Rescue bunny being fussy

[Mead]

Hi all! I am brand new to not only this forum but bunny parenthood! Saturday I adopted a very very social male bunny I am calling Mead fromy local SPCA. He is five months old and neutered, and is a very friendly boy! I actually adopted him to be my prescribed ESA, so we are rescuing each other in a way.
Anyway my question: His orginal diet wal mart brand pellets and hay, so I am feeding him Timothy hay and tried to get him to eat Oxbow young rabbit mix, which is made with Alfafal (reason I didn’t buy loose alfafal), however he is curling his nose up to it, won’t so much as sniff it! I am a very very (very) nervous pet owner so I getting worried, any suggestions?

[tobyluv]

You said that you gave him an Oxbow mix. Do you mean that you mixed the Walmart kind with the Oxbow? When changing pellet brands or types, it’s usually recommended to mix 3/4 of the old mix with 1/4 of the new, then gradually change the proportions until it is all new. Did the Walmart kind have colored bits and seeds? You don’t want him eating that, so if they are included, try to pick them out and only use the pellet pieces. Bunnies usually like Oxbow, but there may be some that don’t care for it. If you still can’t get him to eat the Oxbow pellets, you may want to try Kaytee or some other brand. Many people consider Oxbow to be the best, but Kaytee isn’t too bad and there are some other good pellet brands out there too. Just make sure that it’s pellets only, no seeds or colored bits.

Thanks for adopting Mead! There are so many rabbits in shelters and rescues in need of homes, and so few homes for them to go to. I hope that he will start eating the pellets soon. Some people keep their rabbits on a pelletless diet or give very few pellets, but Mead is not full grown yet, so he could benefit from the vitamins and minerals in the pellets. Have you tried any greens for him yet? Go slow and only give one type of greens at a time, for a week, then try another one the next week, etc. Romaine lettuce is a good one to start with. Or you could try cilantro or kale.

[vanessa]

Is he turning his nose to the pellets or the hay? Definitely mix the pellets 3/4 old 1/4 new and adjust it slowly. As long as he is eating hay – then him being hungry from avoiding the pellets could be good. I brought my rabbit’s pellets down to 1/2 cup a day. They acted starving. Soon they were eating hay. That’s how I got Lancelot to eat Timothy hay. Let him go hungry, but not too hungry. That (and mixing the pellets old and new) is how your bunny will learn to eat the pellets 🙂

[Mimsy]

Is it the mana pro small world rabbit food they sell? Thats what my rabbit was on when we got her. I did what those above said. Maybe even slower, since I wanted to use up what she had and then go fully to oxbow. I’m still mixing in a little more oxbow every time I make a new mini mix in a tupperware for her. If it’s the same kind, it doesn’t have any seeds or colorful stuff in it, it’s just pellets, not made with the best of ingredients, but I don’t think terribly dangerous for a young bunny. I do think the richer than ideal ingredients in it makes it probably junk food tasty though.

She didn’t have any issues with eating hay. Hows your doing there? Mine so far loves timothy alfalfa and orchard. I’ve been doing the same thing with the alfalfa and hay mixes too. I mix a little in a bin and started her with mostly alfalfa since she is young and have been slowly adding a little more of the other hays and lowering the alfalfa. So far she doesn’t seem picky and is eating all the different kinds, perhaps favoring the orchard a bit.

[Mead]

I actually caught him nibbling the Oxbow Young Rabbit tonight! He isn’t getting a mix because I only recently even thought the reason he may not be eating the pellets was because of being switched, but he was eating them tonight when I came home. If he begins to eat it should I still make a mix? He loves his hay though he also seems to enjoying eating cardboard (I have an empty Kleenex box in his cage) and his Yesterday’s News on occasion. I just started him on romain lettuce actually! Fed him a tiny bit tonight and he loved it. I bought a box of premade Romain Salad mix and am just picking out the greens for him for now. And I actually made a mistake! He is only three months old, I got his birthday wrong!

[tobyluv]

If he has started eating the Oxbow pellets, and is eating a good amount, you could probably forget the mix and just give the Oxbow. See how much of the Oxbow he is eating and if he’s only eating a little, you may need to go ahead and do the mix.

Are you sure that he is only 3 months old? Most rabbits probably aren’t ready to be neutered until they are around 4 months old.

[vanessa]

If he is eating the oxbow, I would not do the mix. You said he eats hay well, so I think – congratulations, your bunny eats like I wish mine all did!

[Mead]

I can’t count apparently. He was born June 30th, so he is four months old!

I needed to take away some of his cardboard because he seems to be eating it a lot instead of mostly his hay, likely because he can lay in his cat bed and bunch the Kleenex box but has to jump up into his litter to eat his hay

[Author]

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