He just will not eat hay

[tbowman]

I have tried a couple different varities...KayTee, Petco, and now Oxbow and he just will not eat it. I feed him a dish of his pellets daily plus his greens and plenty of hay but my bunny refuses the hay.

I have litter trained him using hay, could this be the problem? Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[FuzzyLove]

My little guy wouldn't eat his hay at first either. However, this is when I was over-filling his food bowl with pellets. SInce I have cut the pellets down to about 2 Tbsp. a day (he's a little guy) he has been a lot better about eating his hay.

I also purchased a "hay manger" (found mine at Rabbitstop.com) which hangs on the side of the cage and holds the hay and lets Pepper eat hay that he hasn't been laying on.

Hope this helps! Good luck.

 

[Phinnsmommy]

What kinds of hay have you tried? Mine love bluegrass, and it's just as healthy for them as timothy. I think it's a little bit sweeter, and they love it.

 

[Becknutt]

My girl is not a big hay eater either. Floppy is half her size eats 3x as much hay as she does. I buy Peters Meadow Mix (Ingredients: SUN CURED MEADOW FESCUE HAY SUN CURED ALASKA BROME HAY SUN CURED PERENNIAL RYE GRASS SUN CURED TIMOTHY HAY SUN CURED BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL HAY SUN CURED RED CLOVER HAY SUN CURED BLUEGRASS HAY SUN CURED WHITE CLOVER HAY.) When I add fresh hay they both love to pick out the dried flowers in it. She eats more of this hay. I never see her touch the Timothy. I fill they hay manager with Timothy and then add a small handfull of this mix each day.

 

[Maureen Las]

sometimes when they don't eat good hay it's a dental problem,
just a thought............

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

I agree with angieluv's suggestion, but also want to suggest something. I've had to do this with mine as they don't eat much hay. Feed fewer pellets and see if that will entice them to eat it. If it doesn't, you may have a tooth problem.

Keep us posted!

 

[kirst3buns]

I took inan unwanted bunny from a family and I don't think he'd ever seenhay before he came to me.I had a hard time getting him to try it.One of the suggestions I gotwas to spray (mist)a little bit of haywith apple juice. I didn't try that but you might want to. What finally happened was I got some really good 3rd cut timothy and blue grass hay in a bunny gift basket and he ate it! I then ordered some more from kleenmama's hayloft andeventually mixed it with other stuff too.Now he will eat whatever hay I give him. You may just have to keep trying different types until you find something your bunny likes. Also, have you tried hay cubes at all? Mine love the Kaytee timothy hay cubes and I feed them as treats on occasion. I'm not sure they are as good as hay but probably better than nothing.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Oh yes, I've also heard to spritz hay with apple juice to coax them to eat it, it's supposed to work well. Only thing you need to watch for, is if they don't eat it, you need to remove it as it will grow mold, which is toxic to buns.

 

[tbowman]

His teeth are fine. He will eat grass. I am giving him Oxbow orchard and western timothy hay. I will try the apple juice however.

 

[kirst3buns]

You may want to try switching hay brands as well. My rabbits aren't crazy about the oxbow hay for some reason. They LOVE their Oxbow pellets but not the hay. They will eat the Kaytee Timothy or orchard grass though. And they LOVE Kleenmama's Hayloft hay.