Stopped Eating Pellets – Still eating Hay and Veggies

[Stifado]

My giant rabbit (14 lbs!) was getting fat, so we cut down his pellets from 1 & 1/3 cup daily  (at 2 feedings) to 1/2 cup in the morning and 1/2 cup in the evening.

He gets all the hay he wants plus fresh veggies twice a day.

For the first week or so of his “diet” he would stomp and throw a ruckus in the morning if he heard if we were awake and didn’t feed him immediately.  A few days ago he stopped doing that, but would still shove his face into the bowl before being fed in anticipation of the pellets.  This morning I noticed that there was still about 1/4 cup of last night’s pellets still in the bowl, but much more of his hay way gone. 

I fed him the normal amount and he starting munching on that for a while. I refilled his hay rack (gave him his veggies – which he devoured) and left to go to work.  When I came home, there was still a lot of pellets in his bowl but once again his hay rack was more empty than ususal (There were also normal amounts of droppings in his litter box.)  He’s still acting quite active. (In fact I just had to shoo him away from my laptop as I’m writing this! -He just did a bink and started attacking his hay ball)

Should I be concerned? Or is he just being picky?

If it’s the later, I’m not going to switch brands of rabbit food (Especially since this rabbit rood is the same brand I’ve been feeding him for the last year!) because I get this stuff direct from a feed store and it’s the only brand I trust and I know what’s in it.  I also kind of have the “picky cat vs. cat food” therory about this, where as a cat may be picky, but if he gets hungry enough, he’ll eat what you’ve put out for him.  I’ve had picky cats before but never a picky bunny so I’m not sure how to proceed.

Thank you for you help.

 

 

 

[Beka27]

A cup of pellets is still a lot in my opinion, even for a large rabbit. I wouldn’t worry about him eating fewer pellets. If having fewer pellets is increasing his hay consumption, that’s actually much better for him.

[Kate Monster]

When I decreased Kate and Spence’s pellets they started eating less of them, I think they thought the pellets were going away and they needed to conserve them. But obviously, I’m just reading that into their behavior, but who knows maybe it’s true! But I don’t think it’s anything to worry about if he’s eating everything else, pooping, and behaving normally.

[LoveChaCha]

I think of pellets as vitamins. The pellets are a nutritional supplement. There is never too much hay to go around

[tobyluv]

Since the recommended daily amount of pellets is no more than 1/4 cup per 5 pounds of body weight, your rabbit should only be getting 3/4 cup of pellets a day. That would be a little over 1/3 a cup twice a day. Eating hay is the best thing for him, so as long as he is eating his hay and veggies, you shouldn’t be worried. Some rabbits eat very little pellets and they get along fine.

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