hay for eating

Question
my bunny REALLY hates eating hay. Everytime i put it in her cage, it just stays there for weeks! I know hay is very important to their digestive system. Is there an alternative to hay?

Answer
Hi Leah,

in your statement lies the problem.  You are letting the hay site there for weeks.  Most rabbits won't eat it after a couple days because it goes stale and gets dry.  It doesn't smell fresh anymore.  You wouldn'teat a piece of bread that sat on your counter for weeks, would you?  Also, I no of no rabbit that eats every single piece of hay given to it.  They do pick which pieces they want to eat.

You need to give your rabbit fresh hay every day, and that means pulling the old hay out first, then providing her with a big handful or two of fresh hay.  You will find that she will eat a lot more hay when it is fresh and green and good-smelling.

I would suggest taking a little time and visiting the House Rabbit Society web site, and on the bottom of the main page doing an article search for "diet", "hay", "nutrition".  Hay is extremely important, but you have to realize that they will not eat old, dry hay.  Even with the fresh hay, they will decide which pieces of hay to eat.  Some will be more tasty than others.  You will have to remove the old hay, and provide fresh hay.

What we do is take the prior days' hay, and place it in their litterpan (not in the spot they pee, but opposite that corner), and put the fresh hay in the normal hay spot.  Sometimes they will eat some of yesterdays' hay in the litterpan, and then move on to the new, fresher hay.  Then when you remove the litterpan each day for cleaning and litter replacement, you'll also be taking out the old hay at the same time.

Lee