Sneezing When Eating Pellets

[Ghost]

Hi, everyone! My lop is barely 5 months hold, and I’ve noticed that recently he’s been sneezing while eating his pellets… (the pellets he eats are Kaytee Timothy) there’s no discharge or anything,  but he’s been doing it more often.  Should I change his pellets?  I’m going to contact my vet about this, too, but I was just curious about this.  Should I be concerned?  I just vacuumed and cleaned his living space, too, so there shouldn’t be any underlying dust lying around. I’m one of those bunny moms that question each and every move they make.  Thanks for the help!

[Bunny House]

I would personally switch to a better quality pellet like oxbow or Sherwood. As for the sneezing, how do you feed the pellets? In a bowl or do you spread them out? He might be sneezing because he is eating them too fast and he could be choking on them, since bunnies can’t throwup or cough, that sneezing is what he might be doing to get the pellets out.

[Ghost]

I actually wanted to switch to a better quality pellet a while back when we first got him, but it was the only thing available. I now know a store that sells Oxbow pellets (surprisingly close to my house, which is weird, because he eats Oxbow Timothy), but I have no clue how to switch his diet. Any tips? (As you can tell, I’m a first time bunny owner). And I feed his pellets in a bowl! Every time I feed him his 1/8 cup each morning/evening, he acts like he’s been starving all night, even though he has food and water (lol). Is there a better way to feed the pellets?

[sarahthegemini]

Bunnies always act starving when pellets are involved

For switching, you can mix 75% old pellets with 25% new for a week. Then mix 50:50 for a week, then 25:75 for a week and then on week 4 you’ll be giving 100% new pellets. Of course any issues, you may want to transition even slower but the above guideline should be okay.

Instead of a bowl, how about scattering them? You could scatter on a blanket or even just bare floor or hide them around his living area.

[Ghost]

Haha yeah I’ve noticed. Alright, I’ll try and buy some new pellets ASAP! I’ll try scattering his pellets tonight and I’ll tell you how it goes! Thanks again for the tip

[Ghost]

Hey! I just tried feeding him with the pellets on the bare floor and there were no sneezes. Thanks for the tip! Pocky can get a little bit desperate haha

[JLH]

I would still switch to oxbow as the other member suggested, also at 5 months it’s time to switch to adult pellets if you haven’t already. baby bunny pellets are made with alfalfa to put some weight on them, adult bunny food is made with timothy so they won’t gain excess weight. and as the other member stated you will need to mix current pellets with the new and keep reducing the old pellets until the bunny accepts the new. I didn’t do this with my bun as I didn’t know about it at the time and she picked up her bowl and dumped it all over the kitchen floor. I learned how to do it on this site when I googled the problem, thank goodness.

[Ghost]

Of course! He eats timothy already (he’s been off alfalfa for a while), and I’m starting to switch him to Oxbow.  I would have done so sooner if I had found a store that sold it.  Thankfully, I did! Thanks for the advice everyone, Pocky’s sneezing has gone away completely!

[Author]

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