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Treat ball, cruel or fun?

cheriseru

Alpha Buck
I bought Zeus and Athie one of those treat balls that you put treats in and they roll it and get treats out.
Everytime Zeus has used it I've giggled because he'd roll it around but not realise when the treat would fall out and keep rolling it around.
Athie would roll it and sometimes realise when the treat fell out and eat it.

But for the 2nd day in a row now they've ignored it very quickly after me putting it down. I know they love the treat I've put inside and can smell it. When I picked it up, gave it a shake they would get excited and as soon as I put it down they'd give it one or 2 nudges and then leave it alone.

This got me curious and I read up a bit about bunny eyesight and found they have a blindspot right infront of their noses/mouths, didn't know this :s this got me wondering if they're lack of interest in the treatball is because they can smell it, feel the ball but can't see it so it's more like torture for them?

Am I over thinking it and they're just bored getting it daily with a treat in?

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I know many a blind dog who still loves their treat balls and toys so I doubt it is a sight thing. I'd suspect it is a case of not having enough reward initially - when you introduce stuff like this it is really important that it is REALLY easy so they get lots of successes in the early days. Otherwise they get frustrated or disheartened and then lose interest.
My advice would be to seriously overfill it to that food falls out at the slightest nudge, and also scatter a bit of food right underneath it initially - not much, just enough to get them to nudge it to find that food. If you are worried about overeating then watch them with it and take it away if they've had enough food (but leave a little scatter in it's place to avoid annoyance at it's removal). Once they are really keen to use it, and demonstrate a good level of persistence, then start to reduce the amount you put in each time until you are back to what you want them to have access to. It might take a few days, it might take several weeks, but it's worth it for the long run.
 
I know many a blind dog who still loves their treat balls and toys so I doubt it is a sight thing. I'd suspect it is a case of not having enough reward initially - when you introduce stuff like this it is really important that it is REALLY easy so they get lots of successes in the early days. Otherwise they get frustrated or disheartened and then lose interest.
My advice would be to seriously overfill it to that food falls out at the slightest nudge, and also scatter a bit of food right underneath it initially - not much, just enough to get them to nudge it to find that food. If you are worried about overeating then watch them with it and take it away if they've had enough food (but leave a little scatter in it's place to avoid annoyance at it's removal). Once they are really keen to use it, and demonstrate a good level of persistence, then start to reduce the amount you put in each time until you are back to what you want them to have access to. It might take a few days, it might take several weeks, but it's worth it for the long run.

I like these tips & the thinking behind it. Mine have normally had a treat ball kicking around & nobun has ever sustained interest in it. I reckon I've been using it wrong. I shall reintroduce to Joey & blind Boobly bear.
 
I like these tips & the thinking behind it. Mine have normally had a treat ball kicking around & nobun has ever sustained interest in it. I reckon I've been using it wrong. I shall reintroduce to Joey & blind Boobly bear.

It's a very common hiccup in the canine and equine world - lots of people get food toys and think the animal doesn't like it or is stupid, when in actual fact it is just a case of teaching them how to use it properly!
 
I know many a blind dog who still loves their treat balls and toys so I doubt it is a sight thing. I'd suspect it is a case of not having enough reward initially - when you introduce stuff like this it is really important that it is REALLY easy so they get lots of successes in the early days. Otherwise they get frustrated or disheartened and then lose interest.
My advice would be to seriously overfill it to that food falls out at the slightest nudge, and also scatter a bit of food right underneath it initially - not much, just enough to get them to nudge it to find that food. If you are worried about overeating then watch them with it and take it away if they've had enough food (but leave a little scatter in it's place to avoid annoyance at it's removal). Once they are really keen to use it, and demonstrate a good level of persistence, then start to reduce the amount you put in each time until you are back to what you want them to have access to. It might take a few days, it might take several weeks, but it's worth it for the long run.
This makes perfect sense! Thank you :D
Really didn't even think about that and now you've mentioned it thinking about it not many treats fall out as I only put a little in and you have to give it a good shake to get some out [emoji4]

Going to try it and I agree with j&b think I might've been using it wrong [emoji4]

Thank you again!

