Refuses to Eat New Pellets

[jerseybunnies]

Hello all,

Over a month ago my beloved rabbit, Cotton, had passed away.

I now have a new baby bunny who is a Holland Lop. He was born on February 17th, (7.5 weeks old??). Anyway, he is literally the cutest bunny I have ever seen. He is a cream magpie — His “father” was a chocolate magpie and his “mother” was a blue. So he is a cream magpie with the magpie type being the bluish kind of color but its faded — anyway, he came with a small bag of transition pellets. I had purchased a bag of Oxbow Essentials Young Rabbit Food. However, he only, and I mean only, eats the other pellets. I tried following the Oxbow bag instructions for a couple days and thought, well if he’s hungry enough he’ll eat it, but he literally didn’t eat it. So now I’m wondering if there are any other good transitioning methods or if I should just feed him what he’s on right now? I don’t know what it’s called what he’s used to but we can ask where we got him from. They’re round pellets and I think she mentioned they were from Tractor Supply Co.?? I’ll have to ask for the specific brand name.

–breanna

These are just my suggestions. Please seek an experienced veterinarian if you have medical needs / questions. Thank you! 

[Hazel]

He would probably start eating them at some point, as you decrease the amount of old pellets in the mix. But it wouldn’t hurt to ask what the old food is, and see if it’s suitable for him.

[DanaNM]

Does he eat his hay ok? Since he might not be getting quite enough from his pellets at the moment, can you supplement alfalfa hay with his timothy (if you aren’t already)?

If you can get the other pellet and they look OK (for young buns, and not with museli type ingredients), it would be easiest to just feed those, at least for a little while. Since he’s so young it’s best to just get the food into him. Young rabbit pellets don’t seem to vary quite as much as adult bunny pellets, probably because they have alfalfa in them and alfalfa is cheap.

Side note, you can’t go on and on about how cute he is with out showing us some pictures! 😉

. . . 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.  

[jerseybunnies]

Haha, I will try to find a way to attach photos! I’m not quite sure how..

But for now, the breeder has him on those young rabbit pellets, which I need to ask what they are, and since they are for young rabbits I always thought to get him timothy hay and alfalfa hay but the breeder has had him on timothy hay from birth so I figured I might as well just not change that since while we were there (I visited him since 5 weeks old), she actually shared with us that she has alfalfa hay cubes that she offered him and even left in his enclosure and he completely ignores it! Since he bonded with me I tried giving one to him while we were there and he just won’t eat the alfalfa hay if it isn’t from his special pellets!

I will look into keeping him on his old pellets and will most likely donate the Oxbow Essentials Young Rabbit food 🙂

These are just my suggestions. Please seek an experienced veterinarian if you have medical needs / questions. Thank you! 

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