eats less hay and more grass

[MrBilboBagginsMammy]

 since I’ve started letting Bilbo run about outside he eats loads of grass but then when he has to come inside or overnight etc he barely eats his hay now or drinks much of his water either but I don’t know why? 

 

He still wees and poos fine as far asnim aware.

[FlemishMom]

Grass has more fluid in it than hay, which is why he is drinking less. Sometimes grass may give a bunny diarrhea; as long as he is not having diarrhea I believe it’s just fine he’s eating less hay. You may also want to check your hay stock . . . . is it keeping well?

[MrBilboBagginsMammy]

 his  hay is always fresh as I refresh it twice a day for him. I never realised rabbits can get diarrhoea from eating grass as isnt this their natural diet from the wild? 

[FlemishMom]

Their natural diet is from the wild, but there are some grasses that can give them diarrhea or just give them diarrhea because they haven’t had so much all at once for awhile (and iceberg lettuce certainly will!) one thing people often forget is that a rabbit in the wild eats a lot of roots along with the greens, that’s why all the digging behavior.

[Monkeybun]

Remember also that our rabbits are domesticated, and have had certain things bred out of them. What they eat/do in the wild really has no bearing on what they eat/do now.

[Eucalyptus]

Posted By Monkeybun on 04/29/2013 04:16 PM
Remember also that our rabbits are domesticated, and have had certain things bred out of them. What they eat/do in the wild really has no bearing on what they eat/do now.

This really is not true at all, in my opinion, or we’d all need to keep our bunnies on a strict hay and pellet-only diet, which is obviously not ideal.

On topic; grass is basically a fresh version of hay. So your bun is getting a whole lot more fluids than hay (which actually minimally dehydrates them), which is the reason for drinking less. There’s some ideas that grass isn’t as effective with bunny GI tract as hay because of the different texture, but it’s not really proven either way. Getting a mix actually sounds really great, and it’s healthy! As mentioned before, as long as there’s no poopy butt or diarrhea, I think it’s totally fine. Also, make sure the grass doesn’t have any pesticides on it and you’re good to go.

[Bam]

It’s often recommended that you start giving just a little fresh grass in the spring, when the rabbit hasn’t had any all winter. Otherwise the GI-tract could get upset, just as it could with any other sudden radical switch of food-types. But you seem to be past that stage. Perhaps you should keep an eye on his weight though, because spring grass is very rich (at least it is to horses, horses will get fat and possibly have stomach-issues if you don’t limit their grazing in spring/early summer).

A rabbit in the wild forage in many diffrent places, they cover quite a big area every day and that gives them dietary variation. They don’t eat just grass, they eat twigs and any number of wild plants as well as garden-greens in people’s gardens.

[Author]

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