Kairi won’t eat ANY hay….

[Beth-28]

Can anyone give me some ideas or advice? Kairi used to eat Orchid hay and Timothy hay sometimes…she’s never really wild about hay, but now she’s not eating any. I’ve tried 4 different types, the Orchid, Timothy, Oat, and alfalfa, but she won’t eat it at all. My vet said to take her to another vet in a larger, nearby city to have her teeth checked, so I did. He says teeth are fine, to reduce pellets, increase greens and maybe try shredded wheat cereal to give her fibre if she won’t eat hay. Tried the shredded wheat, she won’t eat that either. How can I make her eat hay? She’s had stasis several times over the year that we’ve had her, and I’m going gray with worry (not to mention broke at that monthly vet bills..lol). She’s a dutch rabbit, not long hair. I give her fresh papaya weekly, but I know she needs hay. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Beth

[Sarita]

Have you tried APD second cut timothy or KMS 3rd cut timothy? Sometimes super picky rabbits will eat this.

[Beth-28]

Where would I find KMS 3rd cut timothy?

[Otti]

I think it’s not just the type of hay that matters, but also the quality. Where are you getting your hay? What brands do you buy?

My rabbit was eating hay but not a whole lot of it a while ago, and I tried out this mini-bale of hay from the binkybunny store that has timothy, orchard and blue grass. He absolutely loves it and is now eating so much more hay than normal. You could give that a shot, even though there’s no guarantee that it would work. I think the mini-bale is about $9.

Also, how are you feeding her hay? I would give her the most direct easy access possible, leaving it in her litter box (with extra always fresh hay in a rack) and then make sure to change it or at least ‘fluff it’ frequently so that it can be more enticing for her.

I think in previous discussion of rabbits who didn’t eat a lot of hay, other people have suggested eliminating everything in their diet except for hay and maybe some pellets, but I’m not sure if that’s too extreme of a suggestion. I’ll let the experts counsel you better than I can

[Beth-28]

I got these last 4 bags at the local Petsmart. They are Oxbow and Kaytee which are the usual brands I get for her. I lay it in several places in her cage and in my bedroom which is “rabbit-proofed” and where she runs around in.

[Otti]

Sometimes the ones at pet stores just don’t seem that fresh… you might want to try and order online from binkybunny. It seemed weird to me that a type of ‘hay’ might be ‘fresher’ or more ‘delicious’ than the other lol but I now realize the bunnies can really tell the difference.

[KatnipCrzy]

What volume of pellets are you giving her daily?

[Beth-28]

She gets 1/8 cup of pellets a day & aprox. 2+ cups of greens/veggies a day.

[LoveChaCha]

Beth, my bunny began snubbing her Orchard Grass as well.

I would recommend getting a 1lb bag of Orchard Grass from the binkybunny store. I did, and my bunny ATE IT UP SO FAST, it made me so happy!!!!! The quality of the orchard at this time is very coarse and hard at petstores. I will never get hay from petstores again.

After my bunny adored the hay, I immediately bought a 10lb bale. The hay is super super soft.

[Author]

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