I think my bun doesn’t eat his hay

[freiheit]

I’ve gotten him a bigger litter box, which really helped the poopy training (he’s perfectly trained now and he’s not even neutered yet!) and I put his hay in it because buns like to eat and poop  right? But I seemed to noticed I didn’t have to give him hay as often since I started that, I though maybe it was because he spreaded it all arround and didn,t like to eat it now that it was mixed with poop and pee, so I putted it in a feeder-don’t-know-how-its-called thing… and I have my confirmation, he doesn’t eat much hay anymore  I’m thinking maybe it’s hard for him to grab through the wires? is there a way I could make it easier for him to eat?

 

and I was wondering, I gave him an old phone book, but he’s eating the paper from it, should we take it away? is it harmful for him? could he cut his hunger for hay because of it?

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hi freiheit, it sounds like your rabbit is eating the phone book for fiber rather than the hay he needs and it would be wise to take away the phone book and limit the time he has with it. If he has a tough time eating the hay through the wires, how small are the squares he has to pull the hay through? Most bunnies do just fine with the 1″ squares but if it is smaller it would make it more difficult so you may want to get a basket or hay hopper that goes on the inside of the cage instead.

[Alicia Conklin]

I put my hay in a tupperware bowl.   I want to get baskets for it but for now this works out well.  It helps me to keep track of how much they’re eating and it’s easy for them to eat.  Actually, Drue doesn’t really like the tupperware, he prefers it just to be on the floor.  I can do that with him because he’s so impeccably litter trained that I know he won’t go on it, but Tucker thinks that hay on the floor means peepee and poopy time!   Drue I think would work for his hay because he loves it so much and food is pretty much his life, but Tucker could take it or leave it..so if she has to work for it at all (like from a holder with bars or something..) I don’t know that she’d eat much of it at all. 

If it’s not that he doesn’t want to work for it maybe try a different type of hay?  Tucker stopped eating hay almost completely when she was just getting timothy hay.  She now has oxbow botanical..which is timothy but it’s mixed with herbs so it’s yummier and then I also give her brome grass, that’s her favorite.  Drue however prefers Timothy…he’ll eat all of it but if he has timothy and brome grass out in front of him he’ll go for the timothy first…and also..he’ll go for the straight timothy hay…(which is Kaytee brand) over the oxbow botanical.  I think it’s beacuse the kaytee is big long strands and that’s what he likes best.   Anyway,  so I have that Timothy which comes in a big bag that I use mainly for their litter box but he chows down on it a lot.  What I do for him is put the hay in a nice big pile only in the front of the litter box.  Drue always uses the back of the litter box so this keeps the hay fresh and not all poopy.  I can’t imagine poopy hay is very tasty lol. 

[freiheit]

well, he always had the same hay since he was here… I think he doesn’t like working for it… I’ll try putting it in a topperware… but could he eat the thing? mines arn’t that thick

[Alicia Conklin]

I guess it would depend if your bun likes to eat that kind of thing.  I have a thin one …like the gladware that you can toss after a few washes and they never chew it up.  They do FLING that one though. The other one that I have is a regular tupperware container and they don’t chew or toss that one.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

There are a few tried and proven ways to increase hay consumption. One-add hay several times a day (not that you’re putting more in, just the same amount in several portions; similar to the eat a bunch of small meals during the day thing rather then a couple big meals-same amount just small portions) the reason this seems to work is they get excited when you feed them and wolf down the food. Adding hay a few times a day, where they get excited and wolf it down….The second thing that works is cutting back on the other food so they are hungry and turn to the hay. Takes guts, to deprive the bunny of their preferred pellets and salad, stomach the bunny butt and disapproval and hold out until they eat their dang hay!! But that also works and is worth it, the hay is very healthy for them.

[Beka27]

along those lines ^^^ what does the rest of his diet consist of? besides phone book… lol… and what amounts? you might be able to reduce pellets further. i recently reduced pellets and now mine will usually have nothing in their pen overnight except for hay. i need to make sure they are fully stocked every night, and a lot of it is gone by the next morning.

