How to get underweight rabbit to eat more hay

[BabyMiyo]

miyo loves pellets, but does not like hay. i've tried 3 different kinds of hay and she shows the same disinterest to all of it. she'll eat it, but only a little bit. i read that they're supposed to eat more than their body size in hay each day, but she eats maybe 10 stalks of hay a day, tops.

i know reducing her pellets might help her get hungrier for hay, but she is underweight and i don't want to reduce her protein intake. her poops are really small and that's an indication of insufficient fibre i believe?

i just don't know how to get her to eat more hay. i leave piles of it lying around the house and heaps of it in her cage, always fresh, but she doesn't really care for it. I thought of hay cubes but they don't sell them here and ordering from overseas would be pretty expensive. so i'm hoping someone on here would have some advice..

ullhair:

 

[woahlookitsme]

I would think if she is truly underweight you would want to continue giving her more pellets. How many pellets is she getting right now and how old is she? Also what is the fiber and protein content of her food?

 

[BabyMiyo]

she's a 3.2 lbs lop mix and the vet said she should gain about 1 lb more to reach her ideal weight. she's roughly 6 months old at the vet's estimate, i don't know for sure because i just found her and took her in last week. she's getting 1/4 cup of oxbow adult pellets daily at the moment, i'm planning to decrease this once she puts on enough weight.

 

[naturestee]

Some rabbits take a little time to learn to eat hay if they haven't had it before. Try making it fun by putting it inside toys such as toilet paper tube or box. Just give small amounts that she's more likely to eat so you have to give her more hay at least every day. For some reason, hay is more exciting if you just pulled it from the bag/bale, even though it's exactly the same as the stuff they already have.

Another trick is to mix a little bit of something yummy in, like a little alfalfa if they're ok with the protein or dried herbs (large ones, not crumbled stuff for cooking). They'll eat more grass hay while they search for the really yummy stuff.

If she's underweight and the vet thinks she's young, she can have a little alfalfa hay. Just add it slowly because it's too rich for some bunnies.

Best of luck!

 

[BunnyWabbit]

If you're feeding veggies:
One of my rabbits was having a slight issue with maintaining weight so I started feeding him more higher caloric greens and it's worked out pretty well. Kale, Dandelion, and Peppermint are a couple greens with higher calories.

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

:yeahthat: to naturestee!

Just thought I'd add, you could add some oats in her hay to help her put on weight and when she's normal weight you could stop.