try mixing a few herbs then, then maybe some greens if it's working. I will get this bunny to eat more variety!
Pellets are really not as necessary to a rabbit's health as you'd think. They can live very well without them if they are fed correctly. I think you need to limit the fresh veggies to one cup per day maximum, and give the rabbit as much meadow/timothy or oaten hay as it wants.Hay and vegetables is actually all the rabbit needs.
Oh I know they don't need pellets at all. But that's all he will eat. When he didn't have any pellets for a whole day he just ate nothing.
And he definitely doesn't eat a cup of veggies a day, more like a nibble of one piece of a vegetable per day. I give him meadow hay, but he just doesn't eat it. But it's not a case of me feeding him too many pellets or veggies.
I'm going to try giving him just hay for the day tomorrow.. And giving him veggies mixed with chopped up grass in the evening. And also give the girls just hay in the morning, so he watches them eating it.
Weaning onto hay
OK, I know it is cheating, but rabbits seem to be a sucker for cereal hays, especially oat hay. Cereal hays are lower in calcium and higher in phosphorous than grass hays because of the seed head, so it helps if they also like legume hays such as clover, alfalfa etc, or at least wild plant forage which is normally high in calcium, but it is at least a start.
If you PM me with your mailing address I'll send you a free sample pack of hay including oat hay, orchard grass and timothy; forage including spelt and wheat cereal grass hay, young green barley grass. alfalfa and various herbs.
Feed the oat hay first, then the cereal grass hays and young barley before moving on to the herbs, alfalfa and then the grass hays.
There's not as much indigestible fibre in veggies but they play a role in encouraging variety, so I'll send you some Very Veggie as well. Don't worry if he doesn't eat everything, the main thing is to get him brave enough to try different things.
OK, I know it is cheating, but rabbits seem to be a sucker for cereal hays, especially oat hay. Cereal hays are lower in calcium and higher in phosphorous than grass hays because of the seed head, so it helps if they also like legume hays such as clover, alfalfa etc, or at least wild plant forage which is normally high in calcium, but it is at least a start.
If you PM me with your mailing address I'll send you a free sample pack of hay including oat hay, orchard grass and timothy; forage including spelt and wheat cereal grass hay, young green barley grass. alfalfa and various herbs.
Feed the oat hay first, then the cereal grass hays and young barley before moving on to the herbs, alfalfa and then the grass hays.
There's not as much indigestible fibre in veggies but they play a role in encouraging variety, so I'll send you some Very Veggie as well. Don't worry if he doesn't eat everything, the main thing is to get him brave enough to try different things.
Bunnys don't need a GA to check teeth. Mine have survived fine on a high pellet and low hay diet up until i came on this forum and changed diet substantially. I used to give veggies as a treat. I now feed bulk hay, veg for main and a few pellets as treats. Mine seem happy on this. It should work out cheaper when i start buying some farm bales instead of paying £20 per bale approx. I think if you get high fibre pellets you should be okay. I.e science selective etc. I have a bun sunny who can't eat hay and just sucks on herbs because he can't actually eat them. He has dental disease. He has always had hay available as have all my buns, though not in large quantities, but always fresh- I think some buns are more prone to dental problems than others. I'm not sure diet is as much of a factor as genetics with dental buns.
That's very sweet, but it's too generous and I live in Ireland so I can't accept. But I will definitely try that plan with different types of hay and cereal hay. I think that might really work.
The Duchess
Wise Old Thumper
Hello there.
Firstly I think that there has been some excellent tips given already and I have to echo exactly what both Thumps and Galen have said.
Galen is very experienced and has a wealth of nutrional (natural) knowledge so if she is happy to send you some samples, I'd say a big fat yes please!
When I am trying to get a bunny eating hay well for the first time I also use cereal hays, and Oat, Wheat and Barley is one of the most favourite that is sure to tempt most buns.
I have had several bunnies over the last year or so that have never seen hay, one in fact that arrived about 3 weeks ago. She was fed entirely on pelleted food (unlimited I expect) with little or no veg and an owner that just said she didn't want to eat hay. The evidence is in her poo - tiny specks of dark hard matter.
She has had to have her incisors out as a result. She has just now realised that actually hay tastes okay. Her poos are also on the mend, the size growing and the breakability improving. I have added oat hay, a touch of Readigrass for flavour, lovely fresh meadow and some Timothy, and Rye grass hay. She is beginning to get it.
