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Types of hay?

J

JJoshM

New Kit
Hello all, hope you're all keeping safe with everything going on. Just a quick question regarding hay.
My rabbit is currently 5 months roughly and up till this point she was eating meadow hay perfectly fine, last week she became really picky so didn't any hay at all that was left or fallen to the floor which normally she gobbles it up like a hoover. Now she point blank refuses to eat at all.
I must admit what we're buying is cheap hay so I suppose you get what you pay for but it's weird how she used to love it now does not? Is there any other hay I can get for her and not too expensive as I've been laid off my job right now so we don't have much income coming in.

Thank you
 
Is she still eating her pellets? Veggies? Any forage?
It might just be a bad bag of hay but it also could indicate a possible problem with her teeth.
Where do you get her hay? If you can get to a horse feed supplier, they often sell hay in bales which would work out cheaper than shop brought hay. Timothy hay is most popular in our house.
At five months old she will be approaching the time to get her spayed.
I assume you are aware that she needs two vaccinations, one called nobivac and other called one Filavac
I hope she starts eating her hay soon

Richard

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I agree that teeth issues, such as spurs, could be a reason why she is reluctant to eat hay. Or it could be that she has suddenly become quite fussy.

Quite a lot of us here get hay from Timothyhay.co.uk. Really good company, great value for money compared to shop bought hay, and very popular with a lot of bunnies. They do different varieties: soft and stalky timothy hay, green oat and orchard grass. I believe you can contact them and ask for a sample before splashing out on a whole bag.

Also popular is the ings hay from hayandstraw.co.uk. They also do a timothy and rye and meadow hay. You can get samples from there too.

I've also heard good things about Dust Free Hay, although I haven't used them myself.

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Motty said:
Is she still eating her pellets? Veggies? Any forage?
It might just be a bad bag of hay but it also could indicate a possible problem with her teeth.
Where do you get her hay? If you can get to a horse feed supplier, they often sell hay in bales which would work out cheaper than shop brought hay. Timothy hay is most popular in our house.
At five months old she will be approaching the time to get her spayed.
I assume you are aware that she needs two vaccinations, one called nobivac and other called one Filavac
I hope she starts eating her hay soon

Richard

Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yes she still eats everything else, she's goes absolutely crazy for them. Whenever we go to the kitchen she runs like maniac to come too! So she's eating fine on those. We got her hay from the bargain shop actually to start with when we first got her but she really liked it in the beginning so we didn't feel a need to change. We bought a bag foraging from pets at home which she sticks her nose up at but if it's the only thing going in her bowl then she'll quietly take it away and eat it when we are not looking.
We have already had her spayed, around 4 weeks ago which has changed her eating habits as this was around the time that she refused to touch any fallen hay that came from her hay feeder.
 
refusal to eat hay could be an indication of dental problems. they'll eat other food just fine as it doesn't require the side to side action that hay does. it could also be a bad batch, hay does vary, but if she's unwilling to eat any hay I would book an appointment with a rabbit savvy vet to check her back teeth.

personally mine hate the pet store hay, its chopped so the strands aren't long, its not very green nor does it smell nice. its old dusty hay imo and mine despise the stuff!

usually hay from equine stores or farms is cheap, I had a massive bale from a farm for a fiver but, it didn't really go down too well with my other bun.

I now purchase Haybox, others get hay from timothyhay.co.uk which has good reviews, as well as hay and straw! I love haybox, my two love the hay, + no plastic waste as it comes in a cardboard box. I purchase 10kg (comes in two 5kg boxes). a 5kg box lasts maybe a month and a half? but I have two bunnies also, it would last longer with just one. its expensive in a way, but I guess it just depends on how often you need to purchase it :)
 
I would be worried if there is no obvious answer to her lack of appetite (eg mouldy hay). If the hay smells ok and she's not eating anything else, you need to seek veterinary advice. A rabbit that isn't eating is an emergency. If they don't have continuous food input, their guts go into stasis.

What are her poos like? Same size, quantity, shape & colour as usual? Lack of food will drastically reduce output.
Will she eat fresh grass or dandelion leaves? Another fresh batch of hay to try? Any favourite food?

I get bales of hay from a horse supply place - it is decent quality hay (has to be - sick horses are very expensive) and much cheaper than elsewhere - although it went up in price a couple of years ago and mine is nearly £8 a bale now. A standard 2 string bale fills a standard 240 litre wheely bin. Other cheaper places to try for a smaller quantity are Wilkos and B&M. Hay doesn't have to be expensive - they just need to eat it in quantity. It is definitely worth trying a different bag to see if it makes a difference, and take it from there.
 
How many Pellets does she get as this sounds as it could be she is getting enough other food and has decided she doesn't want the hay. Also, with her being spayed and 5 months old she doesn't need quite as much food as she did when she was younger. So she should be getting about 1.5 tbsps. of pellets, a small amount of Veg or Herbs, and lots of Hay.
 
tonibun said:
How many Pellets does she get as this sounds as it could be she is getting enough other food and has decided she doesn't want the hay. Also, with her being spayed and 5 months old she doesn't need quite as much food as she did when she was younger. So she should be getting about 1.5 tbsps. of pellets, a small amount of Veg or Herbs, and lots of Hay.
Click to expand...

