Introduced Veggies & now refuses to eat hay!

[Bunbun500]

Oliver is 4 months old, and I have had him for a little over a month. Last week I introduced him to parsley and then kale which he absolutely LOVES so much that ever since then, he refuses to eat much of his hay and only a few pellets. I’m very concerned about him. His poop is still hard, but it’s much smaller than it used to be before the veggies (a bit smaller than pea sized). I am thinking about taking away the veggies for a little bit until he starts eating his hay again, but I don’t want him to hold out and wait for the veggies and not eat. I have been feeding him unlimited alfalfa hay and pellets ever since I got him. I am very very concerned about my little guy and really need help with this one! 

[Stickerbunny]

Lower the amount of veggies you feed, for a baby the amount should be smaller than for an adult. And you can try offering other types of hay, alfalfa is rather rough hay and he may be like “wow there are softer foods!” so try a softer hay, like orchard grass mixed into his current hay.

But yes I would take the veggies away for a few days, see if his appetite returns to normal. They may be upsetting his tummy a little as well, which is common when you start to introduce new foods to a rabbit, but if so you want to figure out which one is causing the problem.

[Sarita]

I would try him on some grass hays that’s really the kind of hay that he needs.

I would introduce the grass hay, reduce the alfalfa hay, and see what happens. You could reduce the veggies as well, but they have lots of fiber which the alfalfa does not.

I would not take away the veggies though – he needs those and if he likes them, don’t stop.

[RabbitPam]

Actually, I agree with reducing the amount of greens he’s now getting, but I would not eliminate them entirely. It’s better to have a small handful of greens once or twice a day, but not to change out the food or stop it completely, which leads to indigestion. Kale is sometimes a bit gassy for a few bunnies, so you might try a gentle green like green leaf or romaine, and parsley is fine.

The alfalfa is what needs to be eliminated. You need to change him over to a better hay for adults, and so I would start to mix in either Timothy or Orchard Grass with his alfalfa, cutting that in half, then half again in about 3 days, and wean him off the alfalfa until it’s entirely gone in 1-2 weeks. He may not like the new hay, but the alfalfa is a problem for him (fattening) as an adult and you can see what he likes best by trying Timothy, Orchard, Oat or a Blend. (BB, when are you going to make a sampler hay set, hmm?) Just make small changes to his food with at least a couple of days in between, nothing radical.

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