How to encourage bun to eat more stems

[Horlicks]

My bun has been doing pretty good at eating hay – the only problem is that she usually just goes straight for the leaves and seed heads and the stems are almost always untouched. I know most of the fiber is in the stems and I’m sure the stems will go a long way to prevent dental disease in future as well. So it gets frustrating for me to see her leave out all the good bits.

I have tried to leave the bowl full of stems without topping up for awhile just to see if she gets hungry and then sucking it up and go eat the stems. But she just never really went to eat stems despite me not topping up her food bowl and even if she did, it’s only a couple of stems. In the end I just wound up topping her food bowl with more hay leaves in case she ends up starving herself to the point of stasis.

Does anyone have any tips to encourage my bun to eat more stems? I’ve tried the sprinkle-herbs-atop method. She just digs out the herbs to eat and completely disregards the stems.. I’ve also only gave her 1/4 cup of pellets (per her body weight) and around 1-1.5 cups of fresh veg daily (and with the occasional treat of course) so I don’t think I’ve been feeding her too much junk food which turns her off hay stems. Besides she does eat hay, just only the leaves and seed heads with little stems.

[Deleted User]

Do you feed her oat hay? Give her something like orchard grass instead because there are no seeds. A lot of buns really like the sweet flavor too.

[Wick & Fable]

I’d just keep cycling through recycled hay until it’s gone, and not adding in new hay until then. Wick falls into the same category in terms of pickiness, so I have a hay box system. When I clean Wick’s boxes, I take all salvageable hay and place it in the box, mix it up, and replace a handful in his clean litterboxes. I do this consistently and when the hay box becomes low, I fill it with some fresh hay from the hay bag. Mix that all up, and repeat the process. The recycling hay works well since eventually there are no more fuzzy tops to pick over, and when the hay is shuffled together, it re-enacts the scent of fresh hay and may encourage eating the previously rejected pieces.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[sarahthegemini]

I’d recommend orchard grass too. Lovely long stems that a lot of buns go mad for!

[Horlicks]

I’ve been feeding her a mixture of meadow hay and timothy hay. I’m going to have to try out the Orchard grass hay and see if she likes the stems of those. Thanks for the recommendations guys!

[Horlicks]

Posted By Wick on 12/01/2017 11:06 AM
I’d just keep cycling through recycled hay until it’s gone, and not adding in new hay until then. Wick falls into the same category in terms of pickiness, so I have a hay box system. When I clean Wick’s boxes, I take all salvageable hay and place it in the box, mix it up, and replace a handful in his clean litterboxes. I do this consistently and when the hay box becomes low, I fill it with some fresh hay from the hay bag. Mix that all up, and repeat the process. The recycling hay works well since eventually there are no more fuzzy tops to pick over, and when the hay is shuffled together, it re-enacts the scent of fresh hay and may encourage eating the previously rejected pieces.

This sounds interesting! I’ve always thought buns will just automatically reject stale hay so I always clear out the old hay and top up with fresh new hay. I’m definitely going to try out and see how she reacts to it. A lot less hay wastage as well heh.

[Wick & Fable]

Definitely less enthusiastic about recycled hay, but will eat it.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[ThorBunny]

An interesting note about hay, although you are right that much of the fiber is in the stems, the leaves can be also good for preventing dental disease. Here’s a cool link: http://www.therabbithouse.com/blog/2011/10/07/grass-hay-tooth-wear/

Basically, the reason we feed rabbits grass hay is that those sharp barbs on the leaves are good at wearing down teeth. It’s the molecular structure of the hay that tends to wear down teeth rather than the harness of the material. This is why fresh grass is just as good for tooth wear as hay.

Of course it is still good to prevent waste, and more fiber is good for the digestive system. I agree with Wick that recycling hay and mixing it up can help encourage them to eat “old” hay!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By ThorBunny on 12/02/2017 7:05 AM

An interesting note about hay, although you are right that much of the fiber is in the stems, the leaves can be also good for preventing dental disease. Here’s a cool link: http://www.therabbithouse.com/blog/2011/10/07/grass-hay-tooth-wear/

Basically, the reason we feed rabbits grass hay is that those sharp barbs on the leaves are good at wearing down teeth. It’s the molecular structure of the hay that tends to wear down teeth rather than the harness of the material. This is why fresh grass is just as good for tooth wear as hay.

Of course it is still good to prevent waste, and more fiber is good for the digestive system. I agree with Wick that recycling hay and mixing it up can help encourage them to eat “old” hay!

Interesting! Learn something new every day

[Author]

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