Is she eating enough?

[Samicles]

Okay so I might be paranoid, because I want to ensure that my bun is having a well-balanced diet and all. But I feel like she’s not eating enough hay. She’ll eat all her pellets until there’s only crumbs left in the bowl, but there’s always leftovers with the hay. I give her two handfuls of Oxbow Orchard Grass twice a day, so in total she’s getting four handfuls a day. I know she eats some of the hay, but I’m concerned she’s not eating enough. And whenever she’s out for her free-roam time (typically at least 4 hours a day) she’ll rarely eat until I put her back in the cage. 

I know that young rabbits (less than a year I believe) should be getting some alfalfa hay. And since I’m being over-protective ever since the tragic incident with my last bunny, she’s getting a very diverse diet. She has alfalfa hay cubes (there’s one in her cage at all times), her pellets are timothy hay based and her main hay-source is orchard grass. Since I’m allergic to timothy hay, I was recommended to use that instead. 

Should I just deal with the allergic reaction and give her timothy hay instead of orchard grass? I feel like she enjoys that much more because she loves her timothy hay pellets so much. 

[Stickerbunny]

You can try a variety of hays – orchard, oat, etc. If you are allergic to timothy, no need to give her that one.

My bunnies always have hay leftover though. They pick out “the good parts” and leave the rest, no matter how long it’s there, no matter how you spruce it up to freshen it. Some strands just don’t taste as good as others.

Also, if she is still young, I assume you’re feeding lots of pellets still for her growing. So, she may be filling up on pellets.

[Lita]

With my hay eaters I dont refill more then once a day for hay. It seems they eat more of it that way. If your always putting new hay in she may just eat the freash stuff and not as much from before. They always have leftovers at my house to, but it seems they eat more if I only refill once a day at least.

[Samicles]

Oh, that’s a good idea.

[Stickerbunny]

To entice them to eat more of the “old” stuff instead of adding more you can “fluff” the old hay (take it out, ruffle it, then put it back in) and they’ll think it’s new again.

[LongEaredLions]

She likely doesn’t prefer Timothy hay, she just likes pellets. Most buns do. You can limit the pellets a bit even though she is still a baby. Experiment with different hays and different cuts of hay until you find one that works for both of you.

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