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FORUM DIET & CARE 18 wk (4.5 month) old bunny special diet, question

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    • JuJooGuppy
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        So I have a question still for anyone with experience with growing bunnies especially that cant have pellets.. I know alfalfa needs to be cut off at around the 6-7 month mark, and plan to transition fully at that time. Currently, Bug weighs around 2.5 – 3 lbs, hard to get an exact measurement but that was roughly accurate. He is on NO pellets due to his intolerance for them.

        We feed him 4 * daily of 1/3 cup greens, though I slightly over pack the 1/3 measuring cup. I reason that he has less nutrients than normal buns w/o the pellets… at 3 lbs he should be getting roughly 1.5 cups of veggies, so we are measuring 1 1/3, but with over packing its closer to 1.5 or possibly a bit over that. Does this seem a bit much..? He seems to be doing fine, his poops have been a bit softer and not bone dry since starting on greens, but that hasnt changed regardless of amounts. They are not excessively wet or something though.

        In addition, he gets a decent handful of alfalfa in the morning, and evening, with small pinches throughout the day, with unlimited of all other hay types. I do limit the seeds from the oat hay as too many has caused him to make excess ceco’s.

        My question is mainly the alfalfa… with him not being on pellets, I wonder if I should be doing a large amount of the alfalfa, or near unlimited. He goes absolutely bonkers for the alfalfa, and makes me feel like he is excessively hungry lol. The Oxbow bag states that a 3-5 lbs bunny should have the bag last 2 weeks i believe.. which is fairly close to accurate i think. But then again, he doesnt get pellets, so I am thinking maybe we should increase his access a bit?

        He doesnt eat a ton of the other hays, more of a ‘im really hungry’ thing currently which isnt surprising.

        Thanks as always!


      • Wick & Fable
        Moderator
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          May I ask the exact elimination of pellet reason? For Wick, our solution was switching to the adult pellet very young (less calcium, timothy based instead of alfalfa) and only feeding limited, rather than unlimited. He also only got timothy hay. As a result Wick did become underweight, but this was solved easily by doing critical care feeding for a week for weight gain. He maintains healthy weight now.

          For veggies, if the poos are not super wet, it’s fine. I, including many people, just eye ball it, so it’s possible I give him more or less. Wick definitely gets more veggies than he should, but he is not dissuaded from hay nor does his poo reflect poor eating habits.

          I’d keep with majority or all alfalfa for now since he’s still less than 6mo. Once that mark hits, transition it out slowly and use other hays instead.

          Have you consulted a rabbit vet about this diet?

          The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.


        • JuJooGuppy
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          52 posts Send Private Message

            Forgot to reply, sorry!

            I am not sure what it is about pellets exactly, we just know that he went through GI stasis to a degree that the motility drugs did not really help, and the vet we had went to wasnt sure he would even get better… we pulled him through it ourselves thankfully, but when we started re introducing low levels of pellets, he started slowing down again on the pooping. Last time we gave him just a few pellets he seemed to be slowing back down again.

            To be fair, we may have been slightly paranoid and viewing a slight slow down as more than it was, I am not sure. I dont think so, though, and since he has been good to go without the pellets, we decided that was the best option.

            We didup his alfalfa a fair bit the last day or so, but now he has had a bit of excess cecotropes.. so I think we will be backing off a bit, just got to find the right balance for the little guy.

            Thank you for your reply!

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        FORUM DIET & CARE 18 wk (4.5 month) old bunny special diet, question