My rabbit doesn't like carrots

kasia_s · #1 04-08-2006, 01:47 AM

Hi, my 10 month old rabbit refuses to eat vegetables and eats only dry rabbit food from a shop. I read that rabbits should be fed at least 4 cups of vegetables such as carrots and lettuce a day, however everytime I bring him a vegetable he completely ignores it and continues eating his dry food. I've even tried sitting down with him for half an hour attempting to feed him a cucumber and carrot by putting it directly to his mouth, but he always makes faces by twisting his whiskers and mouth in the opposite direction and the most progress he's made is to lick the cucumber (then again he also licks the floor, so I don't know whether that means he even sees it as food). I didn't try feeding him any raw vegetables before he was 4 months old, as I was told it could cause diahorrhea in such young a rabbit. Although he gets a fresh supply of hay everyday, he doesn't eat much either. I'm very worried about how this picky eating is affecting his health.

Any advice would be very appreciated!

marcel_s · #2 04-08-2006, 03:44 AM

Hey Kasia...welcome to the forum

I don't know what you can do to make your rabbit eat his greens but apparently if he doesn't eat his hay, it can be replaced with the dried food as many contain a mixture of hay as well. You can read more about it on this page:

http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/rabbitfood.asp

Hope that helps.

EDIT:

Quote:

Changing Your Rabbits Diet
Any change to a rabbits diet need to be done gradually. If you changing one sort of dry food for another you should gradually mix the new feed into the old over a period of around 7-14 days. For example, start of with a mix of 10% of the new food and 90% of the old, and increase the new and decrease the old each day. During this time you need to watch out for changes to your rabbits poo. If they become soft or runny you are changing the food to rapidly.

I think the extract above should help you in gradually changing your rabbit's diet.

#3 04-08-2006, 08:59 AM

My Polish dwarf is a very picky eater. He will eat cooked carrots, but not raw. He likes spinach leaves and hearts of romaine lettuce, but those are the only greens he'll eat. I give him raw green beans and he likes those, if I hand them to him one at a time. I make sure to give him rabbit pellets made from timothy hay as he will not eat the regular hay and the timothy hay is much better for them than the alfalfa and most pellets are based on alfalfa.

ap2006 · #4 05-06-2006, 08:07 PM

Carrots arent to be given to your rabbit too often, only about once a fortnight as it makes them poo alot.
chop little tiny bits of greens (celery etc.) into his/her food.

lovedoggies · #5 05-12-2006, 03:01 AM

Maybe the carrot needs to be cut up smaller..? Have you tried leaving him alone with it? Definetely try a variety of veggies to see if he likes any of them...lettuce, spinach, etc. Also I don't know if you have any in your yard, but rabbits LOVE dandelions!!My rabbit eats them all the time.

DestinyAnger · #6 10-30-2008, 08:06 AM

Carrots arent to be given to your rabbit too often, only about once a fortnight as it makes them poo alot.

happyday7 · #7 10-31-2008, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kasia_s

Hi, my 10 month old rabbit refuses to eat vegetables and eats only dry rabbit food from a shop. I read that rabbits should be fed at least 4 cups of vegetables such as carrots and lettuce a day, however everytime I bring him a vegetable he completely ignores it and continues eating his dry food. I've even tried sitting down with him for half an hour attempting to feed him a cucumber and carrot by putting it directly to his mouth, but he always makes faces by twisting his whiskers and mouth in the opposite direction and the most progress he's made is to lick the cucumber (then again he also licks the floor, so I don't know whether that means he even sees it as food). I didn't try feeding him any raw vegetables before he was 4 months old, as I was told it could cause diahorrhea in such young a rabbit. Although he gets a fresh supply of hay everyday, he doesn't eat much either. I'm very worried about how this picky eating is affecting his health.

Any advice would be very appreciated!

My bunny CoCo hates hay too. He's about 5-6 years old and he only eats alfafa. Hay is supposed to be the main thing he should be eating but he hates it.I tried so many different types / brands of hay but he doesn't like any of them.
So I start feeding him Hay/alfafa mix pallets. Don't force feed your bunny, eventually he will come around and eat it. CoCo likes to eat carrots but not all the time. I usually leave alfafa, pallets, and water out for him all day long and veges and fruits twice a day. Just make sure to give fresh veges and fruits. If its not fresh, bunnies usually wont eat it. Its all trial and error. Just bc other people's bunny eats this it doesn't mean your bunny should too.

Does he eat pallets??