Random observation of our blobular house rabbit, George...

[cazabon@mindly.social]

Random observation of our blobular house rabbit, George...

George has never been a huge fan of hay. You're supposed to make sure that hay/grass form a large part of a rabbit's diet - a majority of it, in fact - but that seems a bit too rustic for some bunnies. George is one of them.

He always has access to hay, of course - even if his food bowl is empty, there's always hay. And you'll see him pick at it sometimes.

But in the last few days I discovered that George is perfectly happy to eat hay for an indeterminate period - provided I sit on the floor and hand-feed it to him, one blade at a time. ‍️

I've been a rabbit ~~owner~~ servant for 25 years, but I think this level of service is beyond me.

Sheesh.

#sheesh #HouseRabbit #rabbit #bunny #blobular #hay #grass #servant

[psychoticscroodlebum@mastodon.social]

@cazabon Our bunnies who free range to outside eat hardly any, but that's due to getting fresh. Some people, to get their bunnies to eat hay will spray a little watered-down apple juice on it. Just an idea?

[cazabon@mindly.social]

@psychoticscroodlebum

Hadn't heard of that trick before - I may have to try it.

I wonder if I can make banana juice...

#nanners

[psychoticscroodlebum@mastodon.social]

@cazabon Maybe if you whizz some enough in a blender? OR, if you buy a sugar-free juice from a supermarket that has banana in it?

[bunnymama@sfba.social]

@cazabon

Aww… George! It’s hard to get enough hay in the kid one strand at a time. I don’t know if this is George’s case, but my wise vet thinks that if bunnies don’t get hay when they are very young that they often never accept that it is food.

I used to hand feed my Eeyore the ends with the little flowers

[adailyviolet@mastodon.thirring.org]

@cazabon @psychoticscroodlebum whisk some "just banana" baby food with water?

[cazabon@mindly.social]

@BunnyMama

I hadn't heard that theory, but it sounds right to me. Humans are pretty much the same way by default; many of them have to make an effort to try "strange" foods they didn't grow up with.

And that could apply to George. He and Gracie did not come from a loving home - cages in a barn, that sort of thing. I expect they'd only ever been fed alfalfa pellets before I rescued them.

[psychoticscroodlebum@mastodon.social]

@ADailyViolet @cazabon Yeah!

[bunnymama@sfba.social]

@cazabon

Poor George! One thing that helps a little is fluffing the hay throughout the day so that it smells good — while also making yummy sounds — so bun has to come investigate

[byronrabbit@mastodon.thirring.org]

@cazabon With determination, practice, and focus, this level of hay service is within your abilities!

[ncrav@mas.to]

@cazabon Lua sometimes is the same, she will eat if I hand feed her, although other times she just goes to her haybox and eat.

I keep various kinds of hays, including a Bunny one that has a stronger aromatic smell. Sometimes I just switch and give it to Lua instead of her morning salad, I swear she's too sleepy and hungry to understand that something has changed as she eats voraciously🤭🤭 Although eventually she will be back pushing my feet to give her salad (or snac, or both)

[cazabon@mindly.social]

@ncrav

Is she then mad that you tricked her?

[ncrav@mas.to]

@cazabon Sometimes I have to go back and get some small pieces of salad and throw them in, since she looks at me like "what is this?!"

[satori@mastodon.thirring.org]

@cazabon Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Hay always tastes better when hand-fed…

When Skye’s stomach was off after meds a few years ago I did a lot of hand feeding to get her back on track. I got pretty good at picking out the tasty bits from the non tasty bits with time . #Skills

[cazabon@mindly.social]

@Satori

I think you have to be smart to be picky. George never turned down a single blade of grass I offered him