Not eating pellets

[angoralvr]

The new little guy has not been eating his pellets. He has been eating a ton of hay though. His previous owners always fed him unlimited amounts of pellets but he never got hay. Should I be worried about his lack of pellet consumption or is he just more interested in the hay because he has never gotten it before?

[MooBunnay]

Really – a bun that prefers hay over pellets is an ideal situation Since he had such a bad diet of all pellets before, he must be loving having some hay to munch on, and its probably making him feel a lot better, so he’s into the hay more than the pellets. I would not be concerned, I have not ever encountered an issue before where a rabbit ate TOO MUCH hay. The only hay/pellet issue I have ever encountered is when a rabbit eats too many pellets and has to go to a “hay only” diet. I am assuming his poops are looking nice and healthy?

[angoralvr]

His poops look normal to me. At first I thought there was something wrong with them because they are so small. Then I realized that is just because he is so small! His normal poops are about the size of Henri’s cecal pellets. The vet did say he could stand to lose a little bit of weight anyway.

That does make me think of another question I had though. . . I know that bunny’s pee can be a range of colors. Henri’s is pretty much always yellow though (maybe a little bit orange). the new guys pee is almost red in color. What is it that causes the color differencs?

[Sarita]

Many things including diet and medication can change a rabbit’s urine color.

This is from the House Rabbit Society on red urine:

For obscure reasons (my rabbits all eat the same food, drink the same water and get the same treats) some get red urine, some don’t. Red urine (due to excessive urinary pigments) may occur due to any of the following:

While on antibiotics
At the first cold snap in the fall
After eating fir leaves
After eating carrots, spinach or other veggies containing beta carotene

[Beka27]

angoragirl!  i’m so happy for your new little guy!  he must be overjoyed at the idea of hay!  how wonderful!

[Hannah]

My little Winnie had red pee and refused pellets when I first got her, too (she came from a pet store with unlimited pellets and no hay, too)– and then started to have tummy problems when she did start eating the pellets again, so now she’s on a hay only diet and her pee is much lighter in color, which is good, because she really likes to pee on my bed…. So I think this might not be that uncommon for bunnies with previously bad diets!

[Author]

Messages