Swiss Fox
New Kit
House rabbit Flo has been digging through the sofa since we got her a year ago. I've patched up the back, now she's working her way through the front.
I don't care about the sofa except that she made a hole big enough in the back to get inside and it's dusty and full of springs and nails which could hurt her, hence why I patched it.
I've got her a couple of cat basket/tunnel/igloo things and she's destroyed them which is good as it keeps her distracted from the sofa but lately I've caught her with bits of foam in her mouth. Tonight she was just eating the sofa fabric at head height, not even trying to dig.
What can I do to stop her? I don't care about the damage but I don't want her eating it.
I don't want to spray something on it which the smell will upset her as she often sleeps next to it so is there something safe which tastes bad but doesn't smell bad?
I've posted a walk-through of our flat a while back if anyone wants to check out her environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhnAyCUKzj8
She's still not eating enough hay and a few times her poos have been small and stringy, although she was shedding when they were stringy. We comb her daily and I pull her hair when I'm petting her to get as much off as I can (she likes that!).
Both my wife and I are concerned she's not eating enough hay... we've got bags of the stuff everywhere, readigrass, timothy, meadow... she'll eat a couple of stalks while contemplating life on her litter tray and that's about it.
I do give her two full bowls of greens per day and a handful of treats when we put her away to encourage her into her hutch - the handful being a varied mix of dried salad/dandelion mix, rabbit treats, pellets, muesli.
I know muesli isn't ideal - nor are the treats - but we do give them sparingly and only at bedtime.
Her main diet is greens; spring greens, kale, spinach, cavonero, parsley, coriander. 1 bag of mixed salad per week (yeah lettuce, but we go for the darker mixes and never iceberg), a few carrot peels 5 times a week and a small, 1 inch piece of fruit a maximum of 3 times per week.
I've just ordered "Foraging for Rabbits by Twigs Way" from the Rabbit Welfare shop. Now spring is on its way we can start to look at getting her some "proper" food.
https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/product/foraging-for-rabbits-by-twigs-way/
The only thing that stopped us last year was the possibility she might get VHD/Mixi from anything we foraged, stupid as it might sound to those who know, we didn't know so we didn't want to risk it. She's since had jabs for both and we'll renew them in a couple of months when they're due. We'll only do VHD2 if we have to go away and put her in a rabbit hotel, otherwise I don't think it's necessary for a rabbit who doesn't go outside.
Sorry for the wall of text... just trying to cover some of the question you might ask.
TL;DR: how can I stop her eating foam and get her to eat more hay?
Thanks in advance.
I don't care about the sofa except that she made a hole big enough in the back to get inside and it's dusty and full of springs and nails which could hurt her, hence why I patched it.
I've got her a couple of cat basket/tunnel/igloo things and she's destroyed them which is good as it keeps her distracted from the sofa but lately I've caught her with bits of foam in her mouth. Tonight she was just eating the sofa fabric at head height, not even trying to dig.
What can I do to stop her? I don't care about the damage but I don't want her eating it.
I don't want to spray something on it which the smell will upset her as she often sleeps next to it so is there something safe which tastes bad but doesn't smell bad?
I've posted a walk-through of our flat a while back if anyone wants to check out her environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhnAyCUKzj8
She's still not eating enough hay and a few times her poos have been small and stringy, although she was shedding when they were stringy. We comb her daily and I pull her hair when I'm petting her to get as much off as I can (she likes that!).
Both my wife and I are concerned she's not eating enough hay... we've got bags of the stuff everywhere, readigrass, timothy, meadow... she'll eat a couple of stalks while contemplating life on her litter tray and that's about it.
I do give her two full bowls of greens per day and a handful of treats when we put her away to encourage her into her hutch - the handful being a varied mix of dried salad/dandelion mix, rabbit treats, pellets, muesli.
I know muesli isn't ideal - nor are the treats - but we do give them sparingly and only at bedtime.
Her main diet is greens; spring greens, kale, spinach, cavonero, parsley, coriander. 1 bag of mixed salad per week (yeah lettuce, but we go for the darker mixes and never iceberg), a few carrot peels 5 times a week and a small, 1 inch piece of fruit a maximum of 3 times per week.
I've just ordered "Foraging for Rabbits by Twigs Way" from the Rabbit Welfare shop. Now spring is on its way we can start to look at getting her some "proper" food.
https://shop.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/product/foraging-for-rabbits-by-twigs-way/
The only thing that stopped us last year was the possibility she might get VHD/Mixi from anything we foraged, stupid as it might sound to those who know, we didn't know so we didn't want to risk it. She's since had jabs for both and we'll renew them in a couple of months when they're due. We'll only do VHD2 if we have to go away and put her in a rabbit hotel, otherwise I don't think it's necessary for a rabbit who doesn't go outside.
Sorry for the wall of text... just trying to cover some of the question you might ask.
TL;DR: how can I stop her eating foam and get her to eat more hay?
Thanks in advance.