Switching from muesli – stubborn bunny.

[Mel94]

Hi guys.

 A few weeks ago, I took my bunny, Thumper, to the vets for a check up because I was worried about him. He often gets poop stuck on his fur around his bum and I noticed he was pulling the fur out and eating it to clear the poop. It turns out everything was fine (thankfully) but the vet was concerned when we said that he’s being fed muesli. It turns out it can be quite harmful to bunnies and she recommended gradually switching him onto pellets. She gave us a free sample pack of Excel to try him on, but he wasn’t interested. Tried him with Tescos own make pellets, no interest. I got him Science Selective, which contains Timothy hay, in the hopes that he’d be more interested if it tasted like something familiar to him that he enjoys, but nope. He’ll eat the odd amount here and there, if the muesli is all gone. But mostly, he’ll tip his food bowl up, so the food is scattered in with his sawdust and he’ll pick out the muesli pieces. I really don’t know what else to do, I really don’t like that he’s eating muesli, after reading so many bad things that can happen and how unsuitable it is for rabbits. (Why on earth is it even being sold?!) Thumper is extremely fussy and I guess it doesn’t help that he’s been on muesli since he was a baby (he’s now 5) and his breeder fed him muesli.  It worries me more knowing he’s more prone to health risks now he’s 5 and only getting older. Is there anything I can do to help encourage him to eat pellets instead of muesli. I’ve tried just putting pellets in his bowl once, he wouldn’t go near it until I put muesli in. Thanks for any help!

[LBJ10]

There are many companies out there that are just interested in money, so if they can sell “junk” and people buy it then they continue to do so unfortunately. Does he eat plenty of hay? If so, then you might want to just take the plunge and try offering him only pellets to see what happens. As long as he has hay (and veggies if you’re currently feeding them to him), then it will be alright to let him feel “hungry enough” to try the pellets. Usually that is what people end up having to do when the bunny refuses to eat the new stuff when old and new are being mixed.

EDIT TO ADD: In no way am I suggesting that you starve your bunny. That would be bad.

[Bam]

I too have had a müesli-bunny! I too had to take him off the müesli because of problems with sticky poop/poopy-butt. He loved his müesli. I switched him over gradually to just pellets, and when the müesli-bag was empty, I never bought any more of that terrible stuff. It took quite some time before his poopy-butt-issues stopped though. And i do remember him tossing the food-bowl around, probably angry and in search of more of the yummy muesli.

I used a science-selective type pellet for the switch. Since he is a bunny who loves food, he eventually ate the pellets. I also gave him plenty of greens and of course hay, an organic hay that has pieces of dried dandelion and clover-flowers etc in it that entice the bunny to eat more of it.

[kirstyol]

Bramble came to us on muesli, I changed him to a proper baby bunny food (he was less than six weeks old) and he took to that ok, but when it was time to change to proper, adult nuggets he was having none of it. I had kept the open bag of muesli he came home with just in case I needed to use it to help transition him to proper nuggets. I mixed nuggets (also excel by the way) with the baby food and then with the old muesli that he used to eat a tonne of and he would do the exact same thing your bun does now, tip the bowl over and eat only the muesli.

In the end I just gave him only nuggets, and plenty of hay (and the small amounts of veg he was getting at that time since he was just starting on veg) and he started taking the nuggets. I also bought the Excel with mint which might have helped since rabbits usually like mint. He comes running for his nuggets now so I think he likes them.

just a tip: if you do stay with the excel nuggets – get it off amazon rather than the vet. My vet is really reasonable but he still takes £8 or so for a smallish bag, on amazon I buy a 15kg bag for £13 and I just bought one of those dog food bins to store it in which was about a fiver if I remember rightly.

[Mel94]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.

LBJ – We try to only give him a small amount of muesli in the morning (mixed with pellets) to encourage him into eating from his bowl and then keep him on just pellets for the rest of the day, but when he’s finished with the muesli and he’s hungry again later in the day, he’ll just ignore his bowl.

Bam – Yay, a success story! 😆 I think that’s where most of the problem lies. Thumper is such a picky eater, he doesn’t like most of the veg we’ve tried him on and when we offered him a strawberry and a piece of banana, he completely ignored it, whereas I’ve seen bunnies on Instagram go mad for them. I’m not sure whether the problem is that he doesn’t like the pellets (although he should with them being made with Timothy hay) or if it’s just that he’s being stubborn about the muesli. He actually took a pellet out of my mum’s hand once and spat it out, not sure whether that was out of dislike for the taste of the pellet, or if that was him sulking that it wasn’t a muesli piece.

Kirstol – Is there a specific name for the Excel with the mint in them, so I know whether Thumper already tried them from the vet’s sample pack? Or is it just a case of looking at the small print?

[LBJ10]

That’s what I’m saying. Try giving him just the pellets in the morning. See what happens. Once he realizes he isn’t getting anything else, he might be tempted to try it. It might take awhile though, but if he’s eating hay and such, then he should be okay.

[kirstyol]

This is the ones I buy http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0030UD67Q?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00 if you hover over the image in the small green box that says Excel, you will see where it says ‘with mint’

I have just read the comments though and it says that all excel nuggets always had mint in it, its just that they have changed the packaging to make this clearer but I am sure even the old packaging that I used to get said ‘with mint’ on it Might be worth checking the ingredients of the one your vet gave you.

[haffy]

I had soo many problems when switching my bun over to proper pellets from his old muesli that his previous owners had him on. and it was wagg as well which seems to be the worst!