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Yeah, I don't think it's cruel. =) They may not be able to see the ball right in front of their faces, but they don't have to; they know it's there, they feel it with their nose and whiskers, and that's as good as seeing. I hope they'll come to enjoy their food ball and you'll soon have bunnies chasing their food ball around the room, hehe.
 
I’ve not used them in pairs or groups before, Frosty never bothered with it, but I’ve tried Fern with it since we lost Frosty, and she loves it. When it’s empty, she shoves it towards me as if to tell me to fill it up again :lol:
 
I’ve not used them in pairs or groups before, Frosty never bothered with it, but I’ve tried Fern with it since we lost Frosty, and she loves it. When it’s empty, she shoves it towards me as if to tell me to fill it up again :lol:
That's so cute and funny. :lol:
 
I’ve not used them in pairs or groups before, Frosty never bothered with it, but I’ve tried Fern with it since we lost Frosty, and she loves it. When it’s empty, she shoves it towards me as if to tell me to fill it up again [emoji38]
Awwww that's cute [emoji173][emoji173]

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Yeah, I don't think it's cruel. =) They may not be able to see the ball right in front of their faces, but they don't have to; they know it's there, they feel it with their nose and whiskers, and that's as good as seeing. I hope they'll come to enjoy their food ball and you'll soon have bunnies chasing their food ball around the room, hehe.
Phew cools :D hoping with the new advice they will love it :D
Gonna try it after their mid morning snooze, they're dead to the world now [emoji1787]
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It worked like a charm!!! Thanks again dollyanna! :D
I stuffed it with treats and food that even just looking at it a piece would drop out [emoji1787] they chased it around for over 30mins!! :D and then promptly flopped over [emoji7]

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Lopsy had one for a while when he was on his own. A video of the treatball and the tube-rewards. We couldn't give him anything food-reward-related with Aboleth because she'd get frustrated if she didn't think she was getting her share and take it out on him :( The treatball was a pretty fancy one with chanageable settings: the first time we tried it we had the holes open all the way and the pellets just fell out :lol: It was how we fed Lopsy his pellets while he was on his own :) He's pretty deaf we now know so he only realised it was empty after a faw minutes of pushing the empty ball around! He needed the exercise :lol:
 
Yes we had this.

Primrose got it right away (mini rex with a labrador type hunger) and would happily nudge until all the treats were eaten.

Her first partner Flop would follow behind and hope she would miss some (rarely).

Rodney missed the idea completely and ripped the entire ball open and tried to eat the plastic as well as the treats [emoji1787] no more treat balls in this house!

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This is the result of Zeus chasing the ball around a 2nd time for about 30mins [emoji1787][emoji7][emoji1787]
Only problem is I'm meant to sit at my desk for a work meeting and can't now [emoji1787][emoji1787]
b09816fe653acc715628aab970e1c16d.jpg


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Lopsy had one for a while when he was on his own. A video of the treatball and the tube-rewards. We couldn't give him anything food-reward-related with Aboleth because she'd get frustrated if she didn't think she was getting her share and take it out on him :( The treatball was a pretty fancy one with chanageable settings: the first time we tried it we had the holes open all the way and the pellets just fell out :lol: It was how we fed Lopsy his pellets while he was on his own :) He's pretty deaf we now know so he only realised it was empty after a faw minutes of pushing the empty ball around! He needed the exercise :lol:

:love: this is why I didn’t give them a treatball when Frosty was with Fern, because I knew it would probably cause issues. I’m going to try the cardboard tube with Fern too, Frosty couldn’t be trusted with cardboard because he ate it and it caused a gut slowdown but I think Fern would be ok :thumb:
 
Yes we had this.

Primrose got it right away (mini rex with a labrador type hunger) and would happily nudge until all the treats were eaten.

Her first partner Flop would follow behind and hope she would miss some (rarely).

Rodney missed the idea completely and ripped the entire ball open and tried to eat the plastic as well as the treats [emoji1787] no more treat balls in this house!

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It just shows how different they can be :love:
 
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