Somebody_Else Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Greetings! I am the temporary "staff" for my wifes' rabbit and I'm tasked with keeping it well fed and warm for the winter. Keeping him warm has been surprisingly easy thanks to a microwave plastic heat thing (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71dVEQVxeTL._SL1263_.jpg). But we've recently changed his hay to a better quality one as he used to be toastie indoor rabbit and we feel we need to up the quality of his food overall to compensate for the coldness. Current diet: *small amount of pellets (http://www.supremepetfoods.com/products/science-selective-rabbit/) *One whole "veg" or "fruit". For example, one apple, one stick of celery. *A carrot as an occasional treat *A banana if he is looking a bit thin *A little bit of fresh mint or thyme once per week *Petlife Oxbow Western Timothy Hay <----- This one he won't eat!! He did this before when we bought expensive hay and he would only eat it if we washed it!!! This time, I tried underfeeding him for one day and he ate some but not much. Our biggest concern is that he is a rescue rabbit and has very bad breeding which affects his jaw. He was only two when he had to have his back teeth chopped down and we don't want that to happen again. Please help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clucker1 Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 If he was mine, I would cut down on all other feed substantially so he is hungry and forced to eat the hay. We had a rescue bunny similar to him who was used to eating paper (he did this in his first 3 months of his life when there was nothing else for him to eat)....anyway getting him to eat hay was a nightmare until I starved him of hard feed and that worked. My view is they are grazing animals and little and often is what and how they are supposed to eat (as in the wild). This helps with boredom, their teeth etc and digestive system. It took our bunny nearly a whole year to work out he could eat the green stuff (grass) we put him out on to every day....beforehand he had never been outdoors . I am not sure what a vet's opinion would be but that is mine. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minnie&Moose Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 We looked after a friend's rabbit for a year. When she arrived Pippi refused to eat hay but by the time she left us to go back to her owners she was hoovering up green oat hay and green oat and barley hay (can't remember the makes but they came from The Hay Experts, an online company. Pippi wouldn't touch any kind of timothy grass hay however much I tried - she just dragged it out of the hay rack and stuffed it in her sleeping area! I might be worthwhile trying different types of hay - perhaps you've got a gourmand rabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
