My Bun won’t eat Hay!!

[Abby_Hum]

Hi all,

I was just after some general advice really!

I’m having a lot of trouble getting my Bun to eat hay… When she was younger (she’s now 2) she could literally sit there and eat it all day and that was just a cheapish timothy hay from our local pet shop. Since then she has stopped eating it all together, I have tried various different hays to no avail. Then 2 weeks ago I ordered a sample of very fresh timothy hay off of the internet and to my delight she ate it straight away, hallelujah I thought so ordered the minimum amount that I could (3kg) which arrived last week. Since then though she’s barely touched it. I’ve tried all sorts to get her to eat it including buying a bigger litter box so she can sit in with it, this looked promising at first until I realised she just seems to be “nest building” with it rather than eating it!

I’m reluctant to try another hay at the moment as I have 3kg of the stuff now so I’m interested to see whether you guys think there could be a solution to the problem or whether I should try a different type of hay? Could it be that I need to move on from Timothy hay as the stuff I have is probably as fresh as it gets!

I also feed her the recommended amount of pellets and fresh veg for her size so I know she’s not filling up on these.

She’s due to be spayed in a months time and I would really like to get her as healthy as possible before she goes in for that.

Thanks in advance!

[Sarita]

How much pellets exactly?  Maybe decreasing the amount of pellets could help.

 

[Abby_Hum]

She has 40g (about 1.41oz) a day it doesn’t look a lot and I tend to split it so she has half in the morning and half at night. I was thinking of giving it to her all in the morning instead as it may force her to start eating the hay then. Thoughts?! 

[Sarita]

I would just split the pellets in half period and see if that will encourage her to eat more hay.

[AnnaW]

Hey I would agree with lowering the amount of pellets your bun gets as these definitely tempt my two monsters into eating less hay! Other than that, I tried many methods to get my old bun Biscuit to eat hay. The most successful were turning it into a game; I put hay in unsuspecting places, anywhere that he liked to sit to encourge him eating it out of boredom, and I encorporated hay into toys. I used empty toilet roll tubes and filled those with hay, and also paper bags – you know your bunny best so whatever toys they like, try to encorporate hay into them
I also bought loooads of different types of hay to see which he preferred, so that is another option.
Good luck, I know it can be frustrating x

[jerseygirl]

The 3kg lot is exact same as the sample you’d gotten? Looks the same etc?

Have you tried different cuts of hay? Does she tend to go for the leafy soft parts or more stalky hay?

[Baxter n Boos Mom]

One of my buns is very picky about hay – and hardly touched it, until I tried American Pet Diner – Gold Timothy Hay, which is a second cut hay. For some reason – he loves this hay, and will eat lots of it. And since I’ve started ordering this hay – he hasn’t had gas issues. So as Jerseygirl recommended – you may need to experiment with different types/cuts of hay.

I’ve also started to buy a small container of fresh wheat grass from the produce store. The buns love it!

Best of luck!

[Abby_Hum]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys
I’m going to try a couple of the suggestions above such as putting hay literally every where she goes and I’ll also cut right down on the pellets. I’m also going to order a “selection box” of samples to see if there is a type she can’t resist… I have a friend who is happy to take the 3kg of hay of me if she still doesn’t take to it so all is not lost! Fingers crossed!!

[Haley]

I had this same problem too, Abby_Hum! I gave my bunny long stem grass hay that was given to me by her owner when I got her, but I would only see her eat one or two strands a day! This week, I went to her vets office and bought some local hay that they pick out themselves for the animals that they treat, and she has been eating it constantly! So, I agree with what everyone says – cut down on pellets, and try different varieties of hay until you see what she likes!

[Author]

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