Need help with my rabbit's diet

[Babygroot]

Hello, so I have an 8 year old bunny named Max and because me and my family didn't really know any better, we gave him to much pellets and he stopped eating timothy hay. When I realised this and that it was gonna be a problem I started changing his diet and started to give him less and less pellets and then more and more hay. But then he lost a lot of weight and after an appointment with the vet we found out that the cause could be due to trying to give him another diet, or due to a parasite that he has had problems with before, which we are giving him medication for now.
Anyway, my point is, we are trying to get him to gain some weight. We were advised to give him food such as alfalfa hay, but we were never told how much alfalfa hay we can give him.
So I'm wondering if you guys know a good amount to give my rabbit? Since giving alfalfa hay to an 8 year old rabbit has its risks.
Also, he dislikes timothy hay, but he eats grass that we pick outside our house, but I'm not sure if that can replace the timothy hay he's not eating...

 

[Augustus&HazelGrace]

How much pellets is he getting each day now?

 

[Babygroot]

How much pellets is he getting each day now?

Well it's hard to say, right now we give him like 3-4 pellets evey hour so inbetween he eats grass and so on. But a little less than 1dl I'd say in total.

 

[Augustus&HazelGrace]

Is he still eating hay well or just average? What type of pellets are you feeding him?

 

[Babygroot]

Is he still eating hay well or just average? What type of pellets are you feeding him?

Well he's not eating any timothy hay right now because we're offering him alfalfa hay, pellets and grass to help him gain weight and get back on his feet.
And I can't exactly say what type of pellets he eats but the pellets we give him has 12.6% protein, 1.9% fat, 10.4% fiber and 0.06% calcium.

 

[Blue eyes]

You might want to take a peek at this link to see what pellets are healthy:
http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-food-comparison.asp

Pellet food should have a minimum of 18% fiber.
I would also be mixing timothy and alfalfa hay together so that he doesn't get so used to the alfalfa that he refuses to go back to timothy once he's gained some weight. ...oh... if he doesn't like timothy, then try any other grass hay...bermuda, brome, orchard grass.

If you switch pellets (sounds like it would be a good idea), then use the old pellets to mix with the new so he can slowly transition to the new.

 

[Preitler]

Well, grass is the better version of hay, at least when it's fresh and in it's prime, I couldn't find enough now to feed my rabbits. But if your rabbit eats it and is used to it for some time now it sure is a nice addition and gets water and fiber into him. There are some other greens that are safe to feed and taste good too, like blackberry leaves, brambles, narrowleaf plantain, leaves of roses, apple trees, quince... - I can find some of that around here even in winter.

Another thing for getting some calories into a rabbit to eat is kitchen oatmeal, about 1-2 Tablespoons per day, When I need to fatten up a rabbit I even put some drops of sunflower seed oil on it.

What kind of pellets isn't that important, I would stick to what he's used to. HAve you access to other types of hay, like normal mixed stuff ? Did you try a different batch just in case this one tastes somehow off?

Anyway, whatever you feed wouldn't change much if he isn't eating enough because there's an underlying issue, what kind of parasite did he struggle with?

 

[Babygroot]

You might want to take a peek at this link to see what pellets are healthy:
http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-food-comparison.asp

Pellet food should have a minimum of 18% fiber.
I would also be mixing timothy and alfalfa hay together so that he doesn't get so used to the alfalfa that he refuses to go back to timothy once he's gained some weight. ...oh... if he doesn't like timothy, then try any other grass hay...bermuda, brome, orchard grass.

If you switch pellets (sounds like it would be a good idea), then use the old pellets to mix with the new so he can slowly transition to the new.

Okay, I'll definitely take that into consideration and see what I can find! And for now I can try to mix alfalfa hay with timothy and see what happens. Thank you!

 

[Babygroot]

Well, grass is the better version of hay, at least when it's fresh and in it's prime, I couldn't find enough now to feed my rabbits. But if your rabbit eats it and is used to it for some time now it sure is a nice addition and gets water and fiber into him. There are some other greens that are safe to feed and taste good too, like blackberry leaves, brambles, narrowleaf plantain, leaves of roses, apple trees, quince... - I can find some of that around here even in winter.

Another thing for getting some calories into a rabbit to eat is kitchen oatmeal, about 1-2 Tablespoons per day, When I need to fatten up a rabbit I even put some drops of sunflower seed oil on it.

What kind of pellets isn't that important, I would stick to what he's used to. HAve you access to other types of hay, like normal mixed stuff ? Did you try a different batch just in case this one tastes somehow off?

Anyway, whatever you feed wouldn't change much if he isn't eating enough because there's an underlying issue, what kind of parasite did he struggle with?

He struggled with the parasite E cuniculi and so we are giving him some medication for it and trying to have him gain some weight back in the process.
I can try and give him some oatmeal and see how that works out, thank you!
And I can see if I can find some of those greens you mentioned, otherwise I usually pick some blueberry rice to give the rabbits.
We usually buy hay from a specific farmer and since we don't have many other options but going to the pet store, I bought hay from there and well... he didn't like it, he even preferred the usual one over that. But I'll keep on trying!