feeding questions

[flippersmom]

OK, these questions may sound silly, but I just want to make sure I’m not overthinking/underthinking anything!!!!!

My 3 yr old English Angor that I’ve had for a month has, as reported by her previous owner, always refused to eat any fresh greens/vegs/fruits!!  I have confirmed this over the past month by offering her pretty much everything on the ok for bunny list!!!!!  I feed her only Oxbow Basic T pellets and am wondering how much should she be eating in 1 day??  Some days she worries me by only eating a very small amount, while others she acts as though she’s starving!!!!!

She also appears to be allergic to Timothy hay!?!?  When I give it to her, I notice her eyes seem more watery/runny and her skin around her eyes, nose and mouth seem much pinker!!!!  I  tried her on some Orchard Grass and she seemed much better, so now I have only been buying her Orchard Grass!!!  Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions to what other types of hay I should try???

And last, I have been giving her papya tablets, as had her previous owner.  How often should they be given???  I try to give her one every other day (what she is used to), but can’t really find any info on if she should get more or less!!!!!  She does love them and I have just bought some dried papya and she will eat little nibblets of that too!!!

So sorry for my stupidity – it’s just my other buns are so much easier, as they will eat anything (healthy that is) and I’ve never had a problem!!!

 

 

[Deb'sBuns]

I don’t know about papaya tablets, but you can also try bermuda grass. My rabbis and pigs love that.

[Beka27]

Ugh! I just typed out a whole big thing and it disappeared! Here is the brief version again…

Pellets: about 1/4 cup per 5 lbs of bunny. Some people feed as little as 1/8cup or less. The main part of the diet shouldl be veggies and hay.

Hay: Orchard is great. She may not be allergic to timothy, if it was an especially dusty batch, that could cause watery eyes or sneezes also. For an angora, I believe they can have a small bit of alfalfa also b/c the higher protein helps with their fur production.

Papaya tablets: those can be fed 1 or 2 a day. Some people feed more (3 a day) when their bun is molting. An angora could probably be fed 3 every day since it is believed they help move fur thru the gut (this is a theory, not proven.)

I would be careful with the dried papaya b/c it may have a higher sugar content then the tablets.

[Elrohwen]

My almost 5 month old bun is also extremely picky with veggies and fruits. He only likes very bland things like romaine and green leaf lettuce. I’m assuming you tried those already? Otherwise I have no advice because I’m in the same boat. He eats about 1/4 cup of Oxbow 15/23 plus hay. He’s also up to 2-4 leaves of lettuce. Before the veggies, he was eating almost 1/2 cup of pellets. I hope others will have some suggestions on getting buns to eat veggies.

[Sarita]

You can feed her 1/2 to 1/4 cup high fiber, low fat pellets. I do think rabbits like anyone else go through phases, sometimes they eat more than at other times.

Have you tried a 2nd cutting timothy hay for her? Maybe that would cause less of a sneezy reaction for her. But honestly if she likes orchard and eats it, then I would stick with that. You can also try blue grass or oat hay as well as they are both grass hays. It would be okay as well to give her a handleful of fresh alfalfa hay every once in awhile since she is a long haired rabbit.

As for veggies – have you tried any herbs like mint, basil or dill? Maybe something with more fragrance might appeal to her.

[flippersmom]

Hey thanks guys!!!! I feel better already!!! She is turning me in to a worry wart!!!

She probably averages about 1/2 cup of her pellets per day – like I said 1 day she barely nibbles, the next day she’s like ravenous!!!! I just have never had a bun who doesn’t eat their “salad”, so I was worried I wasn’t giving her enough!! Apparently, she self-regulates well (wish I could!!!). As I said, I have tried everything on the ok list and she turns up her furry little nose to all!! I did get her to nibble on a small piece of dill, but next time, she gave me that look!!!! And she thinks mint makes a great toy!?!?! She’ll toss it around and play with it for hours, then throws it in her litterbox and, well, you know the rest!!!!

As for the Timothy, I have tried from several different bags and have had the same reaction – she does like it, especially the big green heads, but it doesn’t seem to like her!!!! But she eats the Orchard just fine too, I’ve just been afraid to try much else!! I see a Binky Bunny order in my very near future!!!!!!

[jerseygirl]

She could be filling up on the pellets on the days she’s ravenous for them and it carries her thru for 24 hrs – maybe eating hay in between. Maybe reduce the daily portion to 1/4 cup?

Also try experiment with times you feed her. Jersey has a particular routine with evening feeds – she’ll come looking for her food on the dot. With Rumball, I’ve discovered he’ll graze on hay alot but doesn’t eat greens until after 10 pm. If I give them to him beforehand, they get ignored or polished off by someone who comes out for 2nds. The rabbits do loosely follow a daily feeding pattern, it can be harder to pick with indoor rabbits.   If Lola is separated from the others, perhaps you could leave a few greens in with her, she may eat them overnight.   Could the previous owner have offered them and because she didn’t gobble them on the spot, she stopped offering them?

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