Hay?

[Snowball03]

Snowball is 6 months old and I've been feeding him Timothy Hay. Bit I've seen other sorts of hays in the pet stores like Western Timothy, Orchard etc. etc.

I know that alfalfa is a definate no to be feeding him. But can he eat other kinds of hay for a variety?



Also, what about those little hay mixtures that come with flowers and such in them?

Thanks in advance!

 

[kirbyultra]

I believe alfalfa is ok to feed a 6 month old, he is still very young. Timothy and western timothy are the same I think. Orchard and timothy are both grass type hay and you can feed them as much as they want and should encourage it. Alfalfa is a legume so you don't want to feed it to an adult rabbit. Other grass hay like brome hay and meadow grass is good too. I've personally only fed my buns orchard grass & timothy hay combination for my adult bunny and alfalfa for my baby bunny (4 months old).

I can't comment on the flower stuff Maybe someone else has had experience. But probably would be a cautious treat if I were to take a guess at it.

 

[Snowball03]

Yeah, well the pet store I got him from never gave him alfalfa hay at all. They had just started him on Timothy and my vet told me to keep it that way since he loves it so much. I've just been looking to give him a little variety of flavors. I've been wanting to try that orchard one for awhile too!

Thanks for the help!

 

[kirbyultra]

Loving hay is a very good thing

 

[SweetSassy]

kirbyultra wrote:

I believe alfalfa is ok to feed a 6 month old, he is still very young. Timothy and western timothy are the same I think. Orchard and timothy are both grass type hay and you can feed them as much as they want and should encourage it. Alfalfa is a legume so you don't want to feed it to an adult rabbit. Other grass hay like brome hay and meadow grass is good too. I've personally only fed my buns orchard grass & timothy hay combination for my adult bunny and alfalfa for my baby bunny (4 months old).

I can't comment on the flower stuff Maybe someone else has had experience. But probably would be a cautious treat if I were to take a guess at it.

The only one I didn't see is Botonical Hay. Is that the flowery one your talking about? It smells really good. You can use that too. You can use them all but Alfalfa cause of his age.

 

[missyscove]

My buns also like oat hay.
It's good to provide several different types of hay because they chew them in different ways so it helps to wear down their teeth.

There's nothing wrong with giving an adult rabbit a little alfalfa as a treat, as long as they're still getting plenty of grass hay.

 

[tonyshuman]

Oat hay, orchard grass, brome hay, bermuda grass, anything really is fine at his age. In a few months I'd cut out the alfalfa, but any grass-based hay should be good.

edit: Western Timothy is the same as plain old Timothy. That's just a marketing thing. "Look, our hay is grown in the West!"

 

[Boz]

Snowball03 wrote:

Also, what about those little hay mixtures that come with flowers and such in them?

Do you mean these things?
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753498

I'm not sure myself.

 

[Snowball03]

Boz wrote:

Snowball03 wrote:

Also, what about those little hay mixtures that come with flowers and such in them?

Do you mean these things?
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753498

I'm not sure myself.

Yes! Those were whatI was talking about!

 

[Snowball03]

Ohh, awesome! I'm glad I can give him the other hays!
Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[SweetSassy]

Snowball03 wrote:

Boz wrote:

Snowball03 wrote:

Also, what about those little hay mixtures that come with flowers and such in them?

Do you mean these things?
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753498

I'm not sure myself.

Yes! Those were whatI was talking about!

Yes you can give them to your bun. Sassy liked the Veg-salad one.

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

tonyshuman wrote:

Oat hay, orchard grass, brome hay, bermuda grass, anything really is fine at his age. In a few months I'd cut out the alfalfa, but any grass-based hay should be good.

edit: Western Timothy is the same as plain old Timothy. That's just a marketing thing. "Look, our hay is grown in the West!"

try getting a bale of (second cutting)either timothy/orchard grass,,you will save money,,you will go broke buying from pet stores,walmart,,(alfalfa causes gi stasis,don,tfeed it)./.first cuttings are generally full of noxious weeds,not usually a good product,,my buns actually switch back and forth between timothy.orchard,,sincerely james waller

 

[Snowball03]

Thanks again for the help everyone! I really appreciate it!

:]

 

[Rosiesmom]

What kind of hay is the stuff that farmers sell? My inlaws are farmers and we just pick up a bale whenever we need it, but I have no idea what kind of hay it is...

 

[tonyshuman]

If the hay is meant for horses, it's good hay. Every farmer's fields are different, but it should be a mix of grass hays.

 

[ra7751]

Great thread.....some good information and some of the old stuff that has been proven untrue. Hay should be the majority of a rabbit's diet. Grass hay (timothy, orchard grass, brome, oat, etc.) are all vital to good health. A rabbit is designed by nature to eat grass....not pellets. They have a very specialized digestive system known as "hind gut fermentation" that has evolved to extract all the nutrition a rabbit needs from low quality foods such as grass, leaves and bark. Since our domestic rabbits eat basically an artificial diet (pellets are a convenience food made originally for an industry we don't like to talk about)....it is even more important they be fed proper amounts of hay. Hay controls GI transit time.....the time it takes the food from being eaten until the waste is excreted. Like with humans, a diet too low in fiber will result in an upset GI. A diet too low will slow down and may stop moving all together and that is bad. Hay provide the bulk in the diet...the "high fiber" part of the low protein high fiber diet a rabbit should receive. Hay is also the primary way the teeth are kept at the correct length. Despite what the pet stores tell you about the pieces of wood or pumice blocks.....it takes something chewy, like hay, to promote the tooth to tooth contact required to wear the teeth down. We offer a "buffet" of hay. Each type of hay, each cut of hay....and in the real world, each field of hay....provides a different texture and requires a different chewing mechanism and that gives the teeth much more of a work out and keeps them worn down. I buy a lot of hay from high end horse farms....any hay that is safe for a horse is safe for a rabbit.

