Changing pellets…

[earthisours]

Hi there,

I had both of my bunnies on an okay pellet, not anything totally unhealthy, but defintely not the best out there. (I’m a poor univeristy student, on a min. wage job with barely any hours… I’m doing the best I can, especially since my parents would never help me buy a more expensive feed)

But as some of you may know, one of my rabbits doesn’t eat hay. Nothing at all, pretty much. So I decided to move him onto a high quality feed (the Bunny Basics one. I’m buying from the internet next time, the only place that sells it around here is way too expensive. I’m going into the red already… But really, $30 CAD for 10 pounds?), so while I try to get him to eat the timothy hay pellets (I’ve given up at this point with the actual strands. I just want him to get some sort of hay), at least I know he’s on a good quality feed from now on. I can’t afford to give it to both buns, but my other one is doing well, as usual.

But this bunny, as usual, is extremely extremely difficult. He won’t take ANY sort of diet change, unless it’s some new veggies. Even introducing a new treat to him is hard. And he’s been really bad about the pellet change. I’ve been doing it very very slowly, just mixing less than a 1/3 of his food with the Oxbow stuff. But he’s too smart, he can tell… I’m not kidding when I say he spits out the Oxbow pellets, I saw it with my own eyes. He’ll eat every last bit of the old, but none of the new.

Anyone have any tips (and tricks) to get a stubborn bun to eat some new pellets?

[bunnytowne]

Yes buns are smart.  Some just pick out the old pellets and refuse the new timmy ones.  No suggestions. 

Just keep mixing it til there is none left to mix and then he will be on timmy.  And have to eat it.  With doing it that way he will no doubt have to start eating the new pellets

[KatnipCrzy]

Both of my bunnies that I adopted as adults had to transition to Oxbow- and they seemed to prefer their “junK’ pellets at first but just keep offering/mixing.  And they did the same thing- pick out what they were familiar with.  And since they are not as healthy I often wonder if they are like humans and prefering something not so healthy (junk pellets/candy car) to the healthier opportunity (Oxbow pellets/celery stick)?

[Scarlet_Rose]

Have you tried making a mush of both and mixing it up? It would be worth a try since your little stinker is picking around the new pellets to eat the old. Also, something to try is canned pumpkin, that will add fiber and nutrients to the diet since you have a non-hay eater and perhaps mixing that with pellets with make your bun eat the pellets irregardless.

[earthisours]

I can try mushing them together…

Oh yes, I’m already planning that, getting pumpkin, but I don’t think it’d work mixing it in. >.> He adores carrots as a treat, so I grated some up (has no front teeth) to see what happens if I mix it with the pellets. No luck. He still left behind the new pellets, and any carrot bits stuck to them.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Awe bummer! The little stinker – I would try the mush and see how that goes.

[Sarita]

I think you should just offer him the new pellets and don’t offer him the old pellets and see what happens.

[Beka27]

How do the new pellets compare to the shape and size of the old. I forgot about his missing teeth, I wonder if that might have something to do with him not liking new things?

[earthisours]

I think there’s a good chance he’d starve himself for a bit, Sarita. But I don’t want to risk that, cause he doesn’t eat hay… >.>

Uh, they’re a tiny bit thinner, but not really noticable. But they are longer. I tried cutting some in half, to see if he’ll eat those. No luck.

Ugh, this bun can be quite the stubborn fellow… I remember some years ago the food I buy was out of stock, so I had to buy a small bag of another food to hold them over. He refused to eat it. Those days, he ate hay every now and then, and we gave him tons of veggies to hold him over, but still. >.> He’s quite willing to nearly starve himself.

[MooBunnay]

He sounds like quite the martyr! Do you cut up the hay for him into little pieces to eat? I have a friend that also does this for her bunny who doesn’t have any front teeth. I agree that it is a good idea to slowly phase in the new pellets, but I think that at some point your going to have to reduce the old pellets to almost nothing, because eventually he’s got to learn to eat the new ones, I can’t think of much else other than him deciding he is hungry enough to eat the new ones that will get him to eat them.

[earthisours]

Yeah, I cut up his hay. I tried all sorts of hay, too…

How long can a dwarf rabbit go without food without it being dangerous? Just so I know?

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