Usage of front paws while eating hay?

Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS. SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED. We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best.

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time.

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about? Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules.

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 8sd replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 3 months ago by ThorBunny.

Viewing 8 reply threads

Author

Messages
- 01/12/2018 at 8:24 AM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5820 posts
  Do your rabbits actively use their front paws when eating hay, to brush hay aside, hold hay down to tug pieces up, etc.? It seems like a logical, instinctual thing to do when foraging, but Wick is completely inept about using his front paws. He’s exclusively shovel nose and head-bob when he tries to get pieces of hay out. He eats hay stacks instead of loose hay, so the hay packed together. When he grips a piece he wants on a large chunk, he just bobs and thrashes his head around like a head-banger, rather than putting a paw on this haystack (which is very large, so he doesn’t need to have the complexity to aim his paw and anchor it) so he can yank his piece out…. but also, Wick is not very bright and is very tunnel-visioned with food, so it could be that. I love Wick, but baseline from what I know and have seen/read about rabbits… he’s not bright, haha.
  
  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.
- 01/12/2018 at 8:28 AM
  Muchelle
  Participant
  1141 posts
  K’s the same with food. Just headbutts and tosses and tears until he has his perfect bite. But otherwise he’s actually a smart boy, given that he has no corrugated cortex
- 01/12/2018 at 8:29 AM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  hahahaha Quincy was the smartest bun ever! Nothing got past him. He even taught Ophelia to drag her litter box away from the gate barrier and to flip over the water bowl. When we were bonding, I saw him trying to use HIS paws to clean HER face! I was amazed, it was like he was trying to brush her. At least, we thought he was a very smart bunny.
  
  Ophelia has been known to shovel nose into a pile so that you can only see her ears sticking out…its actually quite funny! But I have also seen her put one paw on a pile and yank out strands, and she does dig through piles and push/shove it around to get to what she wants. She eats loose hay though so maybe that’s why she digs through it!
- 01/12/2018 at 8:32 AM
  GarfyTheLop
  Participant
  171 posts
  Garf is exactly the same Wick, just pushes his head in and ends up covered in little bits of hay
- 01/12/2018 at 8:39 AM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  YES!!! Asriel does this. He has one of those feeders that has a bowl for pellets attached, so the hay stands pretty high. he’ll always look for his favorite pieces with his front paws. He also squishes it down if it’s too high and munch until it dips below the holding bars. Bombur isn’t that smart though xD he always tries to stick his nose between the bars.
- 01/12/2018 at 11:22 AM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  Bombur uses his front paws, Blue uses his nose and front paws, but Badger…. He uses his entire face to shovel hay around
- 01/12/2018 at 11:40 AM
  Q8bunny
  Participant
  6345 posts
  Chewie is bright, but will not use his front paws for eating – only his booplesnoot.
- 01/12/2018 at 1:15 PM
  joea64
  Participant
  1423 posts
  Panda loves to stick her front paws in the salad bowl when she’s eating her greens. Fernando, not quite as much, but I’ve seen him use his “hands” too. And both of them dig actively in the haystack when they’re looking for nice pieces to munch.
- 01/13/2018 at 7:41 AM
  ThorBunny
  Participant
  824 posts
  Thor takes a cute sorting approach to hay piles She will come up to new hay and dig back “unacceptable” pieces with her front paws until she finds a good one, then she’ll eat it and repeat. Its super funny because if the hay pile is large she can end up sitting on a large stack of hay under her belly of “discards” while her front end is still munching away. Anyone elses buns do this?
Author

Messages