Ground coriander (cilantro) seeds – safe for buns?

[toki]

So my bunny absolutely loves coriander/cilantro leaves. But I’m very worried that he isn’t eating enough hay, so I thought I might buy some ground cilantro seeds and use it as a hay topper. There’s no added ingredients – it’s just powdered seeds. Would this be okay for a bun?

[Luna]

Does he eat more veggies than hay? The more veggies available to your bun to eat, the less hay your bun will end up eating because he will always go for the veggies first . Maybe cut back on the amount of veggies first to see if he will eat more of his hay? But make sure he keeps eating something. As for the cilantro seeds, I’m not sure whether they are ok for buns or not. My first instinct would be to say that they are not okay, because there are a lot of (fruit) seeds that are bad. I would play it safe and not give him any seeds until another BB member can weigh in.

[toki]

Hi Luna, he does seem to eat more greens than hay. He doesn’t seem keen on his hay at all. I figure he’s supposed to eat his body size in hay daily – but, from what I can tell, he barely manages a bowlful! I don’t think I give him too many greens – only about 30-40g total everyday. It’s usually about 2 stems of basil, 8 stems of dill, 5 stems of cilantro, and about 10 leaves of mint. He usually has some at 3pm, then the rest at about 8pm. I’m just very worried because he is molting and ingesting a lot of fur so I want him to eat. I have ordered him some other hays but who knows if he will take to them when they arrive.

[Luna]

Just a bowlful?! Tell Toki he needs to eat more hay! Hay is definitely important to help any ingested fur move through the gut. What brand and type of hay has he shown little to no interest in? Certain brands (I’ve tried a few) usually are consistent in cutting (ie. Brand A will almost always be first cutting, Brand B second, or Brand C third), so if he has only tried one brand/cutting and doesn’t like it, then maybe try a different brand/cutting. For types of hay, if he has only tried Timothy and doesn’t like it, try Orchard, Oat, or Meadow.

[toki]

It’s just Timothy hay that I bought from Pets At Home. I have ordered him some of the hay that he was fed for 7 months before I adopted him – so hopefully he will still like that. I’ve also ordered a “sweet greens” hay and a “foraging feed” just in case he continues being picky. But in the meantime I’m trying everything I can to entice him to eat the Timothy. He spends a lot of time in his little house, so I have stuffed a bunch of hay in there. Strangely, he seems to eat it more readily if I feed it to him myself, but I don’t have the time to hand-feed him all day and I want him to learn to be self-sufficient.

[Luna]

Where do you usually place his hay? If it is in a hay rack feeder, he might not like that particular feeder if he thinks it is too much work to wriggle the hay out. I had to make my own because Luna didn’t like these ones:
http://www.petsmart.ca/small-pet/food-and-care/food-and-water-accessories/grreat-choice-hay-rack-small-animal-32853.html
http://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/kaytee-hay-buffet

[toki]

I place hay all around his cage. Most of it is in his house, some of it is in the rack, some is on top of his mini-meadow area, and some is even in his food bowl with his nuggets. The rack I have only holds the hay very loosely. Lots of hay even falls straight through. When he is out of his cage, I make sure to put a bowl of hay near him, which always makes him eat a few strands until he wanders off to explore somewhere else. I can’t really understand why he doesn’t take the initiative to get hay himself.

[sarahthegemini]

You could try various types of hay rather than just timothy. My buns love green oat grass. I must say though, pets at home’s own brand of hay isn’t great quality. 

[toki]

Oh thank you Sarah, that gives me hope that he isn’t a picky eater and it’s just bad hay. It does look pretty cheap. I bought it before I even knew that there were different types of hay 

[toki]

Does anyone else know whether powdered seeds are safe?

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By toki on 4/04/2017 5:22 PM

Oh thank you Sarah, that gives me hope that he isn’t a picky eater and it’s just bad hay. It does look pretty cheap. I bought it before I even knew that there were different types of hay 

It’s okay, I gave that hay to my bunnies when I first got them. They did eat it but never in huge quantities! I don’t think pets at home sell different types, I’ve only ever seen timothy but that might just be my branch. I have to order hay online for my monsters. 

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