Obsessed with what they eat....

Since Oscar was so poorly last week I have become a nervous wreck where their diet is concerned. I am constantly questioning myself about what is the right thing to do. The problem is that Oscar isn't great at eating hay, he's been better since he was bonded with Violet, but he still doesn't eat enough. So I am torn between wanting to not give him pellets but being too scared of a repeat of his illness not to.

Do other people have these worries?

Yep. Felix never ate hay and often didn't eat grass either. He was a stray and I have always thought he probably never had it so didn't know he was meant to eat it!

Jay had a great suggestion of grating pellets over hay to see if they might entice the bun to try it. Also, you can buy different hays for buns to try. Google The Hay Experts as they have a selection of hays that you can buy to try out.

We have had Oscar over a year now and I think I have bought nearly every kind of hay there is ! He does eat a little just not as much as he should. I might try grating the pellets over they hay though, that's a good idea.

Typically the one kind of hay that he loves is Alfalfa and I don't like to give him much of that. I have ordered some Oxbow Botanical hay to see if he will like that. He loves the dried country herbs pack that you can buy and he will eat grass and dandelions which is good but of course that is difficult during the winter months.

My other 3 love their hay so it's just Oscar that I really worry about.

I was just about to say the same as Nickie, Have a look on the hay experts, they have little taster bags for you to try out on your bun so you can see which he likes best!!

https://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/Hays%2C+Grasses+%252526+Herbs.4/Select+by+Hay+Type.130/Sample+Pack.23/Taster+Selection+Sample+Pack.6.html

Have you tried readigrass? Mine love it, and as it happens I have to go out shortly and buy them a new bale. Get it from your local horse supplier and it is really economical at around £12 a bale sized bag. Does he play with tubes stuffed with hay? I like to stuff other stuff into the tubes such as dried herbs and rose petals to make the buns want to munch through the hay to get the good stuff. You could also look at making sure he is getting the highest fibre pellet available. The Vetcare plus digestive health that I am incorperating into Bruce's diet is 34% crude fibre although expensive so I feed it alongside the other pellets. Oxbow's bunny basics food as 25-29% crude fibre which is higher than excel and selective. The vetcare plus is available via vets or a couple of online stores and the oxbow is available via hay experts.

Stewie is a picky hay eater, but he does get enough these days. With him it doesn't seem to be about eating hay itself, but how it's presented. For eg, he'll eart more if I just put the bag in front of him, rather than take a handful out and put it in his bowl. If I hold a handful, tightly, he pull away at it and eat lots. I sometimes tie up a big handful in string and tie the string to his outdoor house, and he'll reach up an eat it. The grated pellet thing worked a treat too.

Left to his own devices, and with hay in his bowl, he'll hardly eat any

Tracey do you ever give them dried forage? Just having a think and I think this could really improve Oscars diet.

When hes here I give him dried bits and pieces, and he loves it, whether its stuff ive dried myself or stuff Ive bought! I also mix it in the hay so that it make the hay taste yummy and sometimes he does fall for it!

I foraged way too much the other day, ive taken up five dinner trays in the conservatory and also the entire floor of the boarding room is full of forage drying, so if you want me to send you some i dont mind?

Thanks for the idea about getting some of the vetcare plus digestive health, I haven't heard of that before, I have been thinking about getting some Bunny Basics T as I know that is higher in fibre than the selective. I will also try grating some pellets over his hay.

SJ in answer to your question, Oscar loves the Burgess Excel Nature Snacks Country Garden Herbs and will eat loads of that. It's really kind of you to offer to send me some of your forage, I wouldn't want to deprive yours of having it though.

I'd deffo recommend trying him with a few different hays, liek the sample packs Lizzi was talking about

all we actually forages was bramble leaves, nettle, dandelions, and all different types of grass, that varied in thickness, colours etc and then left it to dry, all stuff which is so easily found, maybe just grab a few if you see things like that near you and just lay it out to dry, im sure he would love it!

About 60% os Stewie's diet is forrage, he loves it he does

The Vetcare plus digestive health that I am incorperating into Bruce's diet is 34% crude fibre although expensive so I feed it alongside the other pellets.

I have looked this up and it looks great, the only worry I have is that it says that it has alfalfa in it and I wondered if you could tell me the value of alfalfa compared with timothy hay that is included in the pellet? Hope you don't mind me asking?

It doesn't state the packet but it is the main ingredient as it is listed first. The ingredients read - ground alfalfa stalks, ground timothy hay, soyabean hulls, ground peas, dried alfalfa protein concentrate, linseed, locust bean meal dried, peppermint (1%) soya oil, fennel seeds, dried chamomile (0.5%), oat flakes, calcium carbonate. If you email supreme they might be able to give you further info. I think all the selective pellets are alfalfa based except for the a urinary tract version that is timothy hay based. Does thumper have urinary issues?

Ahh right. I guess it would be ok if as you said in your earlier post I just did what you do and give a little with other pellets. When we first got Oscar we had a scare with a possible kidney problem. Thankfully, everything was and is ok with that but I am always slightly nervous of giving alfalfa as I know it can cause problems in adult rabbits if they have too much. I think I might get some of the Bunny Basics T (now known as Bunny Basics Adult) as that is higher in fibre than the science selective they are currently on and it's timothy hay based too. Thanks for looking at the ingredients for me, really appreciate that.