I am concerned about the old information regarding alfalfa (and this includes vets that read particular old school publications). The old school belief, totally lacking clinical documentation, is that rabbits should not have calcium. They have bones and teeth...they need calcium. They need Vitamin D and phosphorus to absorb that calcium. Ask your vet about MBD. Like anything else, there can always be too much of a good thing but any species needs calcium. I have seen some horrible suffering with wildlife with MBD when they have been improperly fed by well meaning but untrained people. This idea of no alfalfacomes from the "dark ages" when it was assumed the crystals in the urine were all calcium. Rabbits are like people....some are more prone to calcium issues like stones and sludge than others. We do use alfalfa as part of an overall healthy diet for our rabbits. We feed alfalfa in large amounts to baby rabbits, and in limited amounts to sick or older rabbits....but all our rabbits do get a regular meal of alfalfa. Again, important to not overdo the alfalfa.....weight gain is always a concern....but they should get some. And since many of our rabbits are inside rabbits....they get little or no exposure to sunlight which affects the absorbing of calcium. One of the reasons we feed any pellets at all is the supplements, like Vitamin D, which assists in the absorbing of calcium. Our rabbits are inside and do not usually have exposure to direct sunlight. We use pellets only to maintain weight and body conditioning....and I make sure the limited pellets my rabbit eat do contain proper supplements such as Vit D.

Anda final word about alfalfa hay....eating alfalfa hay is better than eating no hay at all.

And since you in New England....I suggest checking out www.sweetmeadowfarm.com I buy hay from them all the time. Never been disappointed.

Randy

 

[JimD]

ra7751 wrote:

And since many of our rabbits are inside rabbits....they get little or no exposure to sunlight which affects the absorbing of calcium. One of the reasons we feed any pellets at all is the supplements, like Vitamin D, which assists in the absorbing of calcium. Our rabbits are inside and do not usually have exposure to direct sunlight. We use pellets only to maintain weight and body conditioning....and I make sure the limited pellets my rabbit eat do contain proper supplements such as Vit D.


And since you in New England....I suggest checking out http://www.sweetmeadowfarm.com I buy hay from them all the time. Never been disappointed.

Randy

Thanks for the great input on this RandY!!

My rabbits get little exposure to sunlight as well (lots of light...just not sunlight).
I'll have to research whether the Kaytee Timothy Complete contains enough Vitamin D.

I give all the buns a small amount of sunflower seeds daily.
I know they're a good source of vit D..., but they also contain calcium.

Also wanted to add that I just ordered some Sweet Meadow hay...Classic Timothy. It should be here in a couple of days. I'll check back and let you know how it is.

Thanks again for the tips!!

 

[Happi Bun]

Randy,

You bring up a great point regarding the Vitamin D and Calcium. My rabbit's are strictly indoors, so obviously need to get their Vitamin D from their diet. For some reason I just never even thought to consider if they are getting the appropriate amount.

I was just told yesterday by my own Doctor that have Vitamin D insufficiency. I have to drink a lot more milk and sit in the sun for at least 15 mins a day.

I just checked my Oxbow Bunny Basics/T and it says Vitamin D, IU/kg. 880 - I have no clue if it's the proper amount.

 

[tonyshuman]

Well, I have vitamin D deficiency as well and the supplement I take is 1000IU/day. Now if that thing on BBT means that there's 880IU/kg of feed, that's not much at all. However, rabbits are a lot smaller. In pharmacokinetics we assume an adult human is 70kg. An average rabbit is about 2kg (well, mine are), maybe more like 2-4kg. Their metabolism works differently, usually quite a bit faster. So let's say it's twice as fast as a human's. 1000IU for a 70kg human then means ~29IU/kg of bunny, for a 3kg bunny that's 87IU/day. That bunny would need 100g of BBT a day to get that much. 100g is a lot. My guys get a tablespoon of pellets a day (Tony and Muffin), which is certainly not 100g, I think.

These are totally inaccurate back-of-the-envelope type calculations, so all they can do is give a very rough approximate.

 

[JimD]

JimD wrote:

Also wanted to add that I just ordered some Sweet Meadow hay...Classic Timothy. It should be here in a couple of days. I'll check back and let you know how it is.

:bunnydance:
The Sweet Meadow hay just arrived!!!

A 35 lbs bulk pack of Classic Timothy.
It's tightly packed but not compressed.
It's packed in a plastic bag inside of a cardboard carton, so I'll be taking it out of the bag and transferring it to another carton.

At first inspection, it seems to be a really nice 2nd cut.
It smells WONDERFUL...sweet and fresh.
Soft, green, leafy...but still has nice stems and some seed heads.

Delivery was super quick.
I put the order in on Saturday night...it was processed and shipped yesterday (Monday)....and I got it today (Tuesday).
Two thumbs up for delivery!!:thumbup:thumbup

Total cost (including shipping) was approx 30% less than ordering from Kleenmamas.
Two thumbs up for cost!!:thumbup:thumbup

I can't wait to see how the buns like it.
If they approve, Sweet Meadows may have a new customer .