my baby rodney

Question
Hello, my name is Nicole and my boyfriend and I have recently bought Rodney about a week ago. He is half dwarf and lion head dwarf. He seems healthy and very loving.The first few days that we had him his urine went from light yellow to dark yellow and I was feeding him alfalfa hey and regular pellets. A lady that my boyfriend knows told him that his breed needs to be on  Thomas hay and pellets, and that he was dehydrated. She said that Thomas will help him retain water and that his pee will go back to normal. Oh, and she also told us to give him a little of pedialite. So we did and its been about a week and he seems to be doing great but his pee is still a little dark.He also eats a lot and has grown a lot since then. Just to give you an example: in the morning I'll give him 2 handfuls of hey and fill up his little bowl dish, when I come home at 6 pm all of the hey is gone and half of his food is gone; so I give him more hey and before I go to bed I have to give him more hey and; also again in the morning and fill up his dish again. Is this normal? Or do I have a hog for a rabbit?

Answer
Hi Nicole

I don't think your bunny is a piggy.  If he is still young he will eat a lot.  Actually babies should be free fed pellets and hay as much as they want until they are about 6 months old.  Then they need to be cut down to about 1/3 cup for the breed you have.

I don't know if she may have meant timothy hay, I have never heard of thomas hay.  He definitely needs timothy hay or grass based hay.  Alfalfa isn't good because the pellets already have alfalfa in them.  Also don't give him any veggies until he is about 6 months old.

Rabbits pee can go anywhere from cloudy light yellow all the way to red.  There is nothing to worry about in the pee color unless you see frank red blood.  Their diet greatly contributes to the color of the pee and every rabbit is has different pigments when filtering so one my pee red and the other yellow.  The change in diet most likely caused the change in color.  The only other time you should worry is if he isn't eating or drinking at all.  There is nothing wrong with pedialyte but I save it for when they are truly sick.  I don't think your little one is really sick since he is eating.


If you need anything else please let me know

Pam