Anyone Exclusively Use Hay Cubes?

[Troller]

Hi folks. Reading another post talking about the rabbit diets really reinforced to me the notion that there are different ways to go about it and have healthy rabbits. Now I read that hay cubes are less dusty and less prone to trigger allergies and it gets me thinking maybe I should seriously try them, if my buns will take them. Has anyone here used them and how did it go?


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[aozora]

I do not use them exclusively but I have a bag of them! I think it depends on the bun because mine doesn't like them much at all. He would reluctantly gnaw at them a bit when he's got nothing else to eat but it's like a last resort for him-- which is also what I use it for pretty much. I usually give him his evening pellets, his veggies, and restock his hay before I sleep. I also leave a couple of hay cubes in his pellet bowl as a back up. Sometimes he polishes off everything before morning so I would always have hay cubes on hand just in case he's still hungry, but he never eats much of it and sometimes even tosses them around in protest.

So... based on my personal experience I would not take out the rest of his diet and let him subsist on that only, just because he consumes so little of it that I think he would literally starve otherwise. Other people may have different experiences though!


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[DogCatMom]

I don't know what the nutritional effect would be on Parsley Graybuns, but I can tell you for a fact that he would be unhappy without his hay. He uses quite a bit of it to "redecorate" his pen! Some here, some there, some over in the corner--oh yes this boy LOVES to redecorate his pen with hay. At least it's his "eating hay" and not his "potty hay"!

 

[kirbyultra]

I haven't fed my buns hay cubes except as toys/treats. They are passionate hay eaters though, and they are snooty about their hay so hay cubes don't really get much interest in my house. What I have recently heard about that might be better is hay stacks made by Oxbow. They're sorta bigger/flatter/longer than your average cube so the hay pieces that are compressed are longer than the couple inches in a hay cube. I have seen them sold on Leith petwerks website.

Allergies are tough!

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[missyscove]

I was also going to suggest the hay stacks. I picked up two in my last oxbow order (the timothy and the timothy with chamomile) and my buns are certainly willing to eat them. I have a classmate who was planning to switch to the stacks for a few weeks to see if it helped with her rabbit's sneezing.

 

[majorv]

Our rabbits don't much like the cubes either. They end up playing with them and put them in their water bowl...what a mess!

 

[J.Bosley]

I was also going to suggest the hay stacks. I picked up two in my last oxbow order (the timothy and the timothy with chamomile) and my buns are certainly willing to eat them. I have a classmate who was planning to switch to the stacks for a few weeks to see if it helped with her rabbit's sneezing.

I saw these recently and might give them and the cubes a try!

I am in the same boat, my hay allergy is horrendous... its almost put me in the hospital a few times. I've also heard Orchard grass is better for allergies as well! Lots to try I guess, haha.

Good luck!

 

[NorthernAutumn]

One of the features of regular hay is the long stemmy pieces, which go towards keeping your rabbit's teeth worn down to a healthy length. If your rabbit isn't a heavy chewer of other items, sticks, cardboard, etc., I'd be even more concerned about the loss of "stemmy" hay from their diet for the sake of their teeth....(also, dental bills for teeth trimming can be insane!)