Doesn't seem to be eating her hay?

[Stone_family3]

Belldandy has settled in nicely and is eating good however she doesn't seem to be touching her hay as much. She gets about 1/2 a cup of food a day. Usually 1/4 in the morn and the rest at night. The last couple of days though she hasn't really touched her hay. She usually gets a snack a leaf of spinach, a cherry tomato, etc. Oh she usually gets about an hour or so outside time every few days and then she is allowed to run around the house. Could she be filling up while outside? :?

Any suggestions?

 

[aurora369]

How old is Belldandy? And how big? Depending on how big and how old she is, 1/2 cup of food might be too much which means you could start to reduce the amount until you reach a more ideal amount. However, if she is under 6 months, she should be free fed as much pellets as she can eat along with the hay, and after 6 months you can start restricting the amount.

--Dawn

 

[Stone_family3]

She's 13 weeks old. I usually do give her as much as she wants with in reason. She gets lots of greens and hay as well as the oat/sunflower mix the breeder gave me. She only gets that every few days.

 

[Flashy]

Does she have a preference for grass over hay? Have you tried a variety of different hays?

What does her poo look like?

Does she eat less hay after eating a specific food, or just generally?

 

[Stone_family3]

She's been eating botanical hay. She ate it great the first week in a half I had her, then it slowed some and now it is hardly any nibbles. It started slowing down when she got outside time. So I guess it is just generally.

Her poo looks normal like little balls.

 

[SweetSassy]

She is only 13 wks. She would get unlimited pellets.

Only give dark leaf greens like romaine, parsley, cilantro, mustard greens, dandelion greens, Kale, spinach,


I would not give her the sunflower mix.

I would switch her hays up. I buy 4 different ones and switch it up so the bunsdon't get bored.

 

[Flashy]

I would think she is probably eating grass instead, which is fine as long as her tummy can tolerate it

You can test it by not allowing her outside for a day and seeing if she eats more hay.

She may also be bored with the botanical, so you could try different types too.

She's very young still so its recommended to still feed unlimited pellets for a good while yet. You could cut back on the veg if you wanted to, but she's probably just replacing hay with grass.

 

[SweetSassy]

Flashy- I just noticed the bunny was only 13 wks. So I edited. Oops.

 

[Stone_family3]

Okay thanks. I'll just not let her out. I was following the feeding recommendations given to me by the breeder. I'll cut out her evening treat too to see if that helps.

 

[Stone_family3]

She will get new hay when I can afford to get it on pay week however she is still on her original bag once it is done she will get a new one. It is only a 15 oz bag.

 

[Bubbles]

Bubbles isn't eating his hay, either. I have no idea how old he is and I feed him unlimited pellets. I'm going to try some of these suggestions. Perhaps changing his hay kind will help.

Will you let us know when Belldandy starts eating her hay again and what you did? That might be helpful for me (and perhaps others with the same problem).

 

[Stone_family3]

I sure will

 

[Flashy]

Bubbles wrote:

Bubbles isn't eating his hay, either. I have no idea how old he is and I feed him unlimited pellets. I'm going to try some of these suggestions. Perhaps changing his hay kind will help.

Will you let us know when Belldandy starts eating her hay again and what you did? That might be helpful for me (and perhaps others with the same problem).

Hey.

This might sound stupid, but it might be worth starting a thread and posting a picture of Bubbles. That way we can discearn if he looks young, and if he doesn't then your first port of call would probably be to reduce his pellets quite significantly. It's really hard taking on a rabbit when you are not sure of the age, and is a bit of a trial and error situation. Hopefully we can help you work it out

Stone-family, grass is fine instead of hay, after all, they are the same thing, but keeping her in might help youwork out why she is eating less.

There are an infinite different ways to feed a healthy diet to a rabbit so please don't be afraid to stray from what the breeder said, and to also ask as much advice if you need to.

SweetSassy, no worries, I do that all the time I just felt I had to just clarify. Thank goodness for the edit function though

 

[Stone_family3]

She's not touched any of her pellets today either. She is still hoppin around and jumpin over stuff and playing like normal just not hungry. Is this normal for rabbits like when they have a growth spurt?

 

[Flashy]

Has she eaten anything today? Have you seen her eat?

Has she pooed? Weed?

What happens if you give her her favourite treat?

Its not right when a rabbit doesn't eat, so something is wrong (could be health related, could be the weather related, food related, etc), and its important to figure out what.

 

[Stone_family3]

She ate a treat, I checked her teeth cause someone told me to make sure her teeth are okay. She pottied today both types. She appears to have eaten some but she is a food spiller so her food is everywhere. If I give her the rolled oat/sunflower seed mixture the breeder gave me she gobbles it up.

Is it possible she doesn't like the food I bought?

 

[Stone_family3]

She's eating hay out of a bowl now as well as eating some non sugary sweets. I think she doesn't like her hanging basket which bites because I spent $10 on it, oh well I'll just have to think of something else.

Thanks for your info.

 

[Flashy]

Is she used to the food? any food changes need to be done gradually, or they can upset the tummy (may be the problem) and the bun maybe struggle to recognise it is food.

That's great she is eating hay though

 

[Stone_family3]

I just finished cleaning her cage so I'm going to leave some hay for hanging and some in a bowl so in case she runs out she will have some back up. And also since she has a messy habit of throwing hay all over they place.

 

[tonyshuman]

When a rabbit stops eating one type of food altogether, we usually suspect tooth problems. The teeth you can't see--the molars that are back in the cheek--are the ones to worry about for changing eating habits. They can grow spurs which can cut into the cheek, tooth, or gums, and make chewing certain foods painful.

It seems that some breeds are more likely to get tooth problems, such as lops, netherland dwarves, and dutches, although any breed can get them. If she isn't eating grass instead of hay (can you watch her while she's outside to see if she eats grass?), then I'd get her teeth checked out, although she does seem awfully young to be having molar spurs yet.

It's also important to have the hay in the right place--near the litterbox or in it. Bunnies like to chew hay while pooing (gross I know) so that's the best place.

At 13 weeks, unlimited alfalfa pellets is right, and alfalfa hay may also be good.