rabbit wont eat new bag of hay

[bumpybunny]

My rabbit will only eat oxbow hay. Today I got her a new bag because she ran out, and now she won’t eat it. The new bag looks the same as the last one did but it’s not good enough for her. She hasn’t eaten a single bite of hay all night. She does this almost everytime I have to get her a new bag of hay. She wont eat it, then I have to go and buy different bags until I can find one that she will eat. Sometimes when I do this, once I try to get her to eat the 2nd or 3rd bag I’ve bought, all of a sudden she’ll start eating from the 1st bag I got her. Does anyone have any ideas how I can get her to just eat it? I can’t keep wasting money and hay like this. I’ve tried every brand of hay available near me and she will not eat anything but oxbow. I’ve also tried gradually switching to the new bag of hay and it doesn’t work, she just picks through and eats the pieces from the new bag and leaves the rest. This isnt a dental problem, I had a small handful of her old bag of hay left and when I gave it to her earlier she ate it all. She’s just extremely picky. Does anyone else have this problem with their rabbit?

The bags of hay I buy are not completely wasted, I have a guinea pig that will eat it. She’s just so small that it takes her a long time to get through just one bag

[bumpybunny]

I went and got her a different bag of hay this morning and she’s barely eating from this one either.

[Wick & Fable]

I would give a little more time with a new bag and just leave it out there for her. While it’s important to eat hay, rabbits aren’t eating it 24/7 nor is it expected that they’ll eat it every waking moment either. Continuing to switch hays to appease her taste (which is much more attuned since rabbits have better senses in that department than we do) is going to reinforce her pickiness so out-waiting her may be best.

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.

[Dally]

Is she eating/drinking normally?

[LBJ10]

I’m going to guess the hay that is currently available is a different cutting and it just tastes different. I agree with Wick. Try not t0 reinforce picky behavior.

[bumpybunny]

Thanks everyone! She’s slowly starting to eat the hay 🙂

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