Posted By Avantika on 12/02/2014 5:48 AM
I first introduced hay to Moshu a few months back. In July. She was a keen hay eater till October. I suspected that the bales at the pet shop might have grew old and less palatable and hence, she isnt keen to have it anymore. During this time, I force fed her hay..I am really sorry I did this but I feared she would go into stasis. I’d lay her on my thighs and put hay strands in her mouth. Sometimes..even push it inside her mouth. I did this out of no other reason but panic.
On Friday I brought her the greenest and freshest hay I have ever brought her..These bales were imported recently. It smells like how timothy hay should.. and I neither see nor smell any molds on it. she gobbled two trays of that hay on friday. A day later and till now, she doesnt want to have any of it and I am again panicked into force feeding her, since yesterday, she had diarrhea and its crucial to keep a bunny on a diet of hay, grass pellets and water following a week of the diarrhea episode.. But she isnt having any of it by herself and its getting extremely difficult to make her have it anyhow, I have to resort to give her vegetables. She’s on an appetite stimulant (Practin)…despite that she isnt having any hay..not even out of hunger.
Can anyone give me any insight why she could be detesting hay so much and more importantly, how can I change this ?
PLEASE HELP.
Hello, your hay issue is a common issue with buns. Two of my three girls have repeatedly snubbed hay for periods of time. From what I can tell, it generally happens when they’re spoiled, but that doesn’t have to be the case. If her diet is accurate for her body weight concerning pellets and greens, then she should naturally be hungry throughout the day and chomp on some hay. If you’re giving her too much pellet feed, she might deem it unnecessary. Or, she might just not be interested and is bored with it. For me, it was the spoiling issue. So I cut back on the pellets to a proper amount, absolutely no treats, and the usual amount of greens. When that didn’t work, I switched to orchard grass, then weened them back into Timothy. Orchard grass is fine to use full time, but it’s a little more rich than Timothy and might mess with their weight if they have weight issues. But, they’re diet sounds good to me, so a switch to orchard grass mixed with Timothy will probably solve your problem. Hope this helps!
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