Too much of a good thing...

[BinkyBunny]

I know that we are supposed to free feed pellets to a growing, baby bunny, but my bunny has eaten so many pellets since I got him that I am a bit concerned! I have continued to fill his bowl, but MAN, boy can eat!!! He is definitely a baby. He doesn't have an overly active interest in hay yet, and I have that offered to him in great quantities. Is it ok to allow him to continue to eat so many pellets? At what age should I curb the pellet consumption? He is not a skinny baby. He has a little junk in the trunk - more than I am accustomed to seeing a baby anyhow :laughsmiley:

 

[Imbrium]

for his age/breed, I would definitely cut him back to 1/2c twice a day tops to get him to eat more hay.

do you have him introduced to a variety of veggies/are you feeding a decent amount of veggies per day (once they're introduced, you should increase the amount until you're feeding about 1c packed leafy greens per 2 lbs body weight per day... veggies can be introduced starting at 12 weeks as long as they don't cause any tummy troubles, so he's definitely old enough at 4 mos)? if so, you could even cut back to maybe 1/3c pellets twice a day if he's still filling up on pellets and veggies at 1c total per day. at 6-7 mos, you should cut him back to about 1/4c twice a day.

one of my girls has a tendency to get chubby, so I had them on limited pellets (at my vet's suggestion) from an early age.

 

[BinkyBunny]

Oh, thank you so much for that information! I planned to get him some veggies tomorrow. I'm going to a store a little farther away that carries all organic produce in a larger selection. Do you have a recommendation as far as with what to start? I did know that he should be on veggies, but I'm basically leaving him be for the first 48 hours with hay, water, and pellets, and then I thought I'd go ahead and start introducing him to greens as they can cause some upset. He has not been introduced to anything yet.
My former buns loved bok choy, alfalfa sprouts, and mint They were already started on greens and doing very well when I acquired them, so I am less knowledgable about what to do to start a young bunny on veggies. I think I'm going to have a bunny with a tendency to battle the bulge on my hands...it's ok...he and I can do it together

 

[whitelop]

When you start on greens, start REALLY slow. I wouldn't even get a huge variety yet. On the first day you just want to give him a bite of greens and watch his poop, then move him up to a few bites at a time. Make sure you watch his poops for soft ones, if you see soft poops then you should cut back on greens.

When I start my baby bun on greens I'll probably start with cilantro.

 

[JBun]

If he's only been with you for a couple days, you may want to wait a few more days before introducing veggies, to make sure he's not having any tummy trouble from being in a new home, and also after you decrease the pellets, to make sure he's eating hay well. Then when you introduce veggies do so one at a time in small amounts, and like Morgan said, keep an eye out for changes in his poops. Here are some veggies lists and info on how to introduce them. One list mentions that cruciferous veggies don't cause gas in rabbits, but I've found that isn't necessarily true. So if you feed a veggie to your bun and he seems uncomfortable later on, you'll want to eliminate that veggie entirely. This is why you only introduce one veggie at a time. So that if your bun does have a problem, you will know exactly what is causing it. I would start with green leaf lettuce or cilantro. Those seem to be pretty easy on a buns tummy.

http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html
http://www.3bunnies.org/feeding.htm#greens

By the way, what kind of hay is he getting? Also, are the pellets he's eating now also the same brand and kind that he was getting before you got him?

 

[Imbrium]

imo, organic produce is a waste of money, especially with how much bunnies eat. mine eat the regular stuff - if it's good enough for humans, it's good enough for them!

 

[BinkyBunny]

Timothy hay and yes same pellets.

 

[whitelop]

I agree about the organic greens. I went that route one time when I switched my rabbits diet to no pellets. I thought the organic would be better, as it turns out...they're twice as much and they go bad twice as fast. My rabbit was eating 6 cups of greens a day, so I would have been spending a large fortune every week on greens.(I was already spending a small fortune. lol) Plus, the stuff only has to be a certain percentage organic to be labeled as organic, the same with 'all natural' labels.

If he isn't eating as much hay as you would like, then I agree with cutting the pellets back a little. Sometimes they just get too excited about pellets and not excited enough about hay. When I cut my buns pellets back, she went crazy for hay. I also added in like 4 more hays to create a great variety and different textures. But with anything you add into a rabbits diet, it should be slow.