Bunny won’t eat hay

[Mindy]

I have a problem, my bunny won’t eat hay.  I have only had my bunny for 2 months, she is approximately 11 months old now.  I knew very little about buns when I got her and, therefore didn’t really pay attention to the fact that she wasn’t really eating her hay because I didn’t understand how important is was.  I was originally giving her Timothy, which she wouldn’t eat, so I switched to Orchard, which she still isn’t eating.  She eats about 1/8 cup of pellets a day, one baby carrot, 1-1.5 cups of very wet salad (mustard greens, romaine, and cilantro), and drinks very little water.  She doesn’t produce a lot of waste, but the amount and consistency of her pellets and urine has remained constant over the two months I’ve had her.  She is also very energetic and seems happy, lots and lots of binkies!  I read that to get a bunny to start eating hay, offer nothing but hay and fresh water for 24 hours.  Do you suggest this?  Does she need a vet?  Any ideas would be helpful.  Thank you!!

[Sarita]

This is a very common thing with some rabbits. I don’t think a vet is going to be able to help you convince her to eat her hay – it’s pretty much up to you to try to get her to eat hay.

Have you tried 2nd cutting timothy hay? Many picky rabbits like this type of hay.

[JK]

I would also try the Bunny Blend hay that is sold on this site.  A lot of buns go crazy with this.  My bun loves timothy but he goes insane  for the bunny blend.  It’s worth a try.

[Scarlet_Rose]

I was talking to Binky Bunny the other day and we were talking hay and apparently it isn’t just me, the timothy hay this year has been bad all around and my two have been snubbing it. I am placing an order this month for the bunny blend. My two had a sample of it once and OMGosh, they could not get enough of it! I think it’s like bunny crack or something! LOL : )

[bunnytowne]

I tried the only hay for 2 days all that did was laith got real skinny and barely picked at his hay. I am ordering bunny blend from binky I tried meadow mix my finicky bun barely touches it or any other hay. I put less pelletts cuz he is plump and won’t hurt to cut back so when bunny blend arrives lets see what happens I even tried oxbow to no avail ahaa. vet said my laith is very very finicky and his teeth are ok. just him being finicky he eats grass that I pick for him I wash it b4 feeding them and he loves his greens but hay nibbles at it.

cotton he eats it. soem buns are just plain finicky

[Scarlet_Rose]

They sure are bunnytowne! My two have some meadow hay right now, and while they will eat it, it’s not their favorite either.

[bunny04]

Hi Mindyvt13,

The diet that you have your bunny on is good. In terms of getting her to eat more hay i would not suggest taking away all the other foods and leaving hay there for 24hours its not going to work and doing that will upset his stomach, or make him really sick. I would suggest for you to take your bunny to a rabbit savvy vet and get an oral checkup of the teeth to make sure they are not overgrown. Some rabbits that have overgrown front or back teeth tend not to eat hay because its hard for them to chew, but still eat veggies and pellets. Hay requires a different chewing action of the teeth than pellets and veggies.

To be on the safe side its not a bad idea to go to a vet and get her teeth checked out. It is important for a rabbit to eat hay should make up 75% of their diet, provides chewing action to keep teeth trimmed and has fiber which is important.

Some things that you can try to encourage your bunny to eat more hay are

1) offer different varieties- seperate or mix it in together with other hays
2) squirt some fresh apple juice right out of the apple onto the hay or any other fruit that she likes
3) mix in some dried herbs to the hay
4) try offering both first and second cut
5) take a few stands and wiggle them infront of her nose/mouth

hope that helps

[Mindy]

Thank you all for your advice! I have tried Timothy, Orchard grass, and Meadow Mix, but no luck. I put the hay in front of her nose, she got mad and bit it, but then dropped it on the ground, didn’t even attempt to eat it. I also tried sprinkling dried basil on her hay, but she wasn’t interested in that either. She doesn’t care about apple juice, I tried it. I was going to order some hay from binky bunny, but it is so expensive when you add in shipping. I wouldn’t care about the price if she would eat it, but it’s a lot of money to waste if she won’t eat it. I guess we need to visit a vet, although there are no real bunny savvy vets in my area. There are vets that see rabbits, but I don’t know how savvy I would consider them!

