LoveCrumb
Well-Known Member
So I have a pretty strange predicament. It's not a pressing issue- more that I'm just getting tired of it and I'm wondering if anyone knows of any alternatives.
My bunny (is about 4-5 years old, I adopted him a year ago) never took to hay feeders- he prefers piles of hay on the floor instead. He's not as good of a hay eater as I would like. His previous owners likely gave him a pellet-only diet, so any way I can get him to eat more hay, I try. ( I buy him three different varieties of fresh hay and switch them up every once in a while and toss in some chopped up herbs to encourage foraging). The floor-feeding results in about 10-20% of the hay being thrown out at the end of the day when it gets mixed up with his fur, water, etc..I can deal with this.
BUT, when he starts shedding? My gosh, at least 50-75% of the hay gets thrown away at the end of the day. Where I live, good quality hay is very expensive. It's an expense I'm okay with because I know how important it is for rabbits, but when I'm throwing this much beautiful, fresh hay away, it's painful! I've taken to spending an hour a day shaking out the hay while I watch tv, but the fur really clings to it and I literally have to pick up three or four individual pieces of hay and shake them to actually get the hair out. I feel like a crazy rabbit lady while I do it haha, and lets face it, ain't nobody got time for that.
I tried buying the cheaper hay to feed him during his molts so that I could throw away any waste guilt-free, but he refused to eat it, the lil bugger.
I groom him as much as I possibly can. I bought a furminator which has helped considerably, but he gets too sensitive of it if I use it more than a couple times a week, so I mostly use my hands- i have two big handfuls of fur by the end of a grooming session, which I do 2-3 times a day. You wouldn't believe how much this guy can shed. The days when I used the furminator, I do get to throw away less hay, so I know this is a problem of too much shedding too quickly.
So does anyone have the same problem? Does anyone know of any solutions? Honestly, if this is my biggest "problem", I'll consider myself very lucky, but I am curious to know if anyone else deals with this and how they deal with it.
I'm also wondering if I'm being overly paranoid about the amount of fur my bunny can safely consume. Like...is this even a problem? My first bunny had frequent GI problems that seemed to be genetic (his mom succumbed to them at a young age) because I gave him the best feeding environment I could have, but he still ended up passing away from it at the young age of four despite all my and the vet's efforts. It was crushing for me. I know I did everything I could for him, but as a pet parent, sometimes we have misplaced guilt for something we couldn't change. I definitely recognize now that I tend to be overly paranoid when I notice my bunny avoiding his hay- I know it's because he's picky and prefers his pellets, but it still triggers that anxiety in me. I know that a build-up of fur in the intestines along with a lack of roughage in the diet can lead to a blockage, and after my sad experience with my first bunny, well....it would be naive of me to think I'm not paranoid about it.
My bunny (is about 4-5 years old, I adopted him a year ago) never took to hay feeders- he prefers piles of hay on the floor instead. He's not as good of a hay eater as I would like. His previous owners likely gave him a pellet-only diet, so any way I can get him to eat more hay, I try. ( I buy him three different varieties of fresh hay and switch them up every once in a while and toss in some chopped up herbs to encourage foraging). The floor-feeding results in about 10-20% of the hay being thrown out at the end of the day when it gets mixed up with his fur, water, etc..I can deal with this.
BUT, when he starts shedding? My gosh, at least 50-75% of the hay gets thrown away at the end of the day. Where I live, good quality hay is very expensive. It's an expense I'm okay with because I know how important it is for rabbits, but when I'm throwing this much beautiful, fresh hay away, it's painful! I've taken to spending an hour a day shaking out the hay while I watch tv, but the fur really clings to it and I literally have to pick up three or four individual pieces of hay and shake them to actually get the hair out. I feel like a crazy rabbit lady while I do it haha, and lets face it, ain't nobody got time for that.
I tried buying the cheaper hay to feed him during his molts so that I could throw away any waste guilt-free, but he refused to eat it, the lil bugger.
I groom him as much as I possibly can. I bought a furminator which has helped considerably, but he gets too sensitive of it if I use it more than a couple times a week, so I mostly use my hands- i have two big handfuls of fur by the end of a grooming session, which I do 2-3 times a day. You wouldn't believe how much this guy can shed. The days when I used the furminator, I do get to throw away less hay, so I know this is a problem of too much shedding too quickly.
So does anyone have the same problem? Does anyone know of any solutions? Honestly, if this is my biggest "problem", I'll consider myself very lucky, but I am curious to know if anyone else deals with this and how they deal with it.
I'm also wondering if I'm being overly paranoid about the amount of fur my bunny can safely consume. Like...is this even a problem? My first bunny had frequent GI problems that seemed to be genetic (his mom succumbed to them at a young age) because I gave him the best feeding environment I could have, but he still ended up passing away from it at the young age of four despite all my and the vet's efforts. It was crushing for me. I know I did everything I could for him, but as a pet parent, sometimes we have misplaced guilt for something we couldn't change. I definitely recognize now that I tend to be overly paranoid when I notice my bunny avoiding his hay- I know it's because he's picky and prefers his pellets, but it still triggers that anxiety in me. I know that a build-up of fur in the intestines along with a lack of roughage in the diet can lead to a blockage, and after my sad experience with my first bunny, well....it would be naive of me to think I'm not paranoid about it.
