TIPS ON GETTING MY RABBIT TO EAT HAY!!

[xbject]

I made a big mistake when I bought her, I never fed her hay. I bought her when she was a baby from a flea market and the breeder never said anything about hay, I also didn't do much research at the time. Trust me, I know now. She is 5 years old and honestly I have no clue how she's survived this long without hay. The reason it concerns me now is because she's had ISC and is started to develop GI stasis. My vet told me to get a wide variety of hay and put it around her room and not feed her pellets. I guess he thought my rabbit ate SOME hay so it would be easy for her even though I told him she doesn't eat it and thinks it's a toy. Before I was about to put her to bed with no pellets, I read rabbits can't go for long periods of time without food and that you can't just abruptly stop feeding them pellets. Instead of eating the hay AND pellets she started to lose weight. She eats hay cubes but it's not enough and I've tried everything to get her to eat it. I put her pellets under the hay, I put juice from a grape on it, I've smeared raisins on it, I even tried doing this thing I read on wikihow where you spray water on the hay (even though it'll get moldy) and crush the pellets into powder but even that didn't work. PLEASE give me tips!!

 

[majorv]

What types of hay have you tried? We had one rabbit that was very picky but we found that he liked orchard grass so that’s what he got. Pellets do contain hay, but giving them the long strand hay/grass is better. If he eats hay cubes, that’s good too.

 

[Sunshine's Fine]

I made a big mistake when I bought her, I never fed her hay. I bought her when she was a baby from a flea market and the breeder never said anything about hay, I also didn't do much research at the time. Trust me, I know now. She is 5 years old and honestly I have no clue how she's survived this long without hay. The reason it concerns me now is because she's had ISC and is started to develop GI stasis. My vet told me to get a wide variety of hay and put it around her room and not feed her pellets. I guess he thought my rabbit ate SOME hay so it would be easy for her even though I told him she doesn't eat it and thinks it's a toy. Before I was about to put her to bed with no pellets, I read rabbits can't go for long periods of time without food and that you can't just abruptly stop feeding them pellets. Instead of eating the hay AND pellets she started to lose weight. She eats hay cubes but it's not enough and I've tried everything to get her to eat it. I put her pellets under the hay, I put juice from a grape on it, I've smeared raisins on it, I even tried doing this thing I read on wikihow where you spray water on the hay (even though it'll get moldy) and crush the pellets into powder but even that didn't work. PLEASE give me tips!!

Hey, I have 2 bunnies and have had them for 4 years now. One of them LOVES her hay and eats it 24/7. She's always chewing something. The other one, however - she would eat hay, but only if there was nothing else, no pellets or greens. I've had trouble with her on and off with a poopy butt. She'd be fine for weeks, then suddenly have it every other day. I couldn't seem to figure out why and just thought it was because she's a bit overweight and couldn't reach around to clean herself. Anyway, after getting some advice on this site, I stopped all pellets and all greens. It's been 2 weeks now and I have 2 clean bums! They were really grumpy in the beginning and tried everything to get me to give in, but I stood my ground and I'm so glad I did. They're now eating hay all the time and don't seem to mind too much about the veggies and pellets.


What kind of hay are you giving her? Timothy is the best for them, but you can give her some orchard grass or other types to get her to start eating it. You're not supposed to feed them alfalfa after a year old, but if she's losing weight you might want to try her with that. You might want to try a couple different brands of hay, also. I had one of my other rabbits at the vet once, and they gave me some hay for him. It looked SO much better than what I had at home so I asked them what brand it was. It was Oxbow, and now it's the only brand I buy them. It's greener, fresher, and they like it better.


I know you feel guilty when she looks at you with her adorable face and you think you need to give her pellets, but she's playing you! They are so devious sometimes! One of my girls is such a brat, and so smart! If she doesn't get what she wants she'll start a fight with her sister or go and chew a piece of furniture - anything she knows will get my attention. I think if you give her only hay, she'll eat it when she realizes there's nothing else. It's only hard the first few days to a week. Good luck and keep us posted on how she does with it all.

 

[Annettesuter]

I made a big mistake when I bought her, I never fed her hay. I bought her when she was a baby from a flea market and the breeder never said anything about hay, I also didn't do much research at the time. Trust me, I know now. She is 5 years old and honestly I have no clue how she's survived this long without hay. The reason it concerns me now is because she's had ISC and is started to develop GI stasis. My vet told me to get a wide variety of hay and put it around her room and not feed her pellets. I guess he thought my rabbit ate SOME hay so it would be easy for her even though I told him she doesn't eat it and thinks it's a toy. Before I was about to put her to bed with no pellets, I read rabbits can't go for long periods of time without food and that you can't just abruptly stop feeding them pellets. Instead of eating the hay AND pellets she started to lose weight. She eats hay cubes but it's not enough and I've tried everything to get her to eat it. I put her pellets under the hay, I put juice from a grape on it, I've smeared raisins on it, I even tried doing this thing I read on wikihow where you spray water on the hay (even though it'll get moldy) and crush the pellets into powder but even that didn't work. PLEASE give me tips!!

You could try timothy hay, or dried dandelion hay.

 

[baileymarie]

try stuffing the hay inside a toilet paper roll - I’ve been doing that and my bun likes it as a toy and also ends up eating the hay. Only way I can get him to eat it so I find myself replacing it a lot throughout the day.

 

[Diane R]

Perhaps get a dental check-up with a good rabbit vet first. If your bunny has not eaten hay for 5 years it is quite possible she has some spurs on her molars which make it painful for her to eat hay.

 

[Milousmom]

A good way I found in the beginning when my bun wouldn't eat hay is I mixed in a bit of cilantro in with the hay. Also, my bun definitely prefers orchard grass over timothy hay, so it might be the type of hay you're offering. Now, he goes through hay like crazy!

 

[nat1234]

i feel you ! i have the same issue
what i do is sprinkle herbs on the hay
https://www.chewy.com/naturals-natu...ky8Drs5oCEHUPC69MavdfOh6kTP58ZL8aAgfzEALw_wcB
rosewood naturals sells a good mix
then i feed hay cubes

https://www.exoticnutrition.com/Products/Timothy-Hay-Cubes__434EN435EN.aspx
and lastly my bunnies favorite 100% timothy hay pellets
https://www.exoticnutrition.com/Products/Timothy-Pellets__4473643-comm--spc-4473642.aspx
just make sure with the cubes it's not the kaytee brand as those ones contain alfalfa

 

[chrishamel]

My bunny had the same issue. I put a little baby food on it, like butternut squash and apple. This worked great!

 

[Jurisfiction]

try stuffing the hay inside a toilet paper roll - I’ve been doing that and my bun likes it as a toy and also ends up eating the hay. Only way I can get him to eat it so I find myself replacing it a lot throughout the day.

When I tried the hat inside a toilet paper roll, Marlow always put the toilet paper roll in his water dish.
Luckily he started to eat more hay, but only if it was in his litter box so I clean that and put fresh in a lot.

 

[bunnylove2024]

All of my rabbits love hay so I can't help much. I have heard that some rabbits like pellets, it is literally compressed hay into tiny little pellets, if she eats her food you can mix it in there. I hope this helps.