Bunny wont eat Hay, HELP

[Thatoneartkid]

My Rabbit Lux is about 3 years old and we’ve had him for about 6 months. Before he lived with us he was in a bad situation (small cage, unlimited pellets with seeds and corn, the only veggie he was being given was kale, no play time) but since we got him we’ve had no problems until recently.

We switched his diet to unlimited timothy hay, a better Timothy based pellet that we only gave him in small amounts every other day, lots of romane lettuce. About 2 weeks ago we stopped giving him pellets because his smelt a little weird and we thought they had gone bad, at the same time our house was getting hotter then usual but we were monitoring his temperature heavily. We saw that he was barely eating and thought it was the heat because he use to love his hay. We moved his cage to a different room (he was in the living room because his cage is so big but we moved him to our bedroom because it has air conditioning) and he perked up and wanted to play more but still wasn’t eating any hay. At first we thought it was his stomach or teeth and were really worried but he was still eating his greens every day just fine, then we got more pellets to see if he would eat them and he went crazy. He was jumping up and down a nd wouldn’t let me move his dish he ate them really fast and was super happy which was great but he still wont eat any hay!!

We tried mixing his hay with pellets but hell just pull all the hay out to get to the pellets. We’ve tried Timothy hay toys, and I tried putting tiny bits of hay mixed in the little bit of pellets I’m giving him but he just wont eat it. Today we bought Oat hay, Botanical Hay, and Orchard Grass to see if he just wanted a change and at first he seemed excited and sniffed all of them but he wont put any of them in his mouth.

Most of the advice I’ve gotten is to ween him off the pellets but hes already getting so little (we’ve always only given him enough to cover the bottom of his dish. Maybe an 1/8th cup every 2-3 days but we’ve recently been giving him some every day just so he eats something) and I’m really scared he just wont eat. I dont know what else to do and I know he should be eating a lot more then he is but this is all so sudden and im really worried.

Any advice??? Suggestions??? Anyone gone through something like this before???????

[Wick & Fable]

Selective eating can be indicative of dental issues. Hay, unlike veggies and pellets, is sand-paper like in texture, which is how it’s able to grind down rabbit teeth. When a rabbit chews hay, it needs to really grind it down to break it up, so dental problems are possible. He may feel fine eating soft veggies and crunchable-breakable pellets, but something that needs to be grinded down, like hay, may be painful if he has overgrown incisors and/or molar spurs.

Also based on his low hay diet prior to being with you, I would not be surprised if he had overgrown incisors and/or molar spurs. I suggest going to a rabbit savvy vet to look at both his incisors and taking a look at his back molars.

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.

[Minty]

Try handfeeding oat hay. My bunny sometimes doesn’t start on a new hay type unless we hand feed her. 

Can also try handfeeding alfalfa hay.

[Thatoneartkid]

We took him to the vet when we got him so they could check him over and his teeth were fine then, and he uses his teeth a lot, he tried to force his cage door open a lot and we have to stop him, but thank you we will definitely do that

[Wick & Fable]

It’s great that you took him to the vet once you got him. Rabbit teeth constantly grow (like your finger nails), so a lot can happen in 6 months. Wick gets his bottom incisors (bottom two front teeth) grinded down to the gum level (you can’t see them anymore) once a month typically. It takes two to three weeks and they are back at full length! So speedy teeth growth.

For pulling and tugging things, rabbits use mainly their incisors, which are the front four teeth (the buck teeth). Hay is more important on the molars, which are all the teeth you can’t see. So even with active cage chewing and pulling, his molars may still need maintenance.

Also try your best to minimize the cage tugging behavior. Rabbits can actually make their teeth and jaw crooked from doing that too much, since their teeth constantly grow. Crooked teeth lead to uneven grinding (teeth don’t all touch each other when chewing hay), and this also leads to some molars needing human intervention to be grinded, because the mouths natural chewing motion can’t do 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.

[Thatoneartkid]

UPDATE

We took him to our vet and his teeth are perfectly fine, they cant file them cause there already really short and they said he might just be being picky because hes perfectly healthy from what they can see

So any suggestions on how to get my baby to eat more hay???? I dont want to only feed him pellets and greens but I dont want to starve him

[Nattybun]

Have you tried alfalfa king’s wheat, barley and oat hay. I have the most fussy rabbit he was happily eating Timothy hay for a few years then just stopped. I tried every hay i could purchase but he loves this.

[Wick & Fable]

It’s great to hear that he was seen by a vet and his teeth are looking fine.

Rabbits are foraging creatures. When you presented the different types of hay, did you present them all at once, one at a time, and how long did you leave it out for?

I wonder if you mix some types together, he would be more likely to eat some because he would use his nose to assess multiple choices, therefore the “best” choice may seem more appealing.

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.

[Thatoneartkid]

I bought some Oat, Botanical, and Orchard grass and I tried to hand feed him each individually but he didn’t like that, so then I put some of each in his hay manger, not mixed just next to each other, so he could pick his favourite but it all went untouched for 2 days and she still only ate pellets, I’m trying each hay individually now cause I thought maybe having all three to choose from was overwhelming??? I havent tried mixing any of them yet cause he doesn’t seem to like any of them so I didn’t think it would help

I havent tried any Alfalfa hay yet cause I was told it wasn’t very good for adult bunnys, but I’m thinking maybe I should get some and if he likes it I’ll just mix it with the other hay?? I just dont want his whole diet to be junk food

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