[freiheit]

unlimited pellets and water. he’s 4 months, give or take, old

[MooBunnay]

You might want to start measuring out his pellets so that he will gain some interest in his hay. You can still give him a good amount of pellets, but you can let him run out for a little during the day so that he will start grazing on pellets. I used to give my little bunnies about a half cup of pellets each day, in addition to their unlimited alfalfa hay. What kind of hay does your bunny have right now? Alfalfa tends to be their favorite – so if you are not already giving alfalfa, try adding that to your buns diet.

[skunklionshow]

Leo was never a hay eater.  I had to force it on him by limiting pellets and veggies to force him to eat his hay.  I have the binky willow hay basket.  I have it zip tied to my cage b/c Leo loves to toss food containers all around his cage.  I might have to get a new one soon b/c they like to snack on the edges.  I’m starting to have a very small depth to add the hay to!?!?!?!?

[freiheit]

i tryed giving it to him in a fairly heavy bowl so he doesn’t tip it… but he’s repeatingly peeing in it x_x anything I can do for that?

[Beka27]

i use a plastic storage container for hay. it’s not very large and i position it over the littrbox. i have noticed that there will be poops in ti sometimes tho, so SOMEONE is sitting inside of the small container and pooping while they eat. i had my confirmation yesterday. i woke up and Meadow was scrunched into the little hay container munching away. she hopped out and left a nice big pile of poo. the nice thing about the plastic is that it can be easily washed and dried with no problem.

i agree that you want to measure his pellets. even if you give him a half cup or more a day, measuring is good b/c if he stops eating, you can do a “reverse measure” (pour bowl back into measuring cup) to see how much he actually has eaten.

also, is he given greens at all? if so, what amounts daily and what types? this is a very important part of the bun’s diet, moreso than pellets. it will provide fiber along with the hay and help keep the insides hydrated.

[freiheit]

like I said, he’s just 4 months old, :s and it sais I’m supose to give him unlimited pellets and hay until he’s one year old, and then start on the vegies and pellet limitations. won’t his stomac get upset if I start him on new foods to young?

[Beka27]

they can actually start veggies anywhere betw/ 8 and 12 weeks. at about 7 months you will start to slowly limit his pellets and switch him to timothy pellets/timothy hay if that is not what he is already getting.

when introducing veggies, do one at a time over the course of a few days or a week, then introduce a second veggie and so forth. if you need more info on proper veggies and how to incorporate them, let us know…

[freiheit]

there’s a list of nice veggies on the site I’ve booked in my fav for when he’d be ready for them, how much veggies should I give him per day then? it sais 1/2 oz and I have no idea how much that is xD

(and what should I do about his peeing in the bowl? :S should I just put his hay somewhere else then his litter?)

 

edit: his hay is written fresh medow hay thing… and his pellets are alfalfa I think but I’m not sure, it’s the first thing on the ingrediant list… reading the nutritional value though, I’m starting to realise they suck… I did try an other brand of pellets from a farm once… but e started pooping less solid so I kept him with the alfalfa..which I didn’t know it was x_X ooh man i feel so dum now…my pet shop sucks big time, everything I’ve bought there so far ended up being uber crap…dang…  and there’s none with rabbit stuff in my whole city!  I don’t know what to do

[Beka27]

do you have any chain petstores (PetSamrt, Petco?) they usually have one type of pellet that is better than the others. of course, it’s also usually the most expensive.

what site are you getting your diet info from? rabbits need betw/ 2 and 4 cups of veggies per day. 1/2 an ounce is not nearly enough.

check out the bunny info page on this site  binkybunny.com/Default.aspx, or go to the diet section on House Rabbit Society  http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

this is a great article from rabbit expert Dana Krempels http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html   i like it because she does not just say what to feed and in what amounts, but she tells you WHY the particular parts of the diet are so important.

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