Help!! No more greens or alfalfa pellets!?

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

Hers are mostly like juvenile poop (which is weird because she’s 4.. but she’s unspayed maybe that has to do with it?) and sometimes I see poop ornaments maybe once a week. She possibly has the cecotropes I’m pretty sure they’re more smooshy and she sits on her poop and we see smooshed poop at least once a day, typically in the morning.

I don’t think it has to do with unspayed I don’t know though
but I would definetly get her spayed
I really want to get my rabbit spayed but have to wait until Covid 19
The poop ornaments are just hair that combined with the poo
More Timothy should help with that

 

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

Sure, I would reduce the amount here is how your suppost to reduce the food

 

[zuppa]

So if I’m clear, I should be looking for a food with more fiber, less calcium and doesn’t contain alfalfa? I can’t really reduce the pellet intake as she doesn’t really eat much of them anyways. But if she doesn’t eat pellets, all she can eat is hay as she can’t have greens. Is there anything else I could feed her besides greens (which she can’t have) and pellets? Or should I just keep encouraging the pellets. Also should I slowly introduce the new pellets like I did last time or not since she can’t have alfalfa anymore and it seems like the pellets were the cause of the kidney stone? Thanks!

All she needs is hay and water unlimited, and pellets are only a supplement, you can reduce them to one tablespoon a day or you can keep her on hay only for a week or so, you will see that there's no smooshed poos in the mornings anymore.
I am no vet but yes I think that her diet caused her kidney problems, and I wouldn't cut on greens (except those high on calcium and oxalates like kale) but I'd definitely cut on pellets and would transfer her slowly to non alfalfa pellets with more fibre and less protein.

You can start from reducing her pellets to half, then to half again, she will probably eat all of them and will be looking for them, then you can start mixing some new (13% protein, 19% fibre, non-alfalfa) into her old, do not remove her bowl on refill until it is empty, she will eat some when she's hungry. I think you simply overfeed her and she eats only what she likes best, don't stop feeding her abruptly but reduce pellets and let her eat other foods, she should start eating more hay then, which is very positive thing. Hay must be unlimited and it makes 80% of her healthy diet. For now she has too much protein rich food, you want to change it if you don't want further health problems. Greens are not fat and she can have them, limited. Pellets need to be reduced and slowly changed to other type suitable for her age and needs.

 

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

Here’s a thread from another forum

 

[Mariam+Theo]

I would slowly introduce the pellets so that it doesn't bother her. Theo was on a hay only diet for a short amount of time after he has some signs of stasis, so I just added pellets to his diet slowly instead of slowly swapping from one brand to another. Since you will be swapping from the bad brand to the new brand here is a chart you should follow:


I don't think this has anything to do with her not being spayed, but I do suggest that you get her spayed. Spaying helps with territorial problems, and if you ever want to get another rabbit to bond her with, they will both need to be fixed. You can get her spayed at a rabbit-savvy vet ($75-$400+), or at a Spay and Neuter Facility (I got Theo done for $55 at our local one).

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

I don’t think it has to do with unspayed I don’t know though
but I would definetly get her spayed
I really want to get my rabbit spayed but have to wait until Covid 19
The poop ornaments are just hair that combined with the poo
More Timothy should help with that

Thanks for the info! We’ve tried getting her spayed and even dropped her off one morning to get her spayed (had to drop her off due to covid) then we get a call saying they don’t want to spay her because she has an irregular heart beat or heart murmur. They said we could take her to this huge vet hospital (one of the biggest in nys) to see what’s up with her heart but that would cost thousands that we just can’t afford and they don’t know whether they’d be able to fix it or not. So we decided to not spay her or take her to the vet hospital and take her to the regular vet when she needs to.

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

View attachment 50043Here’s a thread from another forum

I would slowly introduce the pellets so that it doesn't bother her. Theo was on a hay only diet for a short amount of time after he has some signs of stasis, so I just added pellets to his diet slowly instead of slowly swapping from one brand to another. Since you will be swapping from the bad brand to the new brand here is a chart you should follow:
View attachment 50042

I don't think this has anything to do with her not being spayed, but I do suggest that you get her spayed. Spaying helps with territorial problems, and if you ever want to get another rabbit to bond her with, they will both need to be fixed. You can get her spayed at a rabbit-savvy vet ($75-$400+), or at a Spay and Neuter Facility (I got Theo done for $55 at our local one).

I’m picking up oxbow adult pellets later and will use these guidelines. As for the spaying I can’t because she has an irregular heart beat/heart murmur and the vet thinks it’s too risky to put her under. The only way we could is if we brought her to this huge vet clinic to see what’s wrong with her heart and then got her spayed after the heart problem possibly was fixed but we can’t afford that. Thanks for the guidance for introducing new food!

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

All she needs is hay and water unlimited, and pellets are only a supplement, you can reduce them to one tablespoon a day or you can keep her on hay only for a week or so, you will see that there's no smooshed poos in the mornings anymore.
I am no vet but yes I think that her diet caused her kidney problems, and I wouldn't cut on greens (except those high on calcium and oxalates like kale) but I'd definitely cut on pellets and would transfer her slowly to non alfalfa pellets with more fibre and less protein.

You can start from reducing her pellets to half, then to half again, she will probably eat all of them and will be looking for them, then you can start mixing some new (13% protein, 19% fibre, non-alfalfa) into her old, do not remove her bowl on refill until it is empty, she will eat some when she's hungry. I think you simply overfeed her and she eats only what she likes best, don't stop feeding her abruptly but reduce pellets and let her eat other foods, she should start eating more hay then, which is very positive thing. Hay must be unlimited and it makes 80% of her healthy diet. For now she has too much protein rich food, you want to change it if you don't want further health problems. Greens are not fat and she can have them, limited. Pellets need to be reduced and slowly changed to other type suitable for her age and needs.

