Not eating hay.. previous owner says its normal??

[bigbunnies]

So I brought home my french lop yesterday, she is about 9 weeks old. I noticed that she is eating pellets but she is not eating any hay. I then decided to text the breeder and ask what kind of hay she was feeding, and the previous owner informed me that she always had timothy hay available but her bunnies never really ate it. She said her bunnies ate mostly pellets. I would prefer that she eats her hay because I know this is a huge part of a rabbit diet, however how do I get her to eat more hay?

Because she isnt eating hay should I start slowly introducing some sort of veggie?

HELP!

[Mikey]

Less pellets is a start, i think. Rabbits should have about 1/8th to 1/4th cup of pellets for every 6 pounds of rabbit. I think 9 weeks/2 months old is still too young to introduce veggies, but im not completely sure so someone will have to correct me on that. You should try mixing timothy with alfalfa or even putting handfuls of the hay mixed in with the pellets in her pellet bowl

[Bam]

It’s good if you can wean her on to hay. It is very important for bunnies. It helps develop their GI microbiota and that in turn is key for bunny health longterm.
You can start with alfalfa hay since she’s so young. Alfalfa is rather irresistible to bunnies and has a high content of protein and calcium, which is quite right for a young bun up to age 5-6 months. You can gradually mix in some timothy or orchard or meadow or any other type of grassy hay.

It’s generally recommended to start introducing fresh veg at week 12 (3 months). You start with a little bit of one type of veg, if that doesn’t cause a tummy upset (sticky poop) that day or the next, you can add a small piece of another veg. And so on. If there is poopy butt, you cut that veg out and try another.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Congrats on your new bun !!
I agree, the bun will choose pellets over hay…. when I put pellets out, mine doesn’t touch the hay but if I come home long after pellet feeding time has passed, then the hay has visibly reduced !!
So reduce the pellets and she will (she should!) turn to the hay to fill her tum tum !!
Keep an eye on her (or the amount of hay) at first though to make sure she is eating something all the time… Lucky bun

[Bam]

Oh, I forgot to say congrats on your new bunny!!!

[MrNuggets]

This is not okay. I just had a $650 vet visit for my Mr nuggets! Eating hay files down their teeth and if their teeth aren’t filed it can cause problems with the GI tract. Which can lead to GI stasis or other problems. My rabbit would not eat any hay, I would go out and buy any type of oxbow hay and he wouldn’t eat any! Finally I bought orchard/Timothy mix barrel at a feeder and he loves it. Rabbits like fresh hay, it is also better for them. Try to find a feeder around you. Depending where you live their might be fresh hay from this year! Even hay from last years crops is considered fresh. But the ones on the shelves you never know how long they’ve been packaged for. Also, a rabbits diet should be mainly hay and a little bit of pellets. Hay is also better for them to digest. Eating more gay than pellets also reduces poopy butt which reduces the chances of fly strike. Since my rabbit had a problem with his GI tract I am giving him a formula that the vet perscribed that has all of the nutrients a rabbit should have including Timothy hay, all I have to do is mix it with water and he loves it! (I still give him hay though) I recommend if your rabbit is 6 months or under- alfalfa. If 6 months and older they should definitely have some Timothy hay!

[bigbunnies]

Thank you all so much for replying! I am so thankful for this website! I thought I would share a bit of an update, she seems to be eating some hay after her pellets ran out. It still isnt as much as I was hoping for but I will continue to reduce the pellets and hopefully that will force her to eat the hay. She is eating apple wood sticks that were picked from a tree ( I made sure that it was not treated with any pesticides etc.) so that should be helping grind her teeth down. I am going to try to find some alfalfa, I wonder if someone around here has some. Right now I believe that she is eating timothy hay and shes not a huge fan, but she is eating a little bit of it.
At this young of an age is it safe to feed her dandelions? I am trying to bond with her but I since I cant give her veggies I am wondering if I could pick some of the dandelions I have out in the field and give those to her?

[Bam]

Yay for hay-eating!!!
The House Rabbit society recommends introduction of veggies at 3 months (12 weeks). This is because a young bunny’s GI microbiota isn’t yet fully developed and the tummy can have trouble digesting greens until the bunny is a little more mature. That said, there are bunnies that do eat greens earlier in their lives. Whatever you choose to do, start very, very slow. At any sign of sticky poop/poopy butt, stop the veg and try another one, reintroduce the one that didn’t agree with her later or not at all.

Dandelion is a very good veg for bunnies when they are old enough to handle greens. Dandelion greens color the urine orange to bright red – I’m just mentioning it so you don’t get a chock when you see red pee and think it’s blood. It’s perfectly normal, the color comes from carotene in the dandelion, the same pigment that makes carrots carrot-colored. There are other plant pigments that color rabbit pee as well – normal bunny pee can come in a wide range of colors.

If you can get alfalfa hay you could perhaps use tiny wads of that as treats (if you do, don’t give her unlimited alfalfa but keep up the timothy, or she soon won’t think alfalfa is much of a treat.). You can also hand-feed her her normal pellets. That’s often a very good way to bond with your rabbit.

[bigbunnies]

Bam- I am so glad you told me about the different colored pee. I would have definitely freaked out if I saw red in her litter box. I have given her a few dandelions and it seems to be okay for her. However I didn’t think about using her pellets as treats, that’s a great idea! Also just another update for you all by the time I got home yesterday she had totally ate all of her hay in her hay box! Must have just been nervous the first day and wasnt sure about the new environment!

[Vienna Blue in France]

That’s great news bigbunnies – now you can put alot of hay in her haybox as she should never, ever run out of hay
She can help herself like in an all-you-can-eat all-day-and-night restaurant !!!

[Author]

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