Any tips on encouraging hay eating?

[Willow]

Hello, every bun!

I have a 6-month-old bun who eats hay but not that much as I’m told they do. His poops are sometimes small but sometimes normal so I really want to encourage him to eat hay. I have 2 hay feeders 1 in the litter box and one outside the litter box. I also put some oregano on his hay which also encourages him but then he’ll just find it boring again🙄😐. Please let me know if you have any ideas!😊

Thanks in advance!

[Wick & Fable]

At what time(s) and how much non-hay food items does he get? It’s common for rabbits to prefer other food items above hay, so if they are a bit more prevalent or spaced out in certain ways daily, it can impact hay eating.

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.

[Willow]

He gets 1/2 cup veggies at 7 am in the mornings, 1/8 cup of pellets at around 11 am, and 1/2 cup veggies at 5:30 pm. After that sometimes around 12 am I see him eating hay.

[LBJ10]

Is that him in the picture? Is he a dwarf breed like a Holland? At 6 months, dwarf breeds are pretty much done growing. You can start transitioning to an adult diet. If you haven’t already, that would mean switching to an adult pellet.

[Willow]

Hi! That’s him at around 4 months old and he’s not a dwarf breed he is just a holland lop:)

[LBJ10]

Holland lops are a dwarf breed. He should be close to full grown (size-wise) around 6 months. They continue to fill out for a few months after that, but it’s totally appropriate to transition to an adult pellet at 6 months.

As the others said below, spacing things out so he has a chance to get hungry is something else you can try.

[MooseMouse]

You could try switching up the brand of hay. My guys seem to get bored of their hay sometimes so i rotate 3 different brands to keep things new and that did the trick for me

[Wick & Fable]

The non-hay food spacing you mention could be a contributor. 7am and 11am are pretty close together. If he had 7am and 5:30PM only, that would probably encourage more hay eating. It’s possible that between these feedings and his natural sleep time, there is actually not many opportunities where he’s active/hungry/bored enough to eat hay.

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.

[DanaNM]

I second Wick’s suggestion about food spacing, as well as trying a different hay type or source. I normally get hay by the bale, and when I was traveling recently I had to get some pet-store bagged hay (from a reputable brand) that looked great to my eye, but all my spoiled buns turned their nose up at it.

. . . 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.  

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Yes, spacing his meals and offering different hay helped for us too.

Sometimes he doesn’t eat much hay during the day, then we postpone his dinner half an hour to an hour, so he starts to eat a lot of hay. I’m sure everybunny would be seriously offended if they knew about this strategy…

 

We experimented with types of hay too and found out he likes hay with dandelion in it. He’s very fussy about the hay being fresh, but he’s easily fooled as well.

We put his hay in a large wooden hay tower which is next to his litter box. Rabbits love to eat on the John 🙄

He ignores the hay if it’s been in the hay tower for a day. After each day we empty the hay tower into his litter box, and he starts to eat it again. Somehow there’s this magical transition, and the hay becomes the best ever! 😆

[DanaNM]

Ellie my buns are the same way! If it’s left in their rack for more than 12 hours, they ignore it, but then I transfer it to their box and fluff it up, and all the sudden it’s delicious again!

. . . 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.  

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