[Deleted User]

I also have a bun that won’t eat hay..he is a 1 1/2 old mini satin…I have tried timothy andbinky bunny 6 blend…which one should I try now….nothing is wrong with him…all he does with the hay is throw it up in the air and make a mess with it (like his own little snow storm it is kinnda cute) but anyhow…I just don’t know which kind of hay to try next…I typed this question last week but I missed the answer..I don’t know how this works..If I put the get e-mail thing on I get 20 e-mails a day…if I take it off..I can’t get any of the answers to my questions….so I am at a loss there too…Thanks for any Help you can be

[Deleted User]

Hi there my bun won’t eat hay either and I would like to know which hay to try next…he does not eat Timothy…I all ready order the Bunny Blend and he relly does not show interest in that one…which one show I order this time…Please help..I would like my bunny to be normal….

[Scarlet_Rose]

Have you tried second-cut timothy hay? Most rabbits do not refuse it.  Is your rabbit overweirght at all?  You may want to try the “blue bunny mix” something I have also done with my two is added some organically gron flowers like chamomile, lavender, clove and hibiscus to get my two interesed.  Oxbow also make a botanical blend hay, have you tried that?

[MimzMum]

Mindy, is that your bun in your avvie? Looks like a Thuringer, which is what mine looks like. I have to wonder if this is just a thing with that breed, as Mimzy is very picky about his hay too. But I have to remember, I got him in the summer, when all I had to do was cut fresh grass and dandelions from my yard (I have 5 acres here) and he kind of got used to that. He loves his fresh greens and veggies, and pellets have to be full of something that gets them to eat them, he’d gorge on those all day if I let him. But he is definitely uppity when it comes to most hay blends.
However, my daughter’s bun; a spayed female half-lionhead, is a hay magnet and will eat anything that comes within reach of her twitchy little nose. I have gone so far as to wonder if my bun is just suffering from seasonal affective disorder, as I know he’ll eat fresh grasses, but he seem to be getting extremely tired of dried hay.
Sorry, I would guess this is not much help, but I thought it might be nice to add my name to the list and let you know you are not alone! ^^

EDIT: Oh and Scarlet, how do you tell you’re getting second cutting timothy? Do you have to go to a feed store for that?

[Scarlet_Rose]

The label on a package should state if it is second cut timothy hay (most of it is first cut). It is sweeter smelling and rabbits usually really dig it. Another thing to be sure of if your rabbit will not eat hay is to be sure there are no dental problems and have the molars checked with an otoscope.

[CheryllovesNeo]

Where do you find this second cut Timothy hay? My Lil adorable monster is 4 and a half months and he pees on his hay. .. he also just got neutered.. but I put it everywhere. Near his liter.. hanging over the litter bin… and in a dish with lettuce carrots and pellets and he pees there after he picks out the good stuff

[CheryllovesNeo]

Where do you find this second cut Timothy hay? My Lil adorable monster is 4 and a half months and he pees on his hay. .. he also just got neutered.. but I put it everywhere. Near his liter.. hanging over the litter bin… and in a dish with lettuce carrots and pellets and he pees there after he picks out the good stuff

[Stickerbunny]

Well, it’s really common for rabbits to pick out the good stuff and leave the rest. He’ll probably do it with any hay. The way to fix that is to hang it up in a hay rack so he can’t easily pull it ALL out and after he chooses the choice bits, take it out, fluff it up and put it right back in the hay rack and voila, it’ll be brand new hay again

. I buy hay in 60-80lb bales for $5 so I just put mine directly into the litter box and they waste a lot by picking out the best bits and peeing on the rest, but I don’t mind, cause it’s so cheap.

Also, it’s better to make your own thread than to necro old ones. This thread was started in 2008.

[Sarita]

Hi Cheryl & Loki – we ask that members do not respond to old threads – this thread is from 2008 – members get confused because they are responding to the initial post…it’s always best too not to piggyback your question on another member’s thread as well unless it’s a question about the post. Thanks. I am going to lock this thread.

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