My bunny is picky in his hay

[Willow]

So I just got my bunny Willow recently and he eats vegetables and pellets but…when he eats hay he picks through the strands ALOT, I’m not sure why but he’s always sniffing the hay before eating it. Any ideas to get him eating hay more?

[Susanne]

When I got my first rabbit last year, for the first couple weeks he didn’t eat much hay but I didn’t realize I was over feeding pellets. Cutting back made him more hungry for hay, but still I was concerned because he didn’t seem to eat enough. I kept trying different brands/ types of hay until I found something he liked and he has done MUCH better. It’s tough because it can get expensive doing that, but maybe you can at least find some small bags or sample sizes to try a few options. I now use Rabbit Hole Hay, Medium timothy. I buy it in bulk and although it’s not the cheapest, it still adds up to less than buying the smaller bags at the pet store.

[Willow]

One thing I have noticed is that in his previous home he was fed a lot of pellets and not much hay so I’m trying different types of hay (orchard, timothy..etc.) but he doesn’t react any differently to orchard hay so I’m thinking of trying different brands of timothy, Thanks for the advice!😁

[Wick & Fable]

For many rabbits, hay is not their most preferred food, so if they are getting vegetables and and a good amount of pellets, their likelihood to eat hay (especially sub-optimal hay, in their picky eyes/nose) is low! You can imagine this tendency might be even more strong for a rabbit who was fed a lot of pellets growing up.

I would suggest making sure you are providing only a limited number of pellets and really expanding the hay-only food time windows. Rabbits who get fed non-hay items too often or in too large quantities tend to ignore hay, likely because they anticipate they’ll be able to get their fill with something more yummy in a couple hours. For example, doing one pellet feeding in the morning and then one veggie plate at night — this leaves the entire day and entire night with only hay-access.

Rabbits are selective foragers, so most rabbits will have you throwing out hay that seems perfectly good. It is a balance of understanding a rabbit isn’t going to warm up to hay immediately and also knowing it won’t like every strand of hay you offer. What can help increase hay consumption aside from adjusting the meal windows is providing multiple places to forage for hay, whether it be more litter boxes and/or things stuffed with hay spread out around the free-roam space. This can be both engaging and encourage more hay-eating.

Also, depending on how long the rabbit was on a mainly-pellet diet, it’s possible that his teeth might be in a growth state that makes chewing hay difficult/painful. Hay requires the most amount of grinding and chewing, which is why rabbits who do not eat a lot of hay get dental problems that cause them to usually eat only certain foods until they eventually cannot eat because their mouth is too uncomfortable. If your rabbit is eating both pellets and veggies fine, it probably is not an issue, but something to keep in mind.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Susanne]

That is a good point about the teeth to keep in mind. I didn’t know my rabbit’s history but I didn’t feed correctly at first, and when he got his neuter there was a tooth that needed smoothed out. It hadn’t started causing problems but we caught it very early.  Since eating more hay there have been no problems.  I also do what Wick suggests, very limited pellets and lots of hay only time. Also yes about the hay strands, no matter what kind and how much they like it, I always toss ~25% or more (there is inconsistency in the hay batches so some have more “good” pieces than others). I rotate out what they didn’t eat and add in new 3 times per day. It’s probably not necessary to do it that often but it works best for us and keeps them excited about some new pieces several times a day 🙂  I also fill TP tubes each night which they never seem to get tired of.

That said, at least for my picky bun, they key was first finding his preferred brand/ type.  He also really liked the Oxbow oat hay but after getting some bad batches decided it wasn’t worth it.

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