Bunnies boycotting timothy-based pellets...

[Jenniferinny]

Alrighty, I got my bunnies almost a month agonow and they came with some of the food the shelter had been feedingthem. I've been trying to gradually get them onto Kaytee Timothy.. Theyso far don't seem to like it at all. They were previously on an Alfalfabased Petsmart brand. Do most rabbits not like the Timothy atfirst? Otherwise they have good appetites, still gobbling up theirtimothy hay as fast as ever.

 

[nose_twitch]

My rabbit refuses to eat anything but alfalfapellets. I couldn't get him to eat timothy pellets no matterwhat I did. So he sticks with about a half-cup of alfalfa perdaywith lots of timothy hay and is so far healthy and happy.

 

[naturestee]

Some rabbits are just picky. It'sokay to feed alfalfa pellets, you just might need to feed less of themthan you would of timothy, depending on the health of yourrabbit. I'm lucky that mine like their timothy pellets,because three of the four are sensitive to that much protein and getextra/runny cecals.

Just make sure that it's a good quality pellet. I don'treally care for most of the petstore alfalfa pellets, plus they'reexpensive. Some of the feed store brands are pretty good,though.

 

[Pipp]

Pipp was a pet store pellet junkie who wouldn'teat hay. She was also getting sludgy urine and bouts ofstasis.So I had to insist. The'starvethe bunny' routine didn'twork, oratleast I didn't have the heart to make my baby suffer likethatlong enough to obtain any results, so I started mixingthree kinds of pellets together -- her alfalfa,a regulartimothy andthe Oxbow timothy (which she reallyhated).

She's had the choice of eating one third as many of her pellets, oreating the timothy. She started eating the other brand oftimothy (Martin), at which point I started very gradulally reducing thealfalfa, then the Martin. She always left the Oxbow in thebottom, but now after months of doing this, she's eating the Oxbowquite happily. I still mix in a bit of the Martin and just awee bit of the alfalfa. (Eating different shapes and textureshelps keep her molars ground down).

I her case, I've had to reduce the amount of pellets quite drasticallyover the past few months in favour of a hefty veggie diet -- she lovesher veggies -- because of her bladder issues,so now thepellets arealmost like treats, Oxbow included.

My two newest bunnies aren't veggie eaters, they're just into theirfeed store pellets, but at least they eat somehay.I'mmixing timothy pellets, hopefully they'll start eatingthem without hesitation soon.

And my two backroom bunnies eat TONS of hay and veggies and any pelletyou give them, not worried about them at all.

sas , pipp :bunnydance:and the gang :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance: