Usage of front paws while eating hay?

[Wick & Fable]

Do your rabbits actively use their front paws when eating hay, to brush hay aside, hold hay down to tug pieces up, etc.? It seems like a logical, instinctual thing to do when foraging, but Wick is completely inept about using his front paws. He’s exclusively shovel nose and head-bob when he tries to get pieces of hay out. He eats hay stacks instead of loose hay, so the hay packed together. When he grips a piece he wants on a large chunk, he just bobs and thrashes his head around like a head-banger, rather than putting a paw on this haystack (which is very large, so he doesn’t need to have the complexity to aim his paw and anchor it) so he can yank his piece out…. but also, Wick is not very bright and is very tunnel-visioned with food, so it could be that. I love Wick, but baseline from what I know and have seen/read about rabbits… he’s not bright, haha.

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.

[Muchelle]

K’s the same with food. Just headbutts and tosses and tears until he has his perfect bite. But otherwise he’s actually a smart boy, given that he has no corrugated cortex

[Deleted User]

hahahaha Quincy was the smartest bun ever! Nothing got past him. He even taught Ophelia to drag her litter box away from the gate barrier and to flip over the water bowl. When we were bonding, I saw him trying to use HIS paws to clean HER face! I was amazed, it was like he was trying to brush her. At least, we thought he was a very smart bunny.

Ophelia has been known to shovel nose into a pile so that you can only see her ears sticking out…its actually quite funny! But I have also seen her put one paw on a pile and yank out strands, and she does dig through piles and push/shove it around to get to what she wants. She eats loose hay though so maybe that’s why she digs through it!

[GarfyTheLop]

Garf is exactly the same Wick, just pushes his head in and ends up covered in little bits of hay 

[Deleted User]

YES!!! Asriel does this. He has one of those feeders that has a bowl for pellets attached, so the hay stands pretty high. he’ll always look for his favorite pieces with his front paws. He also squishes it down if it’s too high and munch until it dips below the holding bars. Bombur isn’t that smart though xD he always tries to stick his nose between the bars.

[Mikey]

Bombur uses his front paws, Blue uses his nose and front paws, but Badger…. He uses his entire face to shovel hay around

[Q8bunny]

Chewie is bright, but will not use his front paws for eating – only his booplesnoot.

[joea64]

Panda loves to stick her front paws in the salad bowl when she’s eating her greens. Fernando, not quite as much, but I’ve seen him use his “hands” too. And both of them dig actively in the haystack when they’re looking for nice pieces to munch.

[ThorBunny]

Thor takes a cute sorting approach to hay piles She will come up to new hay and dig back “unacceptable” pieces with her front paws until she finds a good one, then she’ll eat it and repeat. Its super funny because if the hay pile is large she can end up sitting on a large stack of hay under her belly of “discards” while her front end is still munching away. Anyone elses buns do this?

[Author]

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