Hello, can I ask how much roughly veg and herbs we should give her daily? At the moment we are giving her a small mix of both daily which is roughly a handful all together and then she gets a small piece of fruit twice a week which is what our vet suggested when we was first introducing her to new foods

Thank you
 
tonibun said:
How many Pellets does she get as this sounds as it could be she is getting enough other food and has decided she doesn't want the hay. Also, with her being spayed and 5 months old she doesn't need quite as much food as she did when she was younger. So she should be getting about 1.5 tbsps. of pellets, a small amount of Veg or Herbs, and lots of Hay.
Click to expand...

Sorry just to add, our vet had told us to give her 25-30g a day of pellets
 
JJoshM said:
Hello, can I ask how much roughly veg and herbs we should give her daily? At the moment we are giving her a small mix of both daily which is roughly a handful all together and then she gets a small piece of fruit twice a week which is what our vet suggested when we was first introducing her to new foods

Thank you
Click to expand...

roughly herbs/veg a ball the size of their head, once a day :)

pellet should be roughly 1tbsp per KG of body weight. however those under 6 months need more to grow - some suggest unlimited but I personally disagree as it doesn't set up for good hay eating. if I know the breed, I give the rough adult weight + an extra tbsp. if not, I tend to aim for 5 tbsp of pellet a day. personally I find it too risky as good hay eating habits are made young, and many will prefer to eat pellet over the hay, leading to dental issues. I made the mistake of giving my first bun unlimited, he was awful for eating hay, not to mention a dental at 6 months. he did suffer dental issues the rest of his life (likely genetic), but I def don't feel it helped not setting him up for good hay eating habits in the first place!

but that's my two cents - everybody has a different idea.

my two indoor only get 1 tbsp a day, despite being 2.5kg and 2.8kg. they're indoor, so they don't burn calories trying to keep warm, and they don't actually fully eat any more than that! :shock: so it works well for us and they're extremely healthy :)

when Orion was a baby, I gave him 4tbsp of pellet a day I believe? I can't remember now, it was 3 or 4. he's a mini rex and rough adult weight is around 2kg.
 
binkyCodie said:
roughly herbs/veg a ball the size of their head, once a day :)

pellet should be roughly 1tbsp per KG of body weight. however those under 6 months need more to grow - some suggest unlimited but I personally disagree as it doesn't set up for good hay eating. if I know the breed, I give the rough adult weight + an extra tbsp. if not, I tend to aim for 5 tbsp of pellet a day. personally I find it too risky as good hay eating habits are made young, and many will prefer to eat pellet over the hay, leading to dental issues. I made the mistake of giving my first bun unlimited, he was awful for eating hay, not to mention a dental at 6 months. he did suffer dental issues the rest of his life (likely genetic), but I def don't feel it helped not setting him up for good hay eating habits in the first place!

but that's my two cents - everybody has a different idea.

my two indoor only get 1 tbsp a day, despite being 2.5kg and 2.8kg. they're indoor, so they don't burn calories trying to keep warm, and they don't actually fully eat any more than that! :shock: so it works well for us and they're extremely healthy :)

when Orion was a baby, I gave him 4tbsp of pellet a day I believe? I can't remember now, it was 3 or 4. he's a mini rex and rough adult weight is around 2kg.
Click to expand...

When we first adopted her from pets at home she was being syringe fed because she wouldn't feed on anything at all even from birth. Which is why she was up for adoption as I think they wouldn't be able to 'sell' her like they could the others. We got her home and she gradually took to eating a pellet after some time so the vets told us to give her 100g throughout the day initially but my partner and I thought it just looked too much so we did 50g and then now shes on 25g. We're not sure on her breed and we've asked multiple times but just get told she's a mixed lop?

She will eat hay from her hay feeder if she thinks that's all that is available but if any was to drop on the floor she shoves it away and will not touch so we chuck it. She has quite a big litter box which we put in a handful of hay and just top it up but if it comes out of the box, again she will not eat it. It could just be a bad batch this month but we wanted to see what other options there are for different types of hay
 
Try and look to see if there are any horse or equine suppliers local to you, if not, is there a local farm that sells hay. It will be cheaper to buy a bale from them.
If you cannot find a local supplier try www.timonthyhay.co.uk or www.hayandstraw.co.uk both of these will be more expensive than a farm or horse feed supplier as you will be paying for postage as well as the hay.
As she is getting older you may want to reduce the amount of pellets she is eating. An adult rabbit does not need as many pellets as a youngster would require


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Can you put a photo on here of your rabbit then we can help with the breed, although Pets at Home rabbits are usually mixed breeds.
 
JJoshM said:
How do I put a photo on here? Imgur is not loading for me
Click to expand...
You can't access the website imgur? How odd! Can you access other websites? Are you using a personal desktop or laptop machine? Or are you using a mobile device, like a phone or tablet?

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If you are using a phone, the app Tapatalk can be used for reading this Forum and makes it extremely easy to copy photos to the forum

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The photos are lovely. She has beautiful markings and she looks like a Dwarf Lop. Do you know how much she weighs?
 
tonibun said:
The photos are lovely. She has beautiful markings and she looks like a Dwarf Lop. Do you know how much she weighs?
Click to expand...

I believe she weighs roughly 1.8/9kgs we haven't been able to get her weighed right now so we're going on our own scales which is not all that accurate
 
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