Doesn’t like timothy pellets?

[Paul]

My Benji just won’t eat timothy based pellets unless he absolutely has to. He’ll munch on them here and there, but he’ll turn his nose up at them at feeding time. He’ll eat his timothy hay and his leafy greens and celery, and if I give a little helping of Kaytee Fiesta, he’ll pick out all the tasty bits, and he’ll eat alfalfa pellets, but that’s sparing and I don’t keep it on hand. This lack of eating timothy pellets may have contributed to him getting some gas that kept him from eating for a day. He did drink water, though. Gave him some Gas-X (cherry flavor, he seemed to not only not mind me pipetting it into his mouth, but like it!), and he was back to eating lettuce and treats and picking unenthusiastically at his timothy pellets like a child pushes peas around his plate (Don’t worry, I’ll be calling a vet about it. It’s about time for his checkup anyways).

In the meantime, what can I do to get him to eat his timothy pellets? (I’ve tried several brands, he won’t eat any of them)

Pic of the bun that’s offended by his food.

[Sirius&Luna]

Not eating pellets shouldn’t cause gas, as pellets should be a minor part of the diet anyway. My rabbits get a tablespoon each of pellets a day. How many pellets are you giving him, and how old is he?

Just leave him with his portion of timothy pellets throughout the day, and don’t top it up with alfalfa ones. What is kaytee fiesta? If it’s a muesli mix, you really shouldn’t be giving that to him as, as you’ve seen, they pick out the bits they like (usually unhealthy) and leave other bits. If he is older than 6 months then he really only needs a small helping of timothy pellets everyday.

P.S. He’s adorable! All that fluff! 

[Bam]

I agree with S&L. It’s more likely the Kaytee Fiesta or possibly the celery that’s causing gas.
The kid pushing peas around on a plate is a perfect analogy. As long as he eats the pellets eventually, it’s fine. Buns are like kids, they want the bunny equivalents of French fries and icecream for dinner.

I agree about the adorability too =D

[Paul]

He’s been eating more timothy pellets lately. He’s still not as excited about them as he once was, but he is actually eating them. Normally, I’ll give him a handful in the morning and at night, but he doesn’t often eat it all. It’s just difficult to not give him treats in the morning because he’s so excited about it! He’ll run laps around my feet (frequently running headlong into my feet while I’m walking) waiting for his bowl to be filled with tasty treats.

[Sirius&Luna]

My bunnies actually see their Timothy pellets as treats ? they get so excited about them, I’m sure if you persist he’ll come round!

[joea64]

I recommend switching over to Oxbow myself – those are plain timothy-based pellets, nothing to distract the buns from eating what they should, and they’re what I feed my own two. They’ve been less wildly excited recently than they used to be, but in their case (as suggested on another thread when I commented on it), it’s likely “food security”, i.e., being confident enough in the stability of their daily food sources that they don’t have to go wild over them anymore (except for treats!)

[Author]

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