Thanks! I’m going to hold off on the greens for now and talk to the vet about it later after she is 100% better. I’ll be using these oxbow adult pellets as they seem to be the best for her.

 

[Diane R]

You need a better rabbit vet. Reduce pellets to no more than 1 tbsp a day. You can give romaine and herbs but in very small quantities - not more than the size of their head per day.

 

[Andrea London]

Hi all,

Hope it's not off topic but I have received 7kg + 7kg of bio rabbit food by mistake (I have a cat ):

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/rabbit-food.98602/
I'm surprised no one from London is interested. I can prolly give them away at a third of the price before just throwing them away but seems good quality stuff.

Are you or anyone interested?

Pick up only in London, I guess posting them would be super expensive.

Thanks!

 

[Diane R]

Hi all,

Hope it's not off topic but I have received 7kg + 7kg of bio rabbit food by mistake (I have a cat ):

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/rabbit-food.98602/
I'm surprised no one from London is interested. I can prolly give them away at a third of the price before just throwing them away but seems good quality stuff.

Are you or anyone interested?

Pick up only in London, I guess posting them would be super expensive.

Thanks!

What is the actual brand name? Never heard of bio rabbit food. Could you drop off at a rescue centre?

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

You need a better rabbit vet. Reduce pellets to no more than 1 tbsp a day. You can give romaine and herbs but in very small quantities - not more than the size of their head per day.

Thanks for your input, If it becomes a problem, we do have a second vet we could take her to. I’m no vet, but the house rabbit society recommends 1/4-1/2 cup pellets for every 6lbs for her age. She weighs 5lbs and right now doesn’t eat anything but pellets and unlimited Timothy hay so I’ll be giving her 1/4 cup of the pellets I posted a pic of above (after a few weeks of introducing them). I’m not going to give her greens at least for now because she had a huge kidney stone.

 

[Diane R]

Thanks for your input, If it becomes a problem, we do have a second vet we could take her to. I’m no vet, but the house rabbit society recommends 1/4-1/2 cup pellets for every 6lbs for her age. She weighs 5lbs and right now doesn’t eat anything but pellets and unlimited Timothy hay so I’ll be giving her 1/4 cup of the pellets I posted a pic of above (after a few weeks of introducing them). I’m not going to give her greens at least for now because she had a huge kidney stone.

Expert rabbit vets in the UK recommend not more than 1 tbsp pellets a day whatever the age. Especially if bunny has kidney stones it is important to take them off pellets. Greens, especially herbs, are not really a problem as calcium is much more diluted.

 

[Milousmom]

Thanks! Until the new pellets get here, what should I do about the pellets that are bad for her? Just stop giving it to her, reduce the amount or continue giving the same amount to her?

I would reduce the alfalfa pellets because a 4 year old rabbit really doesn't need to be eating that. When you get the new pellets, slowly introduce them. So, you could do 3/4 old + 1/4 new for a few days, then half and half, then 1/4 old 3/4 new for a few days till it's only timothy pellets.

My bun hated the new pellets when I he grew out of alfalfa but every few days he would eat a little bit more of the timothy pellets until now. Now, he runs around in circles when it's pellet time. Hay is really the most important thing so if she only eats a few of the pellets for the first few days, it should be okay.

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

Expert rabbit vets in the UK recommend not more than 1 tbsp pellets a day whatever the age. Especially if bunny has kidney stones it is important to take them off pellets. Greens, especially herbs, are not really a problem as calcium is much more diluted.

Oh ok thanks! The new pellets have a lower calcium and no alfalfa so I think they should be fine. Luckily she doesn’t have any more stones (she got an X-ray) I think the greens could have caused it since the vet said the kidney stone started developing a few months ago and that’s when I started feeding the romaine lettuce . Although I’m not positive. I could ask my other vet but their office is far away but do you think it’s be worth it to get a 2nd opinion about the greens?

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

I would reduce the alfalfa pellets because a 4 year old rabbit really doesn't need to be eating that. When you get the new pellets, slowly introduce them. So, you could do 3/4 old + 1/4 new for a few days, then half and half, then 1/4 old 3/4 new for a few days till it's only timothy pellets.

My bun hated the new pellets when I he grew out of alfalfa but every few days he would eat a little bit more of the timothy pellets until now. Now, he runs around in circles when it's pellet time. Hay is really the most important thing so if she only eats a few of the pellets for the first few days, it should be okay.

Thanks! We found the new pellets at a local store and I’ve started introducing them as you mentioned.

 

[Diane R]

Oh ok thanks! The new pellets have a lower calcium and no alfalfa so I think they should be fine. Luckily she doesn’t have any more stones (she got an X-ray) I think the greens could have caused it since the vet said the kidney stone started developing a few months ago and that’s when I started feeding the romaine lettuce . Although I’m not positive. I could ask my other vet but their office is far away but do you think it’s be worth it to get a 2nd opinion about the greens?

Romaine cannot cause kidney stones. It's just crunchy water basically. I think it would be safe to introduce very small quantities of herbs.

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

Romaine cannot cause kidney stones. It's just crunchy water basically. I think it would be safe to introduce very small quantities of herbs.

That does make sense. I’ll try to find veggies/herbs with little to no calcium and consider giving them to her. @JBun what do you think?

 

[Blue eyes]

There is info on determining which greens are safe for daily feeding and which should be limited because of high calcium or oxolates. This can be found on my site here:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/greens--veggies.html

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

There is info on determining which greens are safe for daily feeding and which should be limited because of high calcium or oxolates. This can be found on my site here:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/greens--veggies.html

Ok thanks. Do you think I should check with my vet first as they said no more greens?