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Refusing quality over muesli

TheThreeB's

Mama Doe
Hi all,

Some of you will know that we have just got another bun, Blossom.

Her previous owner had been feeding her muesli type food, so we've started the process of changing her over to Science Selective, but she won't touch it! Tbh she doesn't seem to be eating a lot of the muesli food either and will pick out the bits she likes. But she's loving the veg I've tried and her hay.

The vet says we might have to force the issue and stop providing the muesli, as if you had only ever had 'sweets' you'd probably want to keep eating them too.

Do you think this is the way to go? I've been noticing some excess cecatrophs, is this just because of all the changes, will it settle do you think?

Thanks x
 
Yes:wave: begone evil muesli. This isn't something I've encountered but read lots on here of people experiencing the same. Hay & veggies should be fine - she is an outside bunny? x
 
I had this exact issue with my previous fosters, it took nearly 2 weeks if I remember correctly to switch them over. I tried mixing the muesli and pellets gradually but like you I found they weren't eating much of either so I just switched fully to pellets and within a day or 2 they started wolfing them down. They weren't eating particularly well with veg & hay either though, I'm not sure if they were just unsettled with being moved to a strange environment but around the 2 week mark they seemed to settle down and were eating and interacting much better.
 
I was going to say maybe stop supplying the museli before introducing the science selective but seems you already have that idea. :lol: To be honest, although I know there's a "correct" way to introduce things, I've occasionally abruptly changed diets of rabbits (eg, Persephone as I had no idea what she previously ate aside from apple(!) and my Honeybunny boys (coming from whatever they were eating in the rescue to science selective)) and luckily never had a problem. In some ways, that is similar to the forcing of hand by removing the temptation of whatever was offered before and helping them assimilate.
 
I think there is a tendency to see pellets as a health food and muesli as junk. Not that I'm saying muesli is great, but I don't think they are polar opposites (if that makes sense). The main thing is hay anyway, so it's great that Blossom is a good hay eater.
 
The first time we bought rabbit food, we got confused and bought muesli, even knowing muesli was bad (they make the packaging really confusing :S) We didn't realise until we were more than halfway through the bag, so, being also unaware of sudden changes, we just used it up, then bought a bag of pellets and started on them. We had absolutely no problems, Monty went for the pellets with even more gusto than the muesli from the first, and never had any issues. I know it's more nerve-wracking once you know the pitfalls (what were we thinking?) but I think you'll probably be ok to just put them in and cut out muesli all together. Ultimately, like all animals, rabbits must have a certain amount of resistance to have survived this long - which isn't to encourage reckless behaviour in any way, but I also don't think there should be too many concerns if it's done carefully!
 
Muesli's only 'bad' if they only pick out the good bits and leave the rest though, right? I know with my first rabbit (30yrs ago now) we used to wait until all he had left were oats and then change it. He used to go for the dried vege bits frrst (peas, sweetcorn), then the pellets and then the weird other stuff and might east a few whole oats if he felt up to the effort, but by that point was usually consigned to a hay-only diet :lol: I've suddenly introduced things to my buns (the OH doesn't really ahve a grasp of 'slow' introduction :roll:) and never had an issue yet :)
 
Thanks everyone. Yes she is an outdoor bun (for now ;)) J&B.

That's what she does Keletkezes, just picks out the bits she likes and leaves the rest. It's probably not all bad, but definitely doesn't look appetising.

With Spud, we didn't know what he'd been on previously so we started him on Science Selective straight away, with no issues.

She's going cold turkey today so I'll see if she starts eating the SS x
 
Hi all,

Some of you will know that we have just got another bun, Blossom.

Her previous owner had been feeding her muesli type food, so we've started the process of changing her over to Science Selective, but she won't touch it! Tbh she doesn't seem to be eating a lot of the muesli food either and will pick out the bits she likes. But she's loving the veg I've tried and her hay.

The vet says we might have to force the issue and stop providing the muesli, as if you had only ever had 'sweets' you'd probably want to keep eating them too.

Do you think this is the way to go? I've been noticing some excess cecatrophs, is this just because of all the changes, will it settle do you think?

Thanks x


Sorry to be different, but I never go cold turkey with changing over food. I mix it in and leave it there until the next day, and carry on. I haven't found a bun who refused the change over to pellets in the end.

Hopefully, as she may need to lose a little anyway, it won't matter if she doesn't scoff it all, but there again, you don't want her going into stasis.
 
Sorry to be different, but I never go cold turkey with changing over food. I mix it in and leave it there until the next day, and carry on. I haven't found a bun who refused the change over to pellets in the end.

Hopefully, as she may need to lose a little anyway, it won't matter if she doesn't scoff it all, but there again, you don't want her going into stasis.

Thank MM, It's always good to look at things from different angles. It's hard to know if you are making the right choices, it seems like with rabbits especially there are so many ways to go about things.

I was pleased this evening though to see that she had eaten all of this mornings Science Selective and she started tucking into her Spring Greens when I gave them to her. She's also getting through the hay x
 
Thank MM, It's always good to look at things from different angles. It's hard to know if you are making the right choices, it seems like with rabbits especially there are so many ways to go about things.

I was pleased this evening though to see that she had eaten all of this mornings Science Selective and she started tucking into her Spring Greens when I gave them to her. She's also getting through the hay x


Good news!

I had a rabbit recently and she had never eaten fresh veggies. I gave her a little carrot and greens and she looked absolutely disgusted. And continued to be so for a very long time! However, in the end she succumbed and enjoys it all along with the others now :)
 
I think there is a tendency to see pellets as a health food and muesli as junk. Not that I'm saying muesli is great, but I don't think they are polar opposites (if that makes sense). The main thing is hay anyway, so it's great that Blossom is a good hay eater.

I agree with this. I switched Doughnut over to science select and tried Oxbow too but then she started her digestion issues and when I got her back from the specialist she was on muesli! He said keep it simple just muesli and hay and if they only have a bit of muesli and eat all of it and have lots of hay it isn't bad for them. The main thing as we all know is hay. I give Doughnut 18g a day split into two potions, she weights 1.2kg. She always eats her favourite bits first but the pellets are soon gone too.
 
I personally think that dry food is such a small part of the diet that it doesn't really matter too much!
 
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