Need advice on switching food

[Sirnitea]

When I first got my bunny from a breeder she gave me this transition feed bag and then I transitioned her to a terrible pellet food. I looked up the ingredients months later and feel so guilty. Now I’m trying to transition her to oxbow but no matter how little oxbow I put to transition her she still won’t eat the oxbow. Any advice?

 

[Catlyn]

You can try reducing the amount of old pellets, and if she eats her hay real good, maybe not give the old pellets at all, instead leaving a tiny bit of oxbow for her until she tries to eat it., and then gradually build up from there. If the old pellets have all those yummy colourful bits/grain or muesli in it, the bunny will just pick what she likes best. If she cannot have that and still feels that something is missing beside the hay, she will most likely tru and eat the oxbow ones.

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Welcome to the forum!!!

Theo hated his SPS pellets when I first got them so I would leave a very small amount in his pen and eventually he would eat them. Now pellets are the highlight of his day! He was on a hay-only diet during this time and because I didn't have to swap his food it made introducing a new pellet easier.
I agree with Catlyn, if she eats a good amount of hay I would slowly remove the old pellets from her diet until she is only eating hay. After that, you can slowly introduce the new pellets.

 

[Sirnitea]

The only thing is she doesn’t eat her hay in my opinion enough. And also I give her alfalfa hay which researching more is not necessary for them but I’ve been trying to mix Timothy hay with the alfalfa but she just digs to get to the alfalfa. What should I do first?

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Swap her over to Timothy completely by removing most of the Alfalfa so she has to eat Timothy. Once she is good with Timothy hay, then remove her pellets slowly and introduce her to the new pellets.

 

[Sirnitea]

Ok thank you so much I’ve been stressing out on how I can get her to eat more of her hay this was really healthful

 

[Auggie+Snowball+Belle]

I agree with both of the answers above. Here’s an article on how to transition hay. Only thing is don’t follow the when to transition from alfalfa hay (it says 7 months) as they don’t need alfalfa hay at all and it makes them very picky. The only thing is they do need alfalfa pellets until they’re 6 months. I don’t know how old your rabbit is but if she is under 6 months then make sure you have oxbow young rabbit pellets when you start introducing them (of course that doesn’t matter for the hay). But the rest of the info is good.
Tips for Transitioning to the Best Hay for Rabbits Based on Their Age And when you start the pellets here’s how to transition those

My rabbit, Snowball also didn’t want to eat her oxbow pellets after I realized her food was definitely not ideal for her and possibly caused her kidney stone. What I did was reduced her overall pellet intake to 1 tbsp (I was giving her 1/4 cup) but still followed the diagram above. She didn’t eat enough (timothy) hay either but she started eating more after I reduced her pellet intake. Then I gradually increased the intake up to 3 tbsp. And now she loves her pellets!

 

[Crystl.marshl]

The only thing is she doesn’t eat her hay in my opinion enough. And also I give her alfalfa hay which researching more is not necessary for them but I’ve been trying to mix Timothy hay with the alfalfa but she just digs to get to the alfalfa. What should I do first?

I would change her to timothy hay and give the alfalfa hay as a treat until it is gone.