Flemish giant, absolute refusal to eat hay.

[joolee]

I have a 3 month old Flemish who’s doing really well despite TOTAL refusal to eat hay. I’ve spent a small fortune getting every possible variety of hay.. Timothy, Alfalfa, Orchard; from Oxbow, a feed store, even a local farmer. I’ve tried spritzing it with apple juice, banana juice, hiding crushed herbs in it… nothing is working . I’ve limited his pellets to a few tablespoons in the morning and a few more in the evening in the hopes that he will turn to the hay but Im terrified I’m starving him. He devours the pellets in minutes then spends the rest of the day sniffing around as if looking for more food. 

Any advice or tips?

[Finnigan!]

My bunny Finn has the same problem. I have resorted to giving him hay based pellets. The ones I get are Timothy based so that I know he is getting at least a little bit of hay

[Deleted User]

Were you giving him unlimited pellets before? If so, he may be holding off the hay because he just wants the pellets. It’s kinda like pellets are junk food and hay is healthy food… if you let them they will just eat the pellets! I’m really surprised he won’t eat alfalfa…my bun was a little alfalfa junkie. If you were giving unlimited then I would definitely cut back but do it gradually. Don’t just switch from unlimited to a few tablespoons, you have to make sure he’s still getting enough fiber and eating throughout the day. But it is really important that you get him eating hay, for digestive and dental health. I am not sure where you are located, but I live in the U.S and I purchase hay online from small pet select. My bunnies love their hay and the quality surpasses anything I’ve found in a pet store. Have you tried oat hay? My bun goes nuts for the bulbs of oats, though she won’t really eat the “stalks” so I only use it as a treat because most of the hay is wasted. Maybe you would have better luck with it.

[Boston's Mama]

He should be getting about 1/4cup pellets in the morning and again at night. I would say he has had unlimited pellets prior? If so that’s usually going to make them reject hay as pellets are yummier. But hay is essential – without grass/ hay the gut doesn’t move as it should and it’s very dangerous.

Whenever mine start to cut back on their hay I start to put their daily pellets into their hay hiding them their can help
I’d stick to one type of hay though too

[WRXFamily]

From my understanding, for flemmies you need to feed them unlimited pellets for the first 7 months. They grow a bunch when they are younger. And honestly I would recommend an alfalfa based pellet until a Flemish is about 7 months. Hay is still important but I wouldn’t cut back to a few tablespoons of pellets at any time in the next 4 months at least.
This is what I understand for my own care of my two Flemish giants – both 5 months 3 weeks old.

[Vienna Blue in France]

WRXF !!!! Hey *wave*
Could you make my day and post some piccies of your *ahem* babies….. have they grown into their ears yet…..?

[WRXFamily]

Hey Vienna!!! *waves*
Of course I can post some pictures of them! They have yet to grow into their big cute ears, which I’m almost thankful for because it’s so stinking cute!! They are definitely trying though. Kaleigh our female has weighed in at 13.75 pounds American and our males weighs in at 12.5 pounds American and that was just last week

[joolee]

I’ve had him for a week now, came from a breeder. I never had him on unlimited because I’ve read so much that they will start only wanting pellets so it was about 1/2 cup morning and 1/2 cup evening thinking he’d munch the hay in the interim. I only seriously limited it down about 2 days ago in the prayer he would eat the hay but tonight I caved and filled up his bowl after giving him a pretty decent sized double handful of spring mix sprinkled lightly with some oats. He strongly preferred that over pellets but after devouring it went head long into the pellets.

As for the other tricks I’ve tried…. his litterbox is full of it with a hay rack. I’ve tried multiple methods of hay racking including up, down, a completely open box, or a basket style. He might nibble a bit when I’m not looking but I know for certain there’s no way he’s getting 80% of his diet in hay. Feels more like 5%. 

I’ve also tried toys, toilet rolls, boxes with holes cut in, the whole bit.  

Otherwise he seems to be a very happy bunner. He’s free roam, in one room now until he’s neutered and he’s getting TONS of exercise zipping and running around.

I don’t know. I’m just terrified of health problems. He’s my first rabbit and I want him to be strong and healthy as we all want for our bunnies .

[jerseygirl]

Maybe give oat hay a go?
Did the breeder give their rabbits hay?

If he wont go for the varieties youve tried, maybe try giving hay chaff (basically chopped hay). Not as good as chewing long strands of hay, but that would at least get more fibre into him.

Jersey wouldn’t eat hay. She did need some molar trims later on. Im not sure if refusal to eat hay was due to dental problems she may have always had or if her dental problems developed as result of not eating hay. Chicken / egg scenario.
Eventually, I resorted to giving her a hay pellet (98% hay) just to keep her poos looking more normal.

Gooseman also was not super keen early on (under 1yr old) but he did come around to eating it and is now super keen everytime I refill the hay. He was a cardboard eater and even had a gut slow down due to that. So I stopped allowing him to have cardboard. Then, one time I was out all day and evening and the buns didn’t get their evening pellets until much later. So he ate his hay in my abscence. I noticed his appetite for it picked up after that.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Dont panic about 80% hay. Mine certainly don’t have that much, yet they eat like monsters and poo and pee like monsters too, which is the important part….
You could try cut grass too, if you have access. Mine gobble all that up.
But go for whatever keeps them happy, so they eat, get strong and poop healthily

[WRXFamily]

Vienna- I posted new pictures on a thread yesterday in the lounge section ?

[Author]

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