HELP! Food transition — no time.

[tanlover14]

Hey guys — soooo I’m in urgent need of some advice — although I’m probably just being an overreactive bunny momma again… but my little 5 month (almost 6 month) old buns have been on Oxbow Bunny Basics 15/23 since we’ve gotten them… And when we went to get a new bag tonight we spent a good 3 hours trying to find it and it was NOWHERE to be found.  We’ve heard rumors that Oxbow got rid of the Bunny Basics 15/23 and now only carries the Oxbow Young Adult Rabbit Food… which we haven’t been feeding them because it has a higher fat content.  Anyways, they are completely out of food and so I got the Young Adult Rabbit Food but I’m not sure how I should go about introducing… should I limit the amount they have access to for the first few days to make sure none of them get sick??  Or wouldn’t that make much of a difference?? 

I don’t want to get them sick or hurt their stomachs … we thought about waiting and finding it on Monday but we’re really not sure if we’re going to have any luck if the rumors of eliminating of Bunny Basics 15/23 is true…  Thoughts???  

I really didn’t want them on the Young Adult line of food because it has a higher fat content and my buns are still on unlimited pellets and well…. they can definitely eat their fair share of pellets.  They’ve been putting on some weight but I know they’re not overweight or anything like that yet just don’t want to put them at that risk…

 

Also, since they’re close to being 7 months… is their anyway we could just transition to the Oxbow Adult since it has the recommended 2.0% fat like the 15/23 or just keep them on this kind until they hit almost 7 months…

 

SideNote:  They’ve been off alfalfa hay for about a full month now (our vet recommended it since they have been getting the alfalfa pellets) so not sure if taking them off the Young Rabbit food yet would be smart since they wouldn’t have any source of the “good growing” hay in their diet. 

 

Any comments/suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated!  Would like to get some input before I put it in their bowls.

[Monkeybun]

You can totally transition to the adult food now. I transitioned Squirrel to it at 6 months, and Monkey never liked alfalfa to begin with, so shes had the timothy pellets since day 1 pretty much. They will be fine

[LBJ10]

Give them the adult food, they should be fine. Mine made the switch pretty abruptly too and they hardly seemed to notice.

[tanlover14]

Thanks for the help! Do you think we should start limiting their pellets slowly then if we’re going to switch to Adult now? Or just let them have the unlimited Adult still until 7 months?

[LBJ10]

Do they look like they are still growing? If not, you can start reducing the pellets.

[BinkyBunny]

Unless they are overweight our having digestive issues, I would continue to follow the house rabbit Society guidelines and continue to feed unlimited until they reach adulthood at 7 months. (Especially if your switching to adult pellets)

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html#basic

Oxbow has changed their pellets from 15/23 to Young Bunny Basics Essentials.  The new formulation isn’t drastic and higher fat percentages in pellets for young bunnies is fine due to how rapidly they grow and their higher energy.  When you go from the young feed which its alfalfa based to adult Timothy Essential pellet or mixed grass pellet like the new natural science oxbow pellet, it is always recommended to make  gradual switch.  Some bunnies don’t like the Timothy pellet at first and won’t eat as much at first.  And usually switching pellets when a Bunny is already an adult is less likely to cause an issue because their digestion system has developed and is balanced,young bunnies are more vulnerable to gi issues with new foods.  So while many may have never experienced issues with a diet change, the reason for gradual changes is a preventative measure that is worth considering.

[TH004]

A gradual change sounds best for sure. However, when we adopted my second buns, the shelter didn’t give us any food. (I snuck into the little cage they kept him in and took the rest of his pellets in my purse to try to help transition him) I didn’t have enough of his first stuff to really mix anything other than one day’s worth. We did take him to the vet soon after getting him for a check up, and she did see some bacteria on his poo. She said it was nothing to be too concerned about and was likely caused by switching foods. I asked for an antibiotic, just in case. She said it couldn’t hurt.

Long story short– my vet didn’t seem too concerned about necessary quick changes in food. Keeping with the Oxbow brand should help too.

[Author]

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