Am I doing the right re: feeding?

I have always fed my lot pellets, 4 handfuls SS am & pm, always fresh hay, and fresh veg, sometimes fruit in the evening.

Lately they have not been eating their hay at all & I know they need to. I read somewhere recently they should be eating their body weight in hay each day which mine in no way do, so I have cut out their am pellets. Everything else is the same. Does this sound ok to you? This is Day 4 of that and hay eating has increased a bit.

I think what they should be eating is a body sized pile of hay each day, not a body weight pile. Which would obviously weigh less!

Yes, I think cutting out their morning pellets is a good idea, and also not giving too much veg or fruit to encourage them to eat hay.

Have you tried different kinds of hay? Some bunnies can be fussy little blighters and may prefer one kind over another!

Good luck

Thanks Helen, I have tried lots of different hays and Redi Grass. They like something for a week then go off it again. I just dont know what to feed them now!! grrr

Body SIZED hay makes more sense than body weight though doesnt it!

Rosie Rabbit wrote:I think what they should be eating is a body sized pile of hay each day, not a body weight pile. Which would obviously weigh less!

I was just going to say this.

Have you tried putting hay in a bowl for them. Herbie and Hollie are our 'worst' hay eaters but they do seem to gobble it down if offered in a food bowl.

Actually our hay is in a big rectangular bucket on its side, so the hay is on the long bit on the bottom & they put their heads in to eat. Found it keeps it nice and dry as they dont like it in the hutches.

Having had troubles with Bertie recently I'm coming round more to the idea of less pellets and more hay. He does like his hay, but will eat everything else first. I'm now gining half a handful am & pm, but may cut out the morning ones, give him a handful evening, like you have, and see how he goes with that.
The vet said to me the other day that if there's nothing else to eat they will eat hay, and it's true, he suggested it should be 85-90 % of their diet for a healthy bun.

When you say four handfuls of SS, how much is that for each rabbit...
I only feed one handful per bun per day, and many people literally feed an egg cup full only.

well I was feeding 1 handful per bun, am and pm. So 2 handfuls per bun per day. I know this seems a lot but I have had such conflicting advice on how much and this was the method that got the most votes.

So I suppose I could do 2 handfuls am and pm, equalling 4 handfuls a day, 1 handful per bun per day. But at the moment they are just getting 4 handfuls at night. What do you think?

If I'm completely honest, I think your feeding too many pellets. Mine have a pelleted meal am and a veggie meal pm but if you are going to give pellets twice a day I would be giving half a handful per bun am & pm.

The vast majority of rabbits will always choose pellets over hay to fill up on if both are readily available.

I give mine 3/4 teacup of pellets in the morning and then they have some veggies at night, and there is hay available in the hutch and around the compound. I gave them a teacup a day during the winter, but am now cutting it down and aim to get to 1/2 a cup by summer.

I agree Sooz! That is what sloooowly dawned on me too!

My handful was more of a grip full, say 8 SS per meal. I'm cutting back to 5, but am sticking to twice a day for now, will look at this again when his GI problems recover unless you think it would help him now?

You're right Erin, there's a lot of conflicting advice, but that's partly cos there's so many variables with a bunny to consider. But we learn as we go along, and I'm certainly cutting down on the pellets from now on

I remember when I used to feed mine A WHOLE BOWLFUL a day between the pair of them . It was a dog bowl as well .

Now they enough pellets to cover the bottom of the bowl. its confusing! I'd rather underfeed them pellets than overfeed! Their hay and grass intake drasticly increased after it though!

Thanks all for being happy to admit your learning curves too!

I think my bun is a little over fed reading that, I followed what it said on the packet but he probably gets 3 times the amount of pelets you guys have mentioned. Think I wil not give him any tonight!

When you give him veg dinners, how much do you give them? Mine only gets a bit of carrot and a sprout or something each day. I'm embarassed of my fat bun now! Although te vet said in bunny week he looked a healthy ize and weight.

well I have 4 buns so I do a lot of veg. Usually a whole medium sized bunch of spring greens, some fresh parsley, a little carrot, sometimes a small chopped turnip and once a week I give them a chopped up apple with their greens. But usually I just fill up a standard sized medium mixing bowl with mixed veg suitable for them and give it to them.

Sooz I have taken up your method in order to give them 2 meals rather than 1 big one. So 4 handfulls of pellets in the am, hay all the time, and their veg pm. Seems to work well!

I read the side of the pack of pellets I feed the buns and it only recommends that your rabbit gets hay sometimes. Obviously, they would much rather that your rabbit eats lots of pellets!!

Mine are now on the slide back to their summer pellet rations and coming down to a half teacup between two and a small handful for Felix. He is a problem as he doesn't eat hay at all so I think he is going to be cut down drastically so he HAS to eat hay. Am going to chop up hay small and put it in the dish with his few pellets to see if he will eat it too.

As far as veggies go mine have a full bowl each day and it usually contains at least 3 different types of vegetable. All my bunnies are excellent eaters and they never leave any veg, or pellets for that matter, so I find it easy to tell if they are feeling unwell too.

I have two buns who won't eat hay and have ready grass instead, but the other four are very good and I'm sure that is because they have nothign else to eat as an alternative most of the day.