Help!! No more greens or alfalfa pellets!?

[Blue eyes]

I suspect the kidney stones could've been from all those rich alfalfa pellets. Alfalfa pellets are meant for just baby rabbits not adults. So she's been on rich pellets for years. Probably that took its toll over time. I don't think the romaine would be the culprit but different rabbits have different reactions to particular greens. No harm in cutting out romaine for now. I don't see any problem with other greens however-- particularly if you steer completely away from those known to be high in calcium (like parsley and kale).

Now that she's off the alfalfa pellets and switching to timothy pellets, and she's eating timothy hay (is that correct?), hopefully you'll see improvement. The more grass hay, the better.

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

I suspect the kidney stones could've been from all those rich alfalfa pellets. Alfalfa pellets are meant for just baby rabbits not adults. So she's been on rich pellets for years. Probably that took its toll over time. I don't think the romaine would be the culprit but different rabbits have different reactions to particular greens. No harm in cutting out romaine for now. I don't see any problem with other greens however-- particularly if you steer completely away from those known to be high in calcium (like parsley and kale).

Now that she's off the alfalfa pellets and switching to timothy pellets, and she's eating timothy hay (is that correct?), hopefully you'll see improvement. The more grass hay, the better.

Probably true about the alfalfa pellets. I just checked on her and she didn’t really eat any of the pellets, new or old (there’s a huge difference in size) and I only gave her 2 tbsp (half of the amount I normally do). Should I just leave the pellets there until she eats them? Yes I do feed her Timothy hay (never fed her alfalfa hay). Thanks!

 

[Jacaroe]

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.

We discovered our bun was sitting on smooshy poops as well, because they were all squished and dry and matted into the fur on his back end! After a couple of good butt washes, we eliminated pellets completely and went with a hay/water only diet for a while and it seemed to help eliminate the sticky butt. We don't give him fresh greens often, but every time I go to the store we'll pick him up some cilantro or carrot greens just as a treat.

I did a lot of research and discovered I liked Oxbow the best. I even called them to talk hay science lol. I generally stay away from Kaytee brands of anything. Most of their stuff seems to be marketed towards the owners, but there are some real nutritional gaps - and in some cases even dangers - in some of their products.

I now buy specifically Oxbow products. We only give him a fraction of the pellets we used to and he acts like they're more of a treat than anything. Since cutting out most of the pellets his hay consumption has increased by probably 1/3, but that's ok with me. The way I see it, the more hay he eats, the better!

This has been our experience, and I hope it helps give you perspective. Good luck with your food transitioning. There's nothing else in the world like being a bunny-parent.

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

We discovered our bun was sitting on smooshy poops as well, because they were all squished and dry and matted into the fur on his back end! After a couple of good butt washes, we eliminated pellets completely and went with a hay/water only diet for a while and it seemed to help eliminate the sticky butt. We don't give him fresh greens often, but every time I go to the store we'll pick him up some cilantro or carrot greens just as a treat.

I did a lot of research and discovered I liked Oxbow the best. I even called them to talk hay science lol. I generally stay away from Kaytee brands of anything. Most of their stuff seems to be marketed towards the owners, but there are some real nutritional gaps - and in some cases even dangers - in some of their products.

I now buy specifically Oxbow products. We only give him a fraction of the pellets we used to and he acts like they're more of a treat than anything. Since cutting out most of the pellets his hay consumption has increased by probably 1/3, but that's ok with me. The way I see it, the more hay he eats, the better!

This has been our experience, and I hope it helps give you perspective. Good luck with your food transitioning. There's nothing else in the world like being a bunny-parent.

Thanks! I’m changing both my rabbits diets to oxbow adult now. We’re cutting back her intake to 2 tbsp a day and hopefully it’ll help her! I agree a lot of Kaytees pellets have dried fruits, seeds, etc. which before I knew the harm (a long time ago) I fed her them . I think they shouldn’t sell the pellets with dried fruit and seeds in them for rabbits because they’re awful for rabbits. The Kaytee pellets I’m transitioning my other bun from are Timothy complete which are just Timothy pellets but it seems that the oxbow are better. I’ll be holding off on greens for now but eventually I’ll probably give her romaine Lettuce again.