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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Water consumption and poop changes vs hay brand

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    • JackRabbit
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        Has anyone noticed any changes in your bunny’s water consumption or any changes in poop (size, consistency, etc) when you’ve switched brands of hay or when your bunny eats certain brands of hay? Different brands of hay may have higher or lower nutrition (meaning richer or less rich hay) so, some may be dryer, etc. We use primarily KMS and Small Pet Select hay this season, with Oxbow thrown in occasionally as well as Sierra Valley oat hay. Does anyone use these? Other brands? Any changes in water consumption or poop consistency with different hay brands?

        Thanks!


      • {Alli}
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          I feel like with KMS hay, Bun Bun has bigger/more poop than with oxbow.


        • LBJ10
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            I’m still wondering if the hay is dry or salty tasting.


          • JackRabbit
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              How would I test to see if one hay is more dry than the other?


            • LBJ10
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                Could you seal different types of hay in separate plastic bags and set them in the sun? Condensation would form on the bag if the hay had a lot of moisture.


              • JackRabbit
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                  LBJ — I can do that (well not for a couple days because of the weather), but neither hay is moist. If both are dried western hays, would putting them in the sun still show condensation in the one that has more moisture even if not alot? What about in the fridge or freezer?

                  Is there a “home” way to tell if one has more salt than the other?


                • LBJ10
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                    I would think so.

                    For saltiness, you could try calling the company to see if they can trace the package of hay. It used to be fairly common practice for farmers to salt hay to help preserve it. I don’t know how often people do it now, but you would think that they have to keep track of that. Maybe not. Worth a try though. For an at-home test, aside from tasting it I don’t know how you would tell. Unless you want to do a little chemistry.


                  • Whobott
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                      My best guess as far as chemistry for saltiness is try soaking the hay in a pot of water overnight then ipthe next day take it out and boil the water, after a while all the water will go away and leave you with its salt content.


                    • JackRabbit
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                        Interesting. May have to try that.


                      • Sarita
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                          That seems like alot of work when you may not really know if the results are accurate or if you even get any results how would you truly know what they were? Especially if you aren’t entirely sure that the increase in water consumption is really from the hay. Just a thought.


                        • JackRabbit
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                            Sarita — it might tell if one had more salt than the other but, your right that it wouldn’t tell if the water consumption increase was due to the hay. It would be interesting to see how much salt was left after the water boiled off, if for no other reason than it sounds cool. (I could even look at the salt through a magnifying glass!)

                            I’m afraid the water consumption thing may forever be a mystery though.


                          • Sarita
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                              I’m not entirely sure it would tell you exactly if there is more salt content or not…just looking up how you would measure salt contents in food, it doesn’t seem this is the way it is done. I think too with hay, it is cured so there may be something to do with how the hay is cured. I found this article that might be helpful:

                              http://www.bcg.org.au/resources/Curing_hay_Factsheets.pdf


                            • Sindri
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                                JR and I have been talking about the KMS a bit but I thought I would say something as well. I recently tried KMS 3rd cut timothy. It is very green and good looking hay. I am thinking perhaps it was what attributed to Usagi’s UTI. Kilala didn’t like this hay and really didn’t eat it. Their poops have been darker too I have noticed more of them. When they eat other brands their poops aren’t as dark.

                                I am going to check out that article.

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                            Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Water consumption and poop changes vs hay brand