How can I know if it is too much food?

My boyfriend gave me a rabbit Rex a week ago and he's been eating like crazy all this time. I read that they can get bored easily and I'm wondering if that's the reason for his...eating disorder? I'm worried too about the amount of food he should eat... Also, he's from a petshop, so I'm not sure if it is normal because the rabbit was used to have food all-day-long... what should I do? :?

Zatsu said:

My boyfriend gave me a rabbit Rex a week ago and he's been eating like crazy all this time. I read that they can get bored easily and I'm wondering if that's the reason for his...eating disorder? I'm worried too about the amount of food he should eat... Also, he's from a petshop, so I'm not sure if it is normal because the rabbit was used to have food all-day-long... what should I do? :?

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What are you feeding him? Unlimited hay all day is fine :thumb:

Rexripley said:

What are you feeding him? Unlimited hay all day is fine :thumb:

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I'm feeding him with KAYTEE Forti-Diet for rabbits, I also have some hay but he doesn't seem to like it that much...

Hay is the most important part of a rabbit's diet - to keep teeth and digestion in good order. It needs to form 80-90% of the diet.

If you are feeding too many pellets, your rabbit will not eat hay.

For an average sized adult rabbit, the recommended amount of pellets is an eggcupful a day; youngsters require more. Any change/reduction needs to be done very very gradually.

I've never heard of the pellets you are feeding - where do you live?

Hi Zatsu, welcome to the forum :wave: Congratulations on your Rex, they are really beautiful rabbits Does he have a name? I agree with Babsie and Rexripley that he needs to eat hay, hay and more hay, lots of pellets will make an adult rabbit fat. I think you've hit the nail on the head with the petshop, he will be used to being fed unlimited pellets and will probably eat out of pure boredom too. If you start to cut down his pellets he should start eating more hay, they prefer the pellets but hay is much better for them and he will eat it if hungry!

Babsie said:

I've never heard of the pellets you are feeding - where do you live?

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I'm going to guess the US as I know a few American bunny owners who feed this. It's a pellet food, about 16% fibre I believe.

Yes Kaytee is an US brand, not really known for being reputable, their company is run by a larger company that sells garden supplies... Of course not all their products are bad, but no matter what the quality is, they should only be getting about a 1/4 cup or less. If your rabbit still won't eat hay, try different kinds (not alfalfa, as it is too rich for adult rabbits!) and see what he likes. I'm sure you won't have much of a problem as hay is much more entertaining then pellets since it takes longer to chew. Also try different ways of distributing the hay, most rabbits prefer hay on the grouns or in a box , versus a hay rack, so they can dig through it. Best of luck

Coineanach said:

Hi Zatsu, welcome to the forum :wave: Congratulations on your Rex, they are really beautiful rabbits Does he have a name? I agree with Babsie and Rexripley that he needs to eat hay, hay and more hay, lots of pellets will make an adult rabbit fat. I think you've hit the nail on the head with the petshop, he will be used to being fed unlimited pellets and will probably eat out of pure boredom too. If you start to cut down his pellets he should start eating more hay, they prefer the pellets but hay is much better for them and he will eat it if hungry!



I'm going to guess the US as I know a few American bunny owners who feed this. It's a pellet food, about 16% fibre I believe.

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Thank you all, Really and I'm sorry, I forgot to say I'm new here xD and no, I'm from Mexico, but yeah, the store has their stuff from USA. I guess I'll start giving Barnaby[Barnabee] (that's his name) less pellets and more hay, but I don't know if he'll like the one I bought because it looks a bit dry. What can I do to keep it fresh? can I put it on the fridge? ._. I feel like I'm a total noob X3 thank you again for your comments :wave:

Zatsu said:

Thank you all, Really and I'm sorry, I forgot to say I'm new here xD and no, I'm from Mexico, but yeah, the store has their stuff from USA. I guess I'll start giving Barnaby[Barnabee] (that's his name) less pellets and more hay, but I don't know if he'll like the one I bought because it looks a bit dry. What can I do to keep it fresh? can I put it on the fridge? ._. I feel like I'm a total noob X3 thank you again for your comments :wave:

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What a lovely name for a bunny

Yes; less pellets and more hay over a period of time will help; don't suddenly cut out the pellets altogether though else he'll starve if that is the only thing he's eating ...

Hay can look dry and quite horrible but luckily we don't have to eat it Are you limited to the brand/type of hay you can get i.e. is it only one store close to you and they only sell one type of hay? If you can try Barnaby on different hays then that would be ideal as he may prefer some hay over others; there's an alarming variation of hay on the market! You evidently have access to the internet so perhaps obtain some samples first (I know of a company called Hay for Pets which does samples but I don't know if they'd ship to Mexico - might be worth you having a look).

No, don't keep hay in the fridge. Never heard of anyone doing that so doubt it would be wise. Besides, they eat so much it'd literally fill your fridge!

Do you have access to good old green grass? If so, can you cut some with scissors and try him with that? Grass is better than hay and it'd be worth a shot. (DO NOT GIVE GRASS CUTTINGS I.E. CUT WITH A LAWN MOWER AS THIS WILL FERMENT IN A VERY SHORT TIME AND MAKE HIM ILL)

The one thing about grass is to give it to him very slowly, since grass is very rich it can cause sickness if given too quickly to a rabbit not used to it.

Zatsu said:

Thank you all, Really and I'm sorry, I forgot to say I'm new here xD and no, I'm from Mexico, but yeah, the store has their stuff from USA. I guess I'll start giving Barnaby[Barnabee] (that's his name) less pellets and more hay, but I don't know if he'll like the one I bought because it looks a bit dry. What can I do to keep it fresh? can I put it on the fridge? ._. I feel like I'm a total noob X3 thank you again for your comments :wave:

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Don't apologise, that's what we're here for! We have a few members in the States here but I think you're the first one from Mexico! As others have said hay doesn't need to go in the fridge, anywhere dry is fine to keep it. Give him as much hay as he wants to eat, it won't make him fat, and make sure he has water available at all times.

Please ask as many questions as you like, just be aware it may take a while for you to get a reply as you're in a different timezone, most people here are in the UK. We were all noobs at one point so don't worry about it, rabbits are a learning curve.

Zatsu said:

I'm feeding him with KAYTEE Forti-Diet for rabbits, I also have some hay but he doesn't seem to like it that much...

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Just be tough- when I first got our Poppy she hadn't really eaten hay at all as far as I could tell, her food bowl was always full of muesli :s With a bit of tough love we cut the food right back and left the hay down, within a couple of days she started eating it and now she's a massive hay eater like my other two. As others have said, just try a few over time to see which goes down best.

And you're already one step ahead, pellet food is a lot better than muesli as it stops selective feeding :thumb: