My Bun won't eat Timothy...

[CB Millicent]

Hello there, I'm new here and a new bunny owner! She is a rescue (standard Rex) and the vet deemed her healthy last week. I was told she needs to eat TImothy, but she won't. She has fresh Timothy placed in her cage daily, and she ignores it. However, she is a free-range Bun for about 6-8 hours during the day when I'm home and chows on grass, weeds, plants and my flowers (!). I also feed her 2-3 cups of fresh greens daily (a mix of kale, cabbage, parsley, turnip/mustard/collard greens, cilantro...and a bunch of others that were on the list the vet gave us). I finally give her 1/2 cup of pellets and an alfalfa block each night just to make sure she has enough. I know it sounds like a lot but she is not overweight and she loves the "salads!" Should I cut back on the greens so she'll eat the Timothy?

 

[juliew19673]

Sounds like she is getting enough of other food that hay is not something she is focusing on. You could try other hay mixes, but depending on the age, steer clear of alfalpha that may be too fatty. There is Orchard grass (hay) that is lighter and sold in most pet stores or ok e stock establishments.

Hope this helps and that others might chime in as well.

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

I plan on making the switch to Timothy myself very soon. I plan on mixing in alfalfa with the timothy and slowly taking the alfalfa away until its just timothy. You could try that or switch to orchard grass.

 

[MikeScone]

CB Millicent wrote:

I was told she needs to eat TImothy, but she won't. She has fresh Timothy placed in her cage daily, and she ignores it.

She doesn't need Timothy hay, as such. What she needs is grass hay (as opposed to alfalfa, which is a legume). Timothy is just one of the kinds of grass hay, and like any other vegetation, different grasses taste different - and buns are nothing if not opinionated on taste.

My last bun, Scone MacBunny, refused for his entire life to touch Timothy hay in any form. On the other hand, he just loved orchard grass, bermuda grass, oat hay, and some mixed hays like Peter's Meadow Mix. My current bun, Natasha Rabbitova, likes Timothy, but prefers orchard grass, and won't eat oat hay.

So, don't worry about it. Just find some other kind of grass hay that she likes.

 

[kirst3buns]

My mini rex came to me at about age 2 and I don't think he'd ever been fed hay. He refused timothy at first. Iordered a special mix of several types from a rabbit toy company (The Busy Bunny-it came in a gift basket so not sure they still have it) and it was a very good smelling, green looking hay. He ate that. Since then I've ordered 3rd cut timothy, blue grass, orchard grass, etc. for him and mix in some good looking 2nd cut timothy. You may just want to try getting some different kinds from different places. I order mine from kleenmama's hayloft but I know there are other places that have good hay. Once he got used to eating hay, he will now eat the regular 2nd cut timothy from the pet store if nothing else is available.

 

[CB Millicent]

Thanks for all the replies! I did purchase some orchard grass from the local pet store and she seems to like it. I will look into ordering freshly cut hay.