bunny not eating much hay??

[Delaney]

I’ve been really worried about my bunny mochi these past two days. he is about 3 and a half months old and two days ago I ran out of alfalfa hay which is what the vet said to give him along with unlimited young rabbit pellets until he was about 6-7 months old, so that’s what I’ve been doing. I usually mix in some orchard grass hay so when I have to transition him to regular adult rabbit hay it won’t be so hard. he usually only cares about the alfalfa though. when I ran out two days ago he wouldn’t eat any other type of hay, he’d just sniff it maybe eat a little bite then hop off and find his pellets. usually when I come back after a while of refilling his hay he’ll have eaten half of the rack at least, and when we went out to get more alfalfa hay yesterday morning the regular store we get it from was out, so we went and got it from a different store with a different brand, cause they didn’t have the oxbow brand. I’ve put only that in his hay rack to entice him and not mixed it but he still only hopped up to it, and took a little bite then hopped away. I want his digestive track to keep moving okay and I’ve even taken out his pellets for now so he’ll eat the hay, but I just don’t think he cares. how do I get him to eat it?? I’m worried my baby will get sick

[Luna]

I would keep mixing in the orchard hay, just in case he doesn’t like the new brand of alfalfa. Whenever you can, try to top off his hay with new hay so that there is a scent of fresh hay to entice him to eat. Hay is definitely important, but I would keep giving him his pellets so that he has something in his stomach in case he continues to only pick at the hay.

[Delaney]

thank you so much!! he actually did begin to eat his alfalfa again once I refilled it and only put the new alfalfa in it so I think he’s okay!

[sarahthegemini]

Phew! If this happens again, you could try out some hay toppers to entice him to eat, for example dandelion. Or stuff hay into boxes/tubes etc. You could also try out hay based toys. Oxbow for example do a line of Timothy based toys including a carrot made entirely out of Timothy hay so he could chew it and throw it around and (hopefully!) eat it. Hay Cookies might help spark an appetite for hay too!

[Delaney]

yes those are great ideas too!! I was worried for him but luckily he has been eating his hay normally since, he cleared out the whole rack in a couple hours yesterday! but thank you, if this happens again I will definitely be using the ideas you gave. I think he was a little too fixed on his pellets for a bit ahah

[Author]

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