My Rabbit won’t eat hay or pellets

[Alice in Bunnyland]

My baby Mocha is a little over 2 years old, and I’ve had a constant struggle with finding a food brand that Mocha would like. This past month I’ve been using a tropical food mix because she refuses to eat pellets. She likes it, but the past week or so she’s really not ate as much of her food or hay as she usually did. I have a mouse problem at my house and they sneak into her cage and carry some of her food off. She doesn’t really like fresh fruits or vegetables. I’ve tried to give her lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and she wants nothing to do with them. She likes cabbage and peppers whenever they are cooked though. I don’t know what to do.

[kurottabun]

Hmm would you mind elaborating what this “tropical food mix” is? Would be good if you could attach a link or picture of this particular feed you are giving her.

Is her pooping and peeing normal? I’m thinking if the mice may have scared her as well by going around and maybe even in the cage at random times. You may want to adjust her living area so that the mice can’t reach her.

I’m not sure about feeding cooked vegetables to bunnies either – if I’m not mistaken, they are supposed to eat fresh vegetables and not cooked as cooking it may change some of its properties negatively (at least to bunnies).

[Sirius&Luna]

Hi!

It’s great that you’re seeking help for this problem, as a rabbit’s diet is the most important thing that you can do to keep them healthy.

As a quick overview, a rabbit’s diet should be 85-90% hay, 10% leafy green veg, and 5% pellets. Pellets are preferred over museli mixes, as things like tropical mix often have unhealthy things like seeds and fruits that rabbits don’t really need, and they often pick out the bits they like, and don’t eat the healthy bits! A pellet contains all the nutrients they need, and they can’t pick bits out.

Now, if she’s hardly eating at all, it sounds like there’s an underlying issue that needs vet attention. Perhaps she has overgrown teeth. When rabbits stop eating, they can also go into GI stasis, which is a serious condition. I advise you take her to a rabbit savvy vet, to ensure that there’s no underlying medical issue causing this.

Once you’ve ruled out medical issues, you can work on trying to improve her diet:
– you can try and transistion her from tropical mix to a pellet. Bunnies should have 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of food per 6lbs of bunny. So start off by working out the suitable portion for her weight. Then, you can make a mix of 75% old food and 25% new food. It might help to give her this in very small portions, to force her to eat the pellets. After a week, you can switch to 50/50, then after another week 75/25, until she’s just eating pellets.
– For veg – rabbits shouldn’t really eat cooked veg, as there won’t be much nutrition in it. Sometimes you have to offer bunnies the same vegetable many times before they eat it. Have you tried any herbs? Coriander/cilantro, mint, parsley, dill and sage are often very popular with rabbits. As is kale, rocket, romaine or red leaf lettuce.
– To encourage hay eating, it’s best to serve pellets and veg once a day each, with nothing in between but hay.

[Alice in Bunnyland]

The food brand is called Brown’s Tropical Carnival Gourmet food. Her pooping and peeing seems to be normal for the most part. She’s been having a problem with poop sticking to her butt and clumping. I’ve seen a mouse in her cage one time and it scared the hell out of me. They get into her food bowl and carry off pieces of it. I don’t know how to keep her cage out of the mice’s range, because they are everywhere. Running around the floor, in the walls, in the ceiling, you name it. I’ve been trying so hard to get rid of them, but I don’t know how without Mocha accidentally getting into it. Mocha really doesn’t seem to like fresh fruits and veggies.She’ll snack on an apple piece sometimes, a carrot when I give her one, but as for leafy greens she doesn’t want anything to do with them. I’ve tried giving her loads of stuff and she doesn’t want to eat it.

[Alice in Bunnyland]

Mocha doesn’t eat as much hay as she should. She used to like it more when I first got her, but now she doesn’t seem to care for it much. I bought some fresh timothy hay the other day and now she’s eating some of it. Mocha absolutely will not eat fresh leafy greens. I’ve tried giving her different kinds of things and she doesn’t have much of an interest in them, or pellets. I always give her a variety mix of food, and she always leaves the pellets behind. I thought that she might be getting depressed, because she was just loafing in corners and in her cage (she’s a free-roam bun, and she hates staying in her cage). Today though she seems in a much better mood, and tomorrow she is actually getting a baby brother so she will always have a friend with her. I bought her some fresh timothy hay the other day and she seems to be eating on that. I’m going to give her a week, keeping an eye on her, before I take her to a vet (I’m in the process of trying to find a new one, because the old one didn’t seem to really check her thoroughly) Mocha is a Netherland Dwarf, and the last time she was weighed, she was 2.3 lbs, but I think she has put on a little more weight. I will try to transition her towards pellets. I tried to give her Cilantro before and she didn’t take to it. I will try to keep pushing the fresh leafies on her.

[Mikey]

That food is very very bad for her. Often, rabbits cannot digest the seeds inside of those bags. Some pieces in there might even be considered toxic towards rabbits if over eaten. She needs to be put on timothy pellets and timothy hay. If she refuses to eat, she needs to see a vet as it means something is wrong (pain being a highly possible reason).

Side notes: You cannot bond until both are spayed/neutered and given atleast two months to heal.

[OnyxMoon]

If you want suggestions for pellet brands that are good, I buy OxBow adult rabbit pellets and OxBow Orchard hay. My bunnies seem to really enjoy both. My bun wasn’t a huge fan of timothy, guess it was too crunchy, Orchard hay is similar to timothy but softer.

I definitely suggest taking her in for a check up at the vet, just to make sure she’s all good!

[Sirius&Luna]

Poop is sticking to her butt because her diet isn’t good.

If she used to eat hay and now doesn’t that’s a clear sign of dental issues, which Netherland dwarves are particularly prone to because of their tiny faces.

Is she spayed? You can’t just put two rabbits together, it’s a 2 month + process. Please head over to the bonding forum to learn more before your second bun arrives. Both bunnies must be spayed and neutered.

Make sure your new bun starts on the correct diet I outlined above, and if you have the old food he was eating, do the 25/75, 50/50 transition I told you about. Baby buns shouldn’t have veg until they’re a bit older.

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