Rabbit food

Question
Hello!
My 8 years old rabbit has always been a very picky eater. He would only eat one kind of hay and one kind of pellets (I've been trying every single kind of hay and pellets I could find over all this years and couldn't get him to eat any other brands). The company that makes the pellets changed them slightly - they have a different smell now and my rabbit is refusing to eat them. I've been trying to mix together old and new pellets and he would carefully pick out only the ones from the old bag. I also tried giving him just the new ones and waiting 24 hours and he just wouldn't touch them. You know of any other tricks I could try to get him to eat pellets?
Thank you in advance!
Dora

Answer
Hi,

I have a guy who is the same, older, and Oxbow changes their pellets a little every year (of course the hay they make it with changes too so sometimes the hay itself is the reason).

I think the next step is to see if he's losing weight or not.  If instead if he's eating more hay to make up for the pellets he's not eating.  If so you could always switch him to a smaller amount of alfalfa pellets and up his hay intake.  

weigh him at the same time of day, once a week, for 3-4 weeks and see how his weight is doing.  Feel his back and see if you can feel his backbone more.  If so then I'd probably switch him over to better tasting alfalfa pellets (if he's not having bladder sludge issues, or is prone to this) - maybe 75% alfalfa now and 25% other pellets, and up his hay.

The risk of him not eating and staying healthy outweighs the bladder sludge risk unless he gets bladder sludge problems easily.  When they get older their taste can change and they lose some taste sense.  Also keep in mind being on antibiotics and medicines can screw up appetite and taste, and also brain and inner ear infections can sometimes affect the portion of the brain dealing with appetite and/or nausea.

If you suspect that might be the case, Bonine (drug: meclizine) - the seasick medicine - can help stimulate appetite.  Walgreens carries meclizine in 25 mg tablets, raspberry flavored.  Cut tablets into 4 quarters.  Give 1/4 tablet every 12 hours - put in a dab of petromalt and they will eat it.  I wouldn't do this if he is just a picky eater.  I mention in case he's been on drugs lately or has had ear/head infections recently.