I tried excel and a few other really good ones but he was very stubborn and wouldn’t try them at all. And as he’s not a massive hay eater, I couldn’t be too firm or else he wouldn’t eat much all day! Eventually – on a complete whim – I brought a pack of Asda brand pellets. It’s not as great as the proper brands but the fibre is 17% (the recommend amount should be 18%) and the protein is 13% which is what it should be. Despite it being slightly less in fibre than it should be, it was the only pellets that my bunny would eat. So with a lot of hay (sprayed some liquidised apple or coriander on it to help with that) and a small portion of veg, it’s making do for now. I plan to transition him onto burgess or excel as this is only a sort of mid way for now. it may work for your bunny too

[Mel94]

Hey everyone.

Over the last few days, we’ve stopped Thumper’s muesli completely and have given him more veggies and hay instead. He loves cabbage, he’s ok with runner beans, not too keen on parsley, although he has eaten them at times, which is more progress than other foods! 😆 He’s still not eating his Selective Science pellets, so I guess he really doesn’t like them at all, but that’s ok, I’ll try other brands. I’m happy that he seems to be doing well off his muesli so far. His cecals have neatened up a lot and reduced, whereas before, just having a carrot and a small piece of kale with his muesli would upset his stomach.

One question though, one of my Instagram followers claimed that kale is supposed to be only given in small amounts due to giving bunnies gas (as told by their vet) but in the House Rabbit Society link, it’s in the ‘low in oxalic acid’ list? Not sure which information to go by, I don’t want to trust the wrong information and accidentally hurt Thumper’s stomach.

[LBJ10]

Kale shouldn’t cause a problem. Tons of members give their buns kale with no issues. I’ve never heard of it causing gas. Sounds like the myth with broccoli. Of course, as with any new veggie, you’ll want to introduce it slowly so you can watch make sure it’s okay.

What are runner beans?

[Bam]

I find conflicting info when I google runner beans and rabbits. Beans in general have a too high protein contents to be suitable as bunny food. Some say the runners and leaves are ok if you take out the seeds.

I give my bunnies kale. But as LBJ points out, all new vegs should be introduced slowly.

[DaisyMae]

I was in the same boat and the vet scolded me for feeding muesli but my bun was on it whe we adopted her. She refuses to eat pellets but the vet said as long as she is eating hay and atleast 2 cups of veggies a day she can do without the pellets. I didnt have the heart to take the muesli away completely so i give it as treats. I know … shame on me … but she loves it so much!

[DaisyMae]

Oh, 1 more thing .. my bun doesnt like bananas, strawberries, parsley and other things many buns do, but she loves kale, carrott tops and dandelions so maybe you could give those a try one at a time.

[Mel94]

LBJ10 – Thank you for the advice on the kale. Thumper doesn’t seem to want to eat parsley at all anymore, so we’ll be switching kale in instead. Looking on Google for runner beans, it says they’re also known as Phaseolus coccineus or multiflora bean if that helps? They are green, long and thin pods with seeds in.

Bam – So I’m ok giving Thumper beans if I take the seeds out beforehand? Or do you think it would be better to leave it out completely? It’s just hard finding something he likes.

DaisyMae – Muesli is awful when you read into it, isn’t it? And of course our bunnies have to love what’s bad for them! Thankfully Thumper doesn’t seem to miss muesli, we give him pieces of apple as his treat instead, he absolutely loves it. He’s an awkward one so he wouldn’t even try banana or strawberry when offered to him, yet other bunnies would probably chew your hand off to get to them! Parsley, he was a bit tentative with it at first, but now he won’t touch it, so we’re going to replace it with kale and maybe red/green lettuce. One thing I’ve notice since he’s been off the muesli is how better his stomach is with eating more veg, a small twig of carrot top would give him a bad stomach on muesli.

[LBJ10]

Green beans are okay to give to bunnies, although they shouldn’t be used as a staple. I’m assuming runner beans are similar??? I’ve just never heard of them.

For treats like banana or strawberry, don’t give up completely. It took about a dozen tries with Wooly before he would try banana. Now he loves it.

[DaisyMae]

That’s good to know!  I’m going to try bananas again.  So funny … I tried introducing Cilantro a few days ago, and when she wouldn’t eat it, I put one piece in with her salad, and wouldn’t you know, a few minutes later I look in her cage and there, sitting next to her bowl on the ground is that 1 piece of Cilantro.  This little Bun never ceases to amaze me!

[Mel94]

LBJ10 – I was speaking to my mum earlier about Thumper’s veggie situation and it turns out it was green beans I’ve been feeding him!
I’ve actually tried dabbing a piece of banana on his nose or above his mouth to make him lick it off so he actually tastes it to decide if he likes it, but he wouldn’t keep still!

DaisyMae – I swear the problem is that they’re too damn smart for us! I’ve been trying for ages to record a yawn on my phone, somehow Thumper knows this (how?!) and whenever he sees the strange black thing pointed at him when I try recording him for around 10 minutes at night when he’s sleepy, what does he do? He yawns with his mouth closed! How on Earth does a bunny know the concept of a camera or what I was trying to do?!

So this week I’ve been slowly trying out new veggies for Thumps to eat since I don’t think cabbage and beans will be enough with hay and no pellets or muesli. I’ve tried kale (he used to like it), cauliflower with the leaves and little gems lettuce. So far he hasn’t touched any of them all week. *sigh*

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