Just hates hay!

[Phwoffy]

Hi… I have seen this posted a lot and I have read everything and done everything, so I guess I’m just asking for a bit more advice…

How can I get a rabbit who currently HATES hay, to eat more hay?
He has suffered from belly troubles/stasis-like problems before, which is my main concern. We currentlt have 7 types of hay in the house – meadow hay, three types of Excel forage, ReadiGrass, another meadow hay and some hay cookies (timothy hay is in the post!) – and he won’t eat any of them. He picks at the cookies, and will sneak out bits of dandelion from the Excel stuff, but otherwise… NO. I have stuffed it into tubes, waved it around, spritzed it with apple juice, hidden food inside it… everything I can think of. He is literally shoving it away.

 

How long have I got to get him back into a better routine?
As I said, he has suffered from belly troubles before, hence the reason we have so much hay in the house! This has been as it is for about 3 days now. He gets a handful of pellets in the morning, a big salad in the evening and that’s about it. He GOBBLES them, so I’m not worried about teeth problems or anything like that, and he is very binky-y and flopping comfortably everywhere. I just want to know how long I can let him do this for. He’s done it plenty of times before, for a couple of days, but this one seems more extreme. He eats a bit of hay when he’s in his house overnight, but otherwise he is completely ignoring it and I’m at a loss.

 

So, if anyone has any tricks for getting a stubborn bunny to eat the good stuff, please let me know. Thank you!

[Gina.Jenny]

My buns love to eat the long grasses, which I go out and cut fresh from the back garden twice a day for them. Sometimes I also cut a bowl of normal grass, with a few dandelion leaves mixed in.

Do you have a garden you can cut clean fresh grass from? That would be better than just pellets and veg. It might even get him used to chewing on long strands!

[JackRabbit]

Have you tried different cuttings of hay? 1st cutting is stalky with some leaf, 2nd cutting is some stalk but more leaf (hay overall is softer than 1st cutting), and 3rd cutting is softest with all leaf and no stem. Timothy is the most common to find different cuttings but orchard hay can be found in 1st and 2nd cuttings. Generally, 1st cutting has the most fiber and teeth-wearing properties, but super picky buns often like leafy hay. In addition to types and cuttings, growing conditions affect hay as well. Eastern and western hays of the same type can smell and taste different. It can take quite a bit of trial and error to find the hay that a picky bunny will eat.

Hay toppers can be used to entice bunnies who tend to go for safe edible flowers and/or dried herbs. Check out the BB store for a variety of these.

One way to trick a picky bunny into trying hay is to hand feed hay like you would treats. Some bunnies think anything hand fed is “special”.

My lops prefer 2nd cutting timothy and 2nd cutting orchard hay. My picky bunny prefers 3rd cutting timothy and won’t eat anything but that. None of my bunnies like eastern hays and none like any of the bagged hays in pet stores. All three of mine will gobble up hand fed hay, and Kieko thinks that shorter pieces of hay served in a large casserole dish is very special!

[lillian]

I had a similar issue with my bun not liking (and some even making her sick) so had to explore a bit. I do agree with gina on the preferring long grass. Both of my buns will dig and dig until they get the piece they want, so that may be why.

The ones Ive heard a lot lately: Timothy, Bermuda, alfalfa, and oat

[Sara]

As JackRabbit suggested you may even try different brands of the same type of hay. Our prairie dog has always eaten Oxbow timothy hay, but when we got Bun he would just nibble at it. Somehow we ended up with some American Pet Diner timothy hay (both cuts) and bunny seems to devour it. He also loves Oxbow Orchard grass but not the oat hay. So keep experimenting, one will eventually tempt your bun.

[Phwoffy]

Thanks guys!

Unfortunately we live in a place with one pet shop, and anything coming by post will take at least a week… so we’re a little limited with varying brands. He has nibbled a little more today, but not enough, and his poops are smaller than I would like. I’m despairing!

[JackRabbit]

Since I order all west coast hay and I live on the east coast, almost all of my orders take at least a week to arrive — one place I order from takes 10 days min. It takes some planning ahead but its doable.

[Hazel]

He might be getting too many pellets, a “handful” can vary greatly from person to person. I would recommend using a measuring cup. How much does he weigh? They should get 1/4 – 1/2 of a cup per 6 lbs of body weight, per day. Mine weighs 3 lbs and gets 1/8.

[Phwoffy]

We do order ahead, I just meant that at the moment, while he is being a fusspot, there’s little we can do to get stuff in quickly. In fact, a big bag of timothy hay arrived today. I opened it in front of him, he zoomed out, got inside the bag and stared at a wall of hay for 60 seconds. He then turned round, stomped out and shoved the bag across the floor.

In the same delivery came some dried dandelion/salad mix treats from one of his grandhumans. Took out a pinch, put it in front of him. He sniffed it, sneered, stomped back under the bed.

Just to check, I offered him a bit of kale. He ate it before it touched the floor. So… he just hates dried stuff. Which is helpful.

Hazel, he’s 2.5kg/about 5lbs. I measured my handful today and it was just under 1/4 of a cup…

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