When is a good time to start restricting pellets?

[dlscanne]

Winston will be 8 months old this April.  He used to wolf down a ton of hay, and leave some pellets (I was giving him unlimited Alfalfa pellets for awhile, because he was a baby and I think he got poor nutrition at the pet store.  he was also neutered on the young side so I wanted to make sure he got plenty.)  He also used to drink a ton of water, which I read on here can be a sign of poor nutrition early on. 

Recently, he started favoring his pellets over hay, and doesn’t drink such a huge amount of  water.  He’s still perfectly healthy, he just seems to have discovered that pellets are richer than hay.  Should I start cutting down now?  And when do you think I should switch him to timothy pellets?  He’s still quite active.

Also, he’s been going through a molt, and he’s had some smallish poops for about a week.  He’s still pooping plenty, just not the same size.  Should I cut out pellets completely and force him to just eat hay for a bit?  Or would that mess up his system?

 

Thanks!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hi dlacanne!   You want to be very careful with making any drastic changes in a rabbit’s diet as it can stress them out and possibly cause a bout with GI stasis.  So, with any changes that need to be made, it should be done gradually, especially when switching feed.  As for whether now is the time to switch, 8 months is about right to think about switching over to timothy pellets.  Make a mixture of 3/4 alfalfa with 1/4 timmy for 1 week, then 1/2 alfalfa & 1/2 timmy for a week, then 1/4 alfalfa and 3/4 timmy for one week, then all timmy pellets. By the way, how much does your guy weigh and what “breed” is he so we have an idea of his full adult size?

Here is more diet info from Binky Bunny:

https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/Diet/tabid/60/Default.aspx

I am concerned that your guy is not eating much hay.  That can be a problem during a big molt and you just might want to groom him a bit more in order to keep him from ingesting so much fur.  Even dampening your hand with a damp towel and running it over him will help get the fuzzies off of him.  What type of hay are you giving your guy now?  Is it timothy, meadow, alfalfa or…?

 

[dlscanne]

Winston was 2.5 lbs a few months ago when he went to the vet. he might be closer to 3 now I need to weigh him again. He’s a lionhead, but not super fluffy . He has a relatively thin main, and wooly textured hair. I’ve been doing a thorough grooming session with him every day recently. He hates it, but its actually helping to socialize him a lot with all of the handling. I’ve been using the furminator to really get large amounts off.

Not eating as much hay is really the main reason I thought about restricting the pellets, because he is still very very active. I figured that would force him to eat more. I’ve been feeding a combo of Oxbow timothy and orchard grass. Mostly timothy though. I recently ran out and got a new bag, I’m wondering if he doesn’t like this batch quite as much as the last one. They definitely seem to have favorite bags now and again.

At the ranch I worked at we restricted horses to grass hay only diets when they had digestive issues, but of course bunnies are much different animals. It would probably mess him up.

I don’t have major health concerns for him, like I said he still poops a lot I’m mostly thinking preventative here.

Thanks for the help!

[Beka27]

What amount of pellets is he getting now? Along with switching types, you could start reducing the pellets by a teaspoon or so a week until he’s down to a good amount. For his size and age, probably 1/4 cup would be okay for now.

[dlscanne]

He gets about 1/8 in the morning and 1/8 in the evening. Sometimes there are pellets left at the evening feeding or vice versa. I’m trying to get a balance between enough pellets but also have a period with no pellets so he will eat hay.

Has anyone else noticed a link between what rabbits choose to eat and their age? Franklin was the same way too…she favored hay over pellets as a youngster, but as an adult started to ignore it completely until I restricted pellets a little and got a little more creative with how I gave it to her.

[dlscanne]

I just realized that jerseygirl is having the problem and I’m reading her thread and getting great info…so I’ll probably just follow that!

[Scarlet_Rose]

O.K., great! Thanks for letting us know, but please do ask if you have any more questions!

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