My bunny won’t eat pellets and very little hay

[JLD5707]

Hi I am new to owning a bunny and hadn’t planned owning one but I had a friend who is a pet sitter and someone left him with her and she couldn’t take him. Long story short I am a sucker for animals so I took him in. But not knowing much about rabbits and finally reading up on them I am getting concerned. 

He will only eat a little bit of greens and 1 to 2 small carrots a day. He eats very little hay and no pellets. I am using everything he was eating before. I have had him for a week now and I feel like he should be eating a bit more. He might be a picky eater so if anyone has any tips or tricks to help me keep him healthy that would be great. I am going to call my vet next week to see if I can get him in.

Thanks!

[Tessie]

Well, here’s what he should be eating:
lots of hay, roughly an amount his own body size everyday. Does he have constant access to hay? Do you have a litterbox for him? Putting hay in there helps.
A small amount of pellets, depending on body weight. I’m surprised he doesn’t eat them, though. What kind of pellet is it?
A mix of greens, roughly 1-2 times the size of his head.
And occasionally a small amount of treat! Carrots are full of sugar and should be a treat, he should not have 1-2 carrots a day, haha! An amount the size of the top of your pinky finger is about right.

I would guess he’s filling up on carrot and that’s why he doesn’t want other things. Hay is very important, so I suggest to limit his greens (and carrots!) and see if that helps encourage him to eat more hay. You can also try and stuff hay into cardboard tubes or boxes to make it more fun for him.
Have you taken him to a vet yet to be checked over? Edit: oh sorry just saw you said about seeing the vet next week, nevermind!

[LittlePuffyTail]

What brand and type of hay are you feeding?

[Standard_Procedure]

Maybe the hay’s bad? Teeth problems? Worms? My rabbit eats minimum meadow hay, and only seems to eat it when doing potty. Outside of that, maybe several long strands of timothy and rye hay. Manages to rummage through 4 large handfuls of pellets per day and 1 handful of fresh greens every other day. Your rabbit’s more than being picky. He’s starving himself for whatever reason. The 1-2 small carrots per day indicates this rabbit is used to eating sugary things so might have dental problems.

[Eepster]

I agree with Tessie that he’s all full of carrots. If you ate 1 or 2 gallons of ice cream a day, you probably wouldn’t be interested in a sandwich as well.

If the hay and pellets are alfalfa that is also very high calorie.

[Whobott]

My rabbit was exactly like that. I tryed many times a day hand feeding pellets to make them more interesting and had them in his cage 24/7 when he ate a few he relised how much he liked them and cant get enough of them now. As far as hay goes what hay are you feeding him? I started sith timothy hay for my rabbit but he wouldnt he much at all so i feed him oxbow orchard grass hay and now he eats more and more every day. Tessie does mention putting some hay in your rabbits litter box and i do that too he will eat it while hes going potty not much but every little bit counts. My rabbit liked eating hay piles off the floor also but it got messy so i took a tissue box and cut a hole for the hay. Good luck!

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