With our last dental bun who also had to have her incisors removed, she took about 3 months on a massively reduced pellet and veggie diet, to learn that hay is good. She now poos for England and despite having no front teeth munchs with the best of them. She is of course helped now by the fact that the new owner has a hay munching rabbit too and goes to the same farm for her hay.
One thing to think about is reducing the pellets down but not too fast as that in itself can cause health issues. A bun dieted too quickly can suffer from fatty liver so any change (reduction) in the processed diet should be done very gently and over a period of time, say a few months. I promise you that by decreasing pellets very slowly, the rabbit will actually choose to eat fibre (if it's good quality and good tasting). But underlying all of this is dental pain. If your rabbit has molar pain there is nothing on this earth that will make it eat masses of hay, unless the pain is treated, maybe with pain relief in the first instance, and failing that, then a dental. Some vets can do minor spur work consciously, but at the very least a good bunny vet will be able to have a look at the molar crowns to see what is happening above the gum line. There is a possiblity of course that it might be root trouble and then sometimes pain relief is going to be an absolute must.
I would say that you need to stick with the hay, trying lots of types to encourage the bunny to eat some, use dried herbs in the hay to encourage foraging, and gently reduce complimentary foods to stop the bun from relying on that for his dietary 'fix'.
I'd have to say that on average, it takes me a good few months to get a bunny right when they arrive in the rescue if they are not a hay eater, but without fail, it has worked and I am very proud of my poo producers.
Helen
Firstly I think that there has been some excellent tips given already and I have to echo exactly what both Thumps and Galen have said.
Galen is very experienced and has a wealth of nutrional (natural) knowledge so if she is happy to send you some samples, I'd say a big fat yes please!
When I am trying to get a bunny eating hay well for the first time I also use cereal hays, and Oat, Wheat and Barley is one of the most favourite that is sure to tempt most buns.
I have had several bunnies over the last year or so that have never seen hay, one in fact that arrived about 3 weeks ago. She was fed entirely on pelleted food (unlimited I expect) with little or no veg and an owner that just said she didn't want to eat hay. The evidence is in her poo - tiny specks of dark hard matter.
She has had to have her incisors out as a result. She has just now realised that actually hay tastes okay. Her poos are also on the mend, the size growing and the breakability improving. I have added oat hay, a touch of Readigrass for flavour, lovely fresh meadow and some Timothy, and Rye grass hay. She is beginning to get it.
With our last dental bun who also had to have her incisors removed, she took about 3 months on a massively reduced pellet and veggie diet, to learn that hay is good. She now poos for England and despite having no front teeth munchs with the best of them. She is of course helped now by the fact that the new owner has a hay munching rabbit too and goes to the same farm for her hay.
One thing to think about is reducing the pellets down but not too fast as that in itself can cause health issues. A bun dieted too quickly can suffer from fatty liver so any change (reduction) in the processed diet should be done very gently and over a period of time, say a few months. I promise you that by decreasing pellets very slowly, the rabbit will actually choose to eat fibre (if it's good quality and good tasting). But underlying all of this is dental pain. If your rabbit has molar pain there is nothing on this earth that will make it eat masses of hay, unless the pain is treated, maybe with pain relief in the first instance, and failing that, then a dental. Some vets can do minor spur work consciously, but at the very least a good bunny vet will be able to have a look at the molar crowns to see what is happening above the gum line. There is a possiblity of course that it might be root trouble and then sometimes pain relief is going to be an absolute must.
I would say that you need to stick with the hay, trying lots of types to encourage the bunny to eat some, use dried herbs in the hay to encourage foraging, and gently reduce complimentary foods to stop the bun from relying on that for his dietary 'fix'.
I'd have to say that on average, it takes me a good few months to get a bunny right when they arrive in the rescue if they are not a hay eater, but without fail, it has worked and I am very proud of my poo producers.
Helen
Terri_louise177
Alpha Buck
What a great thread! My bun was on an unlimeted pellet diet before we got him and trying to get him to eat hay was a nightmare! He's now much better at it, but has suffered from GI stasis recently He's finished his meds, and even though he's improved massively, he still has mucussy poo sometimes ! I feel this is a problem he may have on and off forever, and I blame a pellet-only diet for the first 10 months of his life . He also needed his incisors removed which our vet said was probably down to diet
Poor Charlie
He's finished his meds, and even though he's improved massively, he still has mucussy poo sometimes ! I feel this is a problem he may have on and off forever, and I blame a pellet-only diet for the first 10 months of his life . He also needed his incisors removed which our vet said was probably down to diet Poor Charlie
