Not eating hay

[smith321]

Hi,all.

My dwarf rabbit,4 years old,is not eating hay at all for months.

She just eats pellets,vegs and treats but hays.

It is because I spoiled her.

 

And now she has a teeth problem for months(her teeth grows too much).

I took her to vets for this three times.

I am trying to make her eat hay but she just won’t eat.

I starved her for one day but wont eat hays.

I tried feeding hays to her in different ways but that didn’t work.

My vets recommended using alphalpha but that didn’t work.

I am at a loss.

 

If you have any advice,I want to hear that sincerely.

[DanaNM]

Hi there,

It is very likely that your bun isn’t eating hay because her teeth are hurting her. Which creates kind of a feedback of not-eating hay and then teeth getting worse.  The back molars are hard to see in a regular exam but can cause a painful mouth. Has she had her teeth trimmed since the vet identified a problem? Rabbits with dental issues often need regular dental trimmings, or sometimes just one good one to get them back on track. A good rabbit vet can do this procedure, as it is fairly common.

Please never withhold food from a rabbit, it is very dangerous. Can you elaborate on the amounts of veggies and pellets? Treats, pellets, and too many veggies can make a bun not eat their hay, but if they are not eating hay at all, it is very important to keep them eating so they don’t go into GI stasis. You can try giving some fresh grass and she is she will eat that.

I think first step is to identify the dental problem and address it. Then if you can post more detail about the diet we can advise on what might be cut back to encourage hay eating. In the meantime though, please don’t try to push anything too much until her teeth are back in shape.

. . . 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.  

[smith321]

Thank you for reply and sorry for the late reply.

 

My vets trimmed her teeth.He thinks that overgrown teeth are due to her not eating hay and bad teeth alignment(her front under teeth have strange alignment).

He said it can not be cured and she needs regular trimming.

Some months ago she fell from a high table(because of my negligence) and I took her to a vets.I suspect from that time on she stop eating hays(I am not sure about this because I can not remember clear enough).

I suspect this caused the bad teeth alignment.I suspect her teeth were got damaged because of the incident and the way her teeth grows changed.But I can not remember how her teeth grew before this incident,so I am not sure.

 

Diet:

I feed pellets(oxbow:garden select adult food) three times a day.

I feed pellets about 30g per serving but I sometimes feed as much as she want,or she get angry(because this is her main staple.).

I give her vegs(cabbage,lettuce and so on) too.Two or one times a day.About 30 ~50g.

I serve spoonful of grape or orange juice once a day .

I serve a hay stick(1 centimeters long) per day.This thing contains suger and carrots,so she will eat this treat.

 

Reading your post,I am suspecting she can not eat hay because of pain.

[LBJ10]

I agree. If the problem isn’t addressed, then the cycle will continue. Bunny doesn’t eat hay because it hurts, teeth are overgrown because bunny doesn’t eat hay…

[DanaNM]

Ok, this is helpful. Glad to here she has had her teeth trimmed once already. It will be important moving forward to try to identify symptoms of when she needs another trim.

There are quite a few things about her diet I would change immediately. Cut out all sugary things completely: fruits, juice, or treats with sugar added. I am especially perplexed by the juice, as this does not serve any role in a rabbit’s diet.

For greens, avoid cabbage as it can cause gas. Focus on leafy greens, such as romaine lettuce (no iceberg), dandelion greens, cilantro, carrot tops, etc. Here is a list of safe and healthy veggies: https://binkybunny.com/bunnyinfo/veggie-list/

That is a lot of pellets. And fed three times a day she is unlikely to ever be hungry enough to feed on her hay. But it is important to try to gradually promote hay eating. There are also some compressed hay type products that are oat or timothy cubes that she might like (that do not have added sugars). They will not help as much with the teeth, but will provide her with the fiber she needs to have a healthy gut. There is a balance between a healthy amount of hunger to get her to eat her hay, and making sure you aren’t actually starving her.

Member Wick’s bunny has very bad teeth, and he likes the Oxbow hay stacks, which might be worth trying. What type of hay are you feeding currently? Oat hay is sometimes great for picky buns. My buns eat more hay when I refresh it throughout the day and fluff it up a bit, rather than stuffing the hay rack full.

I would immediately stop feeding all sugary treats and cabbage. Reduce her pellets to two feedings a day, and gradually start reducing the amount you feed. How much volume of greens are you feeding? For a dwarf bunny about a cup should be plenty. Try feeding some different greens, but in limited amounts (fresh grass would be good to try as well if it’s available in a location where you know it hasn’t been treated with pesticides or exposed to other chemicals).

Keep track of her poop output and make sure she isn’t showing signs of tummy upset throughout all of this.

If none of these changes help, there are some pelleted foods that are designed to compensate for bunnies that cannot eat hay for dental reasons. But I would not resort to those just yet.

. . . 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.  

[DanaNM]

Also, just to confirm, did the vet check her back molars too? Or just trim her front teeth?

The back molars can only be trimmed under anesthesia and often cannot be viewed without x-rays. If he only trimmed her front teeth then she probably needs more dental work.

. . . 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.  

[cowolter]

Hi.

He may be having dental issues that you cannot identify at home… dental issues may make it painful or uncomfortable to chew hay which does need a lot of chewing so he will stop. If it is a sudden chance there is a decent chance this could be the culprit.

[smith321]

To DanaNM

I intend to feed pellets to her two times a day and feed less pellets gradually.

But I failed this approach many times because she wont eat hay nonetheless and I can not let my rabbit starve and become angry and irritated.

I will cut sugary treats and juice too considerably for the time being.

 

I feed her oxbow hay blends(Hay-Blends-Timothy-Orchard-). [edited by moderator]

 

I feed her various vegs.

