Curbing sweet tooth

[Clarajb]

 Hi!

i just adopted an adorable and outgoing 11 month old buck. Until I adopted him he was on a sweet, alfalfa only diet:  alfalfa pellets with colored pieces in them (1 cup a day) and condensed alfalfa cubes(one very few days ).  He was also given yogurt treats every day. Needless to say he has not been at all interested in the orchard grass hay I have offered all day and is only minimally interested in the Timothy pellets. 

does anyone have any suggestions of how to interest him in hay? Will he eventually eat when he is hungry? I know how important hay is for both their GI system and their dental health.

 

[LBJ10]

I wouldn’t panic just yet. Will he eat loose alfalfa hay? Perhaps try sprinkling some on top of the other hay to entice him. If he is hungry enough, he should start eating. At least one would hope. What brand of pellets are you trying? Some timothy-based ones are sweeter than others.

[tobyluv]

Anytime that you switch pellets, you are supposed to mix some of the new in with the old. I believe that you start with 75% of the old and 25% of the new, then gradually change the percentages until you are feeding only the new. Can you pick the colored bits out of the alfala pellets so that you can still use those pellets? One cup of pellets is too much for an adult rabbit. By 11 months, he should be given amounts according to his weight. There are different guidelines, but one says to feed 1/4 cup pellets for a 5 – 6 pound rabbit, then increase or decrease the amount if the weigh more or less.

Orchard grass is one of the sweeter hays, but you might need to try some other varieties to see if they tempt your rabbit. You could try a light sprinkling of the alfalfa on top of other hays or use some hay toppers like they sell in the BB store.

Yogurt treats should never be given, but you could give him small pieces of fruit, such as apple or pear, just don’t give him much. If you limit his pellets and keep a good supply of hay, possibly a variety of hay, he will hopefully start eating the hay and timothy pellets.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I would start by eliminating the yogurt drops-by far the most harmful. Switch to fruit or dried cranberries/raisins to replace. Then switch pellets-it’s recommended to switch pellets slowly; if your able to great, but in my experience they just eat the ones they prefer and leave the healthy ones, so if that happens, just provide healthy ones. Then worry about hay; alfalfa hay is fine for rabbits, you can continue to provide it mixed wiht other grassy hays to entice him to eat them, and even sprinkle bunny potpourri on it (available on this site) which helps entice them to eat hay.

Welcome! Congrats on your new addition, and Kudos for knowing so much about diet!!

[Clarajb]

What great ideas, thank you all!
I am using Zupreem and used 2 TB old food and one TB new food (almost 1/4 cup total). He is a Holland so a fairly small guy. Eliminated yogurt drops. I will look into the potpourri and consider loose alfalfa.
He did finish the pellets a little while ago, so that’s a step in the right direction!

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