My hungry monster

[Rufus]

Lately Rufus has just been inhaling his food. He’s acting like he’s half starved all the time and I’m not sure whether to increase what I feed him.

Each day he gets about 3 cups of salad in the morning and 2 tablespoons of oxbow bunny basics adult in the evenings. He has a constant supply of Oaten Hay which he loves but he can be picky about which pieces he eats. He always eats more when I refresh it often. The pellets would normally last him nearly 24 hours but now they are gone in an hour or two max.

There are a couple of things that have changed around here: it is getting cooler (though not much – still 25 degrees C at least every day), he’s at the end of a long heavy moult, he’s getting more exercise (since I’m around more often) and I’ve stopped feeding him oaten chaff. When I got Rufus, he was eating chopped up oaten hay rather than long strands. I went and bought a big bag of it so that I could slowly transition him to long strands. The bag was so big though that it lasted for a whole year so he’s been eating both. He loved his chaff but the vet said I should stop feeding it in case it got wedged between his teeth so I haven’t bought another bag. I’m thinking he could be belting through everything else really quickly to make up for the loss of the chaff, which was probably his favourite thing to eat.

He went to the vet for a checkup recently and got a perfect bill of health and I was told his diet was perfect too. He weighed 1.9 kgs. I guess I’m mostly wondering if I should increase his pellets? Maybe to 3 tablespoons? Sorry I wrote a huge essay when I’m only asking such a simple question!

[Deleted User]

Hey Rufus! Henry is a mini lop weighing around 2kg’s and I have actually decreased his daily food to encourage him to eat his hay. I was giving him 1/4 cups of pellets daily and 2-3 cups of veg. In the last 2 weeks I have reduced his pellets (Oxbow Essentials) to 1/8 cup daily and only 2 cups of veg, and I have noticed him eating more hay, but still not the amount he should be eating. So I think the amount your feeding Rufus sounds pretty ok?
I find weather influences Henry’s eating too. When it’s hot it may take him all night to get through his veg, but now that we have cooled down to 28 degrees he eats his veg in one sitting again. The pellets…. 1/4 cup would last him all arvo into the night, but now that I have reduced them they get devoured in the afternoon. To me, Henry isn’t starving or hungry cause of his lack of hay intake.
Oh, and I should mention my naughty hubby gives my naughty Henry a bit of apple and banana every day and I’m sure that doesn’t help my cause…….

[Rufus]

Thanks Andi!

Yeah I think I’ll stick to the diet he has now, he always has tonnes of hay available so if he’s that hungry I’m sure he can just eat that

[Bam]

If you want to keep his weight and still give him more to eat, you could increase the leafy greens. What Andi says is very good though, just make sure Rufus eats the hay and not bed-linen, carpet and wall-paper, towels and t-shirts instead when he gets hungry. I’m just saying it so you keep a good eye on him =). I’ve been lucky enough to find a hay that’s so delicious that my buns devour it in preference to both greens and pellets, but I’ve had to try LOTS of diff hays Before I came across this one.

[LongEaredLions]

What hay is that bam? I want it!

[jerseygirl]

I can’t believe Rufus & Henry take their time over the pellets. Mine polish them off straight away usually.

Yeah I think I’ll stick to the diet he has now, he always has tonnes of hay available so if he’s that hungry I’m sure he can just eat that

i like this plan. My buns leave a lot of hay but if I’m away from home longer then usual, I notice they eat more if the stuff they usually snub.
I swear, you can increase their feed and they’ll still act hungry. Training us to bring them their favoured foods.

Andi, great to hear Henry’s starting to eat more hay.

[jerseygirl]

Oh I forgot! Eating is a bit of a social activity for rabbits too. In a natural setting, rabbits will congregate on a range to graze and socialise then retreat to burrows the remainder of day. Its safety in numbers too. So they can take more time take their fill when there are many on watch for predators.

So if you’re around more often and he’s being more active/social, eating could be part and parcel with this.

I usually top up my rabbits hay before I go to work. I notice TimTim (who’s a single bun and mostly bonded to me) doesn’t disturb his hay in my absence. Once I’m home, it’s not long before he started to make inroads into it.
It seems to be his pattern.

[Author]

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