Throwing the pellets out?

[Sheogorath]

My rabbit, Dusty has just gotten into habit of not eating his pellets. He lets me know by throwing them out of his cage  He eats his hay, and with the food i do give him has seeds and pieces of dried fruit and veggies. He picks through the pellets and only eats the seeds, then throws the rest out. The only time he’ll eat the pellets is when i hand feed them. Its getting tiring.

Should i just stop feeding him pellets or change it?

[Beka27]

Welcome here!

I would suggest you gradually begin to change him to a healthier pellet. Seeds, nuts, corn, cereal pieces, colored bits, etc are considered bunny junk food. That is why he’s eating those and leaving the good, healthy pellets behind. It’s recommended that adult bunnies get a limited amount of plain timothy pellets (about 1/8-1/4 cup per day per 5 pounds of bunny). They don’t actually NEED pellets tho. They are good to feed in limited amounts b/c they can fill in the nutritional gaps left by the hay and veggies, but they are not necessary and some members give either no pellets, or a very minimal amount (like a teaspoon a day).

While you switch over to a healthier pellet, he may boycott them. Continue to offer them tho and if he wants pellets he will eat them. As long as he continues to get unlimited timothy hay and a daily supply of veggies, he will not go hungry.

For more info on diet, there is a diet section under “bunny info” at the top of the page…

[skibunny8503]

Haha bunnies are very opinionated aren’t they?  Actually the kinds of pellets with the dried fruit and seeds aren’t very good for them.  A lot of people on here use the Oxbow Bunnies Basic T (as do I), it’s very healthy for rabbits and I don’t know if it’s just mine but they absolutely love them.  I used to use the other kind of pellets with the seeds in it with my first bun and he did the same thing with picking out the junky stuff (he never threw the pellets though).  So I’d try a different kind without that other stuff in it and see how that works.  I think you have to slowly change the pellets (maybe someone else would have an idea on switching).  But I wouldn’t stop feeding your bun pellets because they need about 1/4 cup of pellets each day.  

 

 

Hehe Beka you beat me

[Sheogorath]

im currently using Hartz Gourmet food (which i just found out has over 61 ingredents, that most i cant even pronounce). I have thought about changing the food (tried using Hagen’s Gourmet) but he still digs. Thats all i can basically buy where im from. Im in Nova Scotia and the stores dont have a large variety of Rabbit food. So, should i just get rid of that bought stuff and just give him pellets? Which is the better?

[Beka27]

Oh, it is hard to get good food in some areas. Some sites ship I know, but then you end up spending quite a bit just on that. If nothing else, can you pick out all of the “extras” and only serve the plain pellets?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Any PLAIN Timothy Hay based pellet is good.

All foods called gourmet should be avoided-they are full of junk-they totally appeal to us pet parents though! They look healthy and interesting and I doubt anyone here could say they never fell for the marketing of them! But they are junky

-not sure exactly what part of NS you are from but do you have any livestock feed stores around you-like Co-Op or someplace you’d buy horse grain? Those places generally sell HUGE bags of quality rabbit pellets (I get 16$ for 55pounds) they are plain old timothy based pellets and very cheap.

[Sarita]

Do they carry Kaytee where you are at? They have a timothy pellet.

[Vater Araignee]

Start out by hand sorting your current food so there is less choice.
First thing I did when I found out that Tanya Got me Buttercup was to start picking through her food to get rid of the stuff I didn’t want her to have.
Everything with coloring went first.
Next went the died fruit, kibble, peanuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds.
Then I started mixing in Timothy Complete and removing the smaller grain.

To bad the pellets get chucked out by your wascally wabbit or you could start mixing them back into the bag so that lass and less junk got offered. That method worked great for Yin & Yang.

[Sarita]

That’s a great idea Vater – it will take some patience for the owner but I think doing it that way does make sense.

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