Veggies & Hay

[Flashy]

What do his poos look like?

 

[Angel0607]

They arent outside of the bowl.. like the ones that look chewed up are still in the bowl. I try to keep the bowl away from his water, but maybe hes scooting it around.

His poos look fine... firm? I dont know how to describe it lol.

 

[Flashy]

I would wonder if he is trying to eat and not actually able and its falling from his mouth. Can you watch him closely at food time and see if that is happening? He may be not eating hay becaus ehe can't. I just wondered about poo because that might give an indication as to whether or not he is having gut problems, which is another potential indication of spurs.

 

[tonyshuman]

Yeah, I think Flashy is right about the chewing and it falling out of his mouth. It sounds like he may need his molars checked. Many bunnies stop eating a particular type of food if their teeth are bothering them.

 

[Maureen Las]

I agree with Tracy and Claire; he may very well have molar spurs or something else bothering him in his mouth.
if your vet is rabbit savvy he will know how to check the molars ( and entire mouth ) thoroughly.

Ihave a dental bun who cannot eat any hay at all because he has had so many problems in his mouth.
I would check his mouth out before spending a lot more on different hay types.

 

[Angel0607]

Ill get him checked out this weekend overall.

He doesnt always do this. Today the bowl was completely empty and I didnt see any around the cage. It was only a couple of times that I've seen it.

 

[Hazel-Mom]

Just because a rabbit eats more veggies than hay and pellets, does not necesarily mean they'll get bad teeth and molar spurs.
Just like some rabbits eat lots of hay, and still get molar spurs. It seems to matter more what breed of rabbit you have, and what it's genetics are.
Personally, I wouldn't cut back on greens at all. FYI, fresh grass is actually more abrasive to teeth than hay, because it usually contains more sillica.
There are also lots of other greens that are abrasive, like kale.
My own rabbit, Hazel, lives mostly on greens, and has never had teeth problems. Neither has she had stasis, except for a few bouts of gas and slowdown.

 

[tonyshuman]

Hazel-Mom is right that genetics are a primary factor in tooth spurs. Some bunnies will never get them even if they are modest hay eaters, and some bunnies will get them every 2 months even if they eat tons of hay.

Eating hay and fresh grass can help in some cases, at least to make tooth trimmings less frequent. Some bunnies might get molar spurs trimmed down, then start eating a lot of coarse hay, and never have to have them trimmed again.

However, if a rabbit has been eating many different types of food and then stops eating one or more of them, or approaching the food and attempting to eat it but not actually eating it (like spitting out the pellets), it would be a sign to me of tooth issues. I have heard of bunnies going up to a piece of veggies and picking it up with their mouth, then setting it back down, because they want to eat it but can't due to the spurs.

 

[Angel0607]

Well he definitely eats everything now lol. And he LOVES kale. I did cut back to once a day on veggies and hes been eating a lot of hay. I havent seen any weird things with the pellets either.

Should I go back to twice a day veggies? Or was cutting back the right thing? Right now his nightly mixture is Kale, broccoli, mustard greens, and a carrot.

 

[tonyshuman]

Oh, ok. I'm glad he's eating everything now. At his age, he still should be primarily eating pellets, so personally I wouldn't give him more than 1c of veggies a day, but if his GI tract seems fine with more, it's ok. My adult bunnies that are at a steady 4-4.5lbs each get 2c of veggies a day, and the Nethies at a steady 2-2.5lbs each get 1c of veggies a day. Most people don't feed a ton of veggies because of the cost and that some bunnies get mushy poos if they eat too many. Some bunnies also get too fat on a lot of veggies, although it is rarer than getting fat off of pellets.

 

[PamsWarren]

Just a quick comment in addition to what Hazel has posted about some greens and fresh grass being abrasive. Fuzz is a chronic molar spur bunny. Well, he is now that he is old. We were having to do molar trims every 4 weeks, then someone suggested that I feed him a diet that included as many different textures as possible - ie lot of different kinds of veggies, a variety of types of hay and even a mix of different kinds of pellets. May just be a co-incidence, but it has been 10 weeks since his last molar grind. (fingers crossed)

I should also add that Fuzz did not eat hay before he came to live with me at age 3. The first year I had him, we had to do a couple of molar grinds. He had no further provlems until he turned about 11. (He did learn to eat hay and became a modest hay eater)