The size depends on vegs but normally 30 to 50 g.

 

I will try hay stack and fresh grass if the items are available to me.

 

He checked back teeth too.

One back teeth are a bit becoming bad and may need some treatment in the future,he said.

To clarify,he trimed her front teeth three times.

I am taking her to bets to trim her teeth once a two or three months.

 

To cowolter.

I also suspect dental issues might be the reason for her not eating hay.

Because before the incident I mentioned  I think she ate hay(I can not remember clearly).

After the incident,my rabbit rarely chews furniture(and possibly hay),which indicates something.

 

I intend to talk about this more to my vets.

 

Btw,I forgot to mention but my rabbit is female.

 

Anyways,thank you all for caring my rabbit.

[DanaNM]

Sounds like you have a good plan. Hopefully reducing the sugary treats will boost her appetite for hay.

It sounds like your vet is experienced with rabbits, but just want to add that the back molars cannot be viewed fully without anesthesia (there are 28 molars in that tiny mouth!). The front teeth can usually be trimmed without anesthesia, so if she hasn’t had a full exam with anesthesia and x-rays of her mouth, it is very possible her molars are giving her trouble that the vet can’t see. Sometimes even tiny spurs on the molars can put a bun off their hay.

. . . 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.  

[smith321]

I also found a product that is similar to hay stack.I will try this one.

I am a bit desperate so I intend to try everything that could work.

 

My vet did not use x-ray,so molars could be the culprit.

I think my vet is a bit more like cat and dog vets though he deals with rabbits too.

I might find a vet that is a rabbit specialist.

 

Btw what are the name of the product you mentioned(there are some pelleted foods that are designed to compensate for bunnies)?

I would want to try this one too if all fails.

[Dface]

One of my rabbits refused hay when I first got him, so I used a brand known as FibaFirst (it is expensive though ) it is a complete food, it is both a pellet and high enough in fibre to be used to wean rabbits that dont eat hay on to it. They are compressed so they encourage chewing and the natural wearing of teeth.

Like the others have said, your bunny is likely not hungry at all with the amount of food she is currently eating.  To give some perspective: I have rabbits that actually only need  one of your servings of  pellets in a week because they get so much from hay and greens.

Have you dried mixing her pellets in with her hay in such a way that she has to chew they hay to get to them? I used to stuff a toy that had multiple openings with  hay and pellets which meant he couldn’t dig the hay out, and would have to use his mouth to pull the stalks of hay out and chew at them. Eventually he clued in that the annoying stuff was also food.

Like Dana has mentioned grass is a great idea if you have access to it (or if you can grow it) , it helps to wear down teeth and many bunnies prefer it to hay .

Have you encouraged her with other kinds of forage? When I was weaning my hayless bun onto it I used a lot of dried forage things that were tastier than the hay, it encouraged him to nibble at it and eventually got him to eat it – you can get dried herbs, dandelions etc. There are loads of “hay-toppers” online to encourage fussy eaters to eat hay.

There are also a number of different hay types that rabbits may prefer (there is barn dried, oat, meadow, timothy, rye etc.) so there is a chance she would prefer some alternative to what she is currently getting.

[smith321]

Thank you for suggestions.These are very informative.I will check FibaFirst.

 

I tried to bind and tie my pellets with hays to let her eat hays but my rabbit cleverly spit out hays and eat only pellets(it was pretty funny to see that though).

But what do you mean by dry mixing?

Mixing hays and pellets in a mixer and feed it?

 

[DanaNM]

As Dface mentioned, Fibafirst was one of the foods that came to mind (although it is a bit pricey depending on where you are). Since molars haven’t been checked, I definitely recommend finding a rabbit specialist to get to the bottom of things!

 

. . . 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.  

[smith321]

Yes,I agree with you.

I will check into dental issues more.

 

I thought my rabbit is too spoiled by me so she is not eating hays(it is mostly true I guess).

But I have realized that I should check dental issues more after reading these posts.

 

Anyways,thank you all.

[pinkiemarie]

My bun came from a home where are was fed unlimited pellets and was very fat. She refused to eat hay at first too. I let her have a bit more pellets than I normally feed plus her usual twice a day salad and told her look kid, at this house we eat hay. Eventually she got hungry and ate her hay. But she doesn’t have dental issues so your problem might more complicated than hers! If her teeth get checked and they’re fine, then reducing her pellets can definitely work. Now when I open the hay bin she runs to her litter box and begs for a fresh batch. She just didn’t know she liked it until I made her eat it 🙂

[smith321]

That’s a lovely and informative story.

Thank you for letting me know.

[Wick & Fable]

You have been given really good information and guidance so far. Just to highlight from my experience, I agree that trimming the front teeth only may not be adequate in addressing the issue. My rabbit, Wick, was mentioned earlier. His first vet and I spoke a lot about what are the signs that he needs the trimmings, to ensure we were not doing them unnecessarily. One sign is uneven front teeth– for Wick, like many rabbits, if one of their back teeth are bothering them, they will adjust their chewing so the “bother spot” doesn’t rub up against their cheek/tongue in an uncomfortable way. This leads their front teeth to grind themselves down unevenly. Wick’s eventually grind at a slant (see https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs1wpL0FN49/ for an example).

If your vet is constantly seeing problems with the front teeth, the origin of the problem may be in the back teeth. As previously mentioned, grinding the back teeth and getting a proper inspection of them requires anesthesia and a vet who is experienced with the procedure.

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.

[smith321]

Yes,I am amazed how caring this community is.

My rabbit’s teeth is similar to your rabbit,but with more severity.

 

I am reducing her sugar and pellets intake but I intend to take her to vets to check back teeth more.

[Author]

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