Pellet vs poop

Hello to everyone,
I'm having a diet problem with Cookie. If he gets pellets he eats less hay, which worries me. But I'm afraid he will lose weight if he doesn't eat pellets. He ate less hay these days because he ate a little too much pellets, I was really nervous. The vet told me I was giving less pellets and suggested I increase it. I always thought the opposite, this time I thought I'd believe the vet. But now he eats less hay. I don't believe he overeats the pellet, I find it unnecessary, but this time I wanted to follow the vet's advice and I regretted it.

I also have a second question. Cookie has a condition that I've noticed for a long time, actually Gracie made me realize it first. Cookie's poop isn't yellow, it's usually black and dark. I see bits of hay on it but it's still black. What could be the reason for this?

My bunnies generally have poo that is medium to dark brown. If it is black and tar-like it may have blood. Small or irregular shaped poo is possible gut slowdown. Jane posted photos on another thread of normal poo.
Your hay quality may be poor which could be why vet suggested pellets. After you move you can get different types of hay to encourage hay eating.

bunny momma said:

My bunnies generally have poo that is medium to dark brown. If it is black and tar-like it may have blood. Small or irregular shaped poo is possible gut slowdown. Jane posted photos on another thread of normal poo.
Your hay quality may be poor which could be why vet suggested pellets. After you move you can get different types of hay to encourage hay eating.

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Now I reduced the pellet and he started to eat hay. Cookie's poop is normal in size and shape, just the color is just like your bunnies. But I'll watch out for the possibility of bleeding, like people.
As for hay, there is no timothy hay in Turkey, I always buy meadow grass hay because it is nutritious. This is the best quality hay I could find in Turkey, I hope my son can eat timothy hay when I move soon. :|

How much pellets do you give him?

I think there's a bit of a balancing act, I kinda scale varied their pellets until I had a balance of golden poos vs steady weight.

The thing to remember is, bunnies in nature don't have pellets, so a bunny can cope without any at all. You do need to more closely mirror their natural diet if that's the route you're going down though (i.e. providing plenty forage)

MiniC said:

How much pellets do you give him?

I think there's a bit of a balancing act, I kinda scale varied their pellets until I had a balance of golden poos vs steady weight.

The thing to remember is, bunnies in nature don't have pellets, so a bunny can cope without any at all. You do need to more closely mirror their natural diet if that's the route you're going down though (i.e. providing plenty forage)

Click to expand...

I give him 2 tablespoons of pellets a day.

I balanced it today, I finished the vet's suggestion today. Today he eats good hay. The problem is that there is no rabbit pellet in Turkey, sheep pellets are given as pellets. I could only find 1 brand of rabbit pellets, at least it's safe, I just give it away. Food in Turkey is not very nutritious for rabbits, the possibilities are very few. I hope this issue will be resolved soon. :|