Force feeding a rabbit?

[Blackmoriah]

I'm new to rabbits and from what i learned here, buns need hay or greens to keep things moving in their tummys it also avoids enteritis. My buck doesn't like eating hay or fresh clip grass, i also try to give him banana leaves, sweet potato leaves etc. i try to give him different greens but it'll just be on the hay rack untouched. My other buns love it and i don't have any problem with feeding them.

I also put BOSS on his dish, pumpkin seeds or oat groats. He ONLY likes pellets. He's a stubborn rabbit (he's just a year old). How am I supposed to put them into pellet-less diet if the darn thing won't eat his vegetables?

Now, i noticed that his poop is sticking to his behind. How can i train him to eat what I give him? Is there a way to force feed a rabbit without bloodshed, cause most probably I'll be the one shedding it

 

[MaggieJ]

Here's what I would try. Remove the pellets and just give him grass hay and dry kitchen oatmeal (like Quaker Old Fashioned/Large Flake). And water, of course. Given fewer choices, he should start eating the hay and oatmeal and since this is also the treatment for "poopy butt" it works on two counts.

If you decide to try my suggestion, please keep us updated about what and how much he is eating. There may be more going on here than a touch of poopy butt due to diet.

Occasionally you get a rabbit that just will not eat enough natural foods to go pelletless. If you are raising rabbits for meat, you could get a litter or two from him and then send him to freezer camp. Or simply buy a new buck.

 

[akane]

Most breeders and commercial rabbitries feed only pellets with maybe a handful of hay a week. The rabbits are perfectly healthy so there's no hurry to wean him off pellets. It does tend to lead to excess cecal pellets which are the sticky ones versus a mostly hay diet. Not really a health problem but requires more cleanup and scrubbing of the cage floor. Just keep giving him fresh hay and eventually he'll try it. I've bought some older rabbits that took months to start eating hay and other foods besides pellets. Some still won't touch much besides certain hay and 1 or 2 fresh foods.

 

[OwnedByTheBuns]

There is food such as Manno Pro Gro and Pro that has enough fiber in it to where you don't have to feed hay. Try alfalfa blocks.

 

[Dood]

There are many rabbit feeds on the market and I recommend you purchase a pellet with a higher fibre content for him.

Have you tried giving him branches or vines to chew? Willow, apple, grape, raspberry and rose canes are very high fibre in every bite.

 

[Blackmoriah]

I'll try that. I don't mind scrubbing floors its just that i'd rather have him eat healthy than just pellets. I'm giving them a tablespoon of calf manna with his regular pellets. Besides, i want him to eat pumpkin seeds since I learned its a natural dewormer.

 

[MaggieJ]

The calf manna may be contributing to his "poopy butt". I would suggest not giving it to him, at least until the problem is resolved.

 

[Blackmoriah]

Oh okay... He's off pellets for now... Thanks for the info i really appreciate the things I'm learning here.<br /><br />__________ Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:18 am __________<br /><br />By the way another question. Do you have ideas How long do I have to do this? I mean, the stubborn guy is looking miff whe i gave everybody their pellet ration and he didn't get any.

He just sniff at the oats and tried to sprinkle me with urine. The darn thing almost got me in the face too if i wasn't fast enough to get out of the way.

 

[MaggieJ]

Oh, he is in a snit, isn't he? :roll:

I would keep him on the hay and oats for a few days to give him time to get over his "poopy butt". Then add them back slowly.

Dood suggestion to offer him such things as willow, apple, grape, raspberry and rose canes for added fibre is a good one. He may begin to nibble at them now that the pellets are gone.

Do be sure to let us know what he is eating. I don't think he will starve himself but having suggested a course of action, I want to follow up on it with you.

 

[ladysown]

make sure he is eating something.... if you don't he may end up starving.

Some rabbits are VERY stubborn.

One of my tricks with getting rabbits to start eating food other than pellets, is to put them in a exercise pen on grass... particularly a mixed grass that is slightly damp from dew. They will sniff around wondering why their feet are wet and in the process smell the grass and nibble on it.

That usually is a enough to kick start them.

 

[Blackmoriah]

I got some grass clippings for him. There's a lot of grass fields near us that grows so high. I figured to get the ones that sprouting some grain tops (I really don't know what its called) i collected the grain tops for him and he eats it like crazy. I also gave him some tarragon clippings and he nibbled on that. When i looked at he's dish this morning he ate half of the oats. Hopefully, he'll get over his poopy butt soon

 

[luvabunny]

I don't know why the thought of feeding pellets is so unappealing to so many people.

Most people I know who show, who have to have their rabbits in good coat constantly, who need them at certain weights at the right time, who need them to not be excessively fat to breed, all use only pellets. Like me, the rabbits generally don't even get hay unless its time to make a nest.

It may have been true once, that there was not a good, complete, pellet, but rabbits can and do live and thrive on a pellet only diet nowadays, given that it's not the Ol' Roy of rabbit pellets. There are lots and lots of great quality, complete pellets out there, and rabbits do just fine on them alone.

My belief is that unless you can feed a rabbit all it can eat of any number of mixture of greens on a daily basis, then you are not providing the rabbit as it would eat in the wild. Our domestic bunnies are not wild, they won't even interbreed with them, so why try to feed them like a wild rabbit?

 

[MaggieJ]

Luvabunny, there is nothing wrong with feeding rabbits on pellets, but there are many reasons why some of us choose not to do so.

1. Some of us do not have easy access to pellets that are palatable to the rabbits and made of quality ingredients. (Here I had a choice of two brands. One they did not like and the other contained animal tallow, which is not appropriate for herbivores.)

2. Over the years there have been significant issues with problem batches of pellets. The year I switched my rabbits to natural feeding, people in this area were losing rabbits as a result of bad feed.

3. Many of us raise for meat and the naturally-fed meat has better flavour.

4. It is cheaper for many of us. Good alfalfa hay is $3.50 a square bale here and wheat is about $10-$12 a 50 pound bag. Trace mineral salt blocks are only a couple of dollars and last a long time. The wonderful abundance of greens that I can gather for the buns are free and since many, many of them are European invasives they are exactly what rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) eat in the wild. They are, after all, European rabbits eating European weeds.

5. Most rabbits rabbits enjoy the natural foods so much more than pellets and many of us feel the stimulation of variety is good for them.

Rabbit pellets came on the market just after World War 2, less than 70 years ago. Before that everyone fed their rabbits the way natural feeders do today. If the economy collapses as many people fear, this knowledge could be valuable.

There is no "one right way" to feed rabbits, just choices.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

You would get board of the same food day in and day out. I feed my rabbits different stuff.. I had a rabbit that is like the buck that is on this thread.. She was hard to get to eat anything than her food. On night she dumped her bowl.. and I wasn't giving her anymore food.. she had to eat what I gave her which was her oats ect.. She started nibbling slowly .. after about a month.. she comes to the door looking for her goodies.. and she dosnt dump her pellets anymore either..

 

[Blackmoriah]

Yeah I believe that, too. They should eat what i gave them. I don't have problems with giving pellets just that I want them to eat foods that I know will be good for them. I want the pellets as an addition to their foods and not as their main food source. There's an abundance of green foods that I can get for free and it'll be just stupid not to take advantage of it.