Young Rabbit Won’t Eat Timothy

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This topic has 10sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 3 months ago by mschoonover11.

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- 12/31/2017 at 12:58 PM
  mschoonover11
  Participant
  288 posts
  Hello
  My bunny is going to be turning three months soon so I want to get him to start eating more Timothy hay. The breeder I got him from was feeding him Timothy hay since he was seven weeks old but I read on the internet that baby rabbits should be having alfalfa hay. I decided to do a mix and he would start eating the alfalfa and not the Timothy. He would start to overproduce cecotropes as he also was eating alfalfa pellets. Now, I am currently giving him a 1/4 cup of pellets in the morning, and 1/8 of a cup at night, which stopped a lot of the cecotrope production. I also gave him Timothy hay for the day, and a handful of alfalfa in the morning and another handful at night. I was really happy because it stopped a lot of cecotropes and he was eating more Timothy hay. But about four days ago, he would just start eating all of the pellets that were in his bowl, and when the time came in the day to serve him alfalfa hay, he’d devour it like if he’s never eaten hay before. He was eating out of a hay rack, so we decided to put the hay on the floor of his cage because we thought that he wouldn’t eat cause of the hay rack. This didn’t work either. Then again, I fell in the trap of giving him more alfalfa hay and the cecotrope production started again. He’s even starting to get more aggressive so could this have to do with him not being neutered yet ? He is still too young, and I was initially planning to do it in February. My other guess could be that he doesn’t like the brand of Timothy hay that I’m feeding him which is Oxbow. His alfalfa hay is Oxbow as well. I bought 10 pounds of each hay and it was pretty expensive to ship it to my house so I was planning on switching to small pets select, but that will just cost a lot of money and waste a lot of hay. Any tips or guesses on what the problem could be ? It’s really been stressing me out!
- 12/31/2017 at 1:13 PM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  Honestly I would just try different hays. It will cost a bit to begin with but you can’t force a rabbit to eat hay if he doesn’t like it and you’ll run into more issues (that cost more) if he doesn’t eat enough.
- 12/31/2017 at 1:16 PM
  mschoonover11
  Participant
  288 posts
  Thanks sarahthegemini.
  
  So do you mean switching type of hay, or brand of hay?
  Because if it’s necessary I’m going to have to do either one
- 12/31/2017 at 1:38 PM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  Try both. Try hay blends too. A lot of buns like orchard and oat hay. So those are good ones to try. Oxbow also does a orchard mixed with western Timothy that my boys go insane for.
- 12/31/2017 at 1:51 PM
  mschoonover11
  Participant
  288 posts
  Thank u Asriel and Bombur.
  
  My bunny has just really been concerning me and hasn’t even been eating his cecotropes. So I’m most likely going to have to switch the hay, but I honestly don’t really want to introduce him to more hay as he’s shown that he’s very picky. What I’m going to do is most likely switch him to small pets select as it’s second cut and oxbow is not first, second, or third cut.
  
  But luckily his first appointment with the vet is coming up so I will tell him all of my concerns but thank you so much for your help?
- 12/31/2017 at 2:20 PM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  You could try different brands or different types. Whichever is easier My rabbits love the Timothy I got from a farm but aren’t crazy for Oxbow Timothy. Oxbow orchard they go wild for though!
- 12/31/2017 at 2:28 PM
  mschoonover11
  Participant
  288 posts
  Haha ? bunnies are so picky! Mine hates oxbow Timothy. I still want to do a mix of Timothy and alfalfa so I think I’m just going to have to switch the Timothy hay for a different brand as he loves the oxbow alfalfa.
- 12/31/2017 at 5:40 PM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  A lot of bunnies (including mine) much prefer Orchard Grass to Timothy. My buns are fed exclusively Oxbow Orchard.
- 12/31/2017 at 7:10 PM
  Rain
  Participant
  547 posts
  Sometimes buns just don’t like certain brands of hays at all. My little guy turns his nose at any type of Oxbow hay. I bought some cheap Forti Diet Timothy Hay which I don’t think a lot of people on here know about, but he loves it. It’s best to get the smallest amounts of each type of hay until he finds one that he loves. By the way, a way to quickly stop the cecals is a tiny tiny amount of oats(Just dry, plain oatmeal) mixed in with his food. It really helps! I was very doubtful of it at first, but it stops clumpy poos right away. Just maybe something until you can see your vet or buy the new hay. Maybe you could also try not giving him pellets until he eats his hay. He might get a little hungry and give in, and then get happy to be rewarded by pellets later.
- 12/31/2017 at 10:05 PM
  mschoonover11
  Participant
  288 posts
  LittlePuffyTail, maybe that’s the reason. But I actually noticed my oxbow hay is very dry and one of the timothy heads was black… I’m going to have to see if I can return it. I was referred by someone to small pets select. I heard the hay is softer and greener, so I’ll think I’ll go with them.
- 12/31/2017 at 10:16 PM
  mschoonover11
  Participant
  288 posts
  This was so helpful Rain! Thank you!!!
  
  I think my bun and your bun may be twins … My oxbow looks totally dry, yellow, (timothy hay is supposed to be green), and one of the timothy heads was black! I ordered from drs foster and smith… I’m not saying oxbow is a bad brand at all because the alfalfa I ordered from them was totally fine. But I’ve heard some cases similar to mine about the oxbow timothy not coming fresh. I think I’m going to go with small pets select as I heard their hay is better quality in general. The only reason I’m feeding my 3 month old timothy, is because 1, he was overproducing timothy with the alfalfa, and 2, I want the full transition to timothy to be easier.
  
  And actually, I fed him oatmeal today! my breeder told me to feed him a 1/2 teaspoon daily, but I’m currently feeding it twice a week.
  
  And one question for you: Do you think I should buy him the small pets select timothy hay before I visit the vet, or after to make sure it’s the right hay for him? I just don’t want to switch the brand of hay too much to not make my bun confused
  
  Again thx for the help!!!
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