My rabbit will eat but slowly and she’s not very food motivated. She’s my first rabbit and from what I’ve seen other rabbits are crazy about food but she takes her time eating. Is this a problem or is she just a slow eater?
by Imdacookieman
Bunny
10 Comments
Can you share a bit more, please? How old is (s)he? What other things are going on in the rabbit’s health and life?
If she’s eating, albeit slowly, and she’s not either recently or currently ill or experiencing trauma, the situation doesn’t sound urgent. How long has this been going on? Yet it could be helpful to bring her to an exotic animal (rabbit) vet, to fully check her teeth and her jaws. I’d share with the vet what you have shared here. It looks like she has her own dish, yes? She’s not competing with any other bunnies for food in any sense?
Another thought: some rabbits do not like eating from dishes. This can happen when the dish or bowl makes it difficult for the bunny to get the food to her mouth (and especially when/if dental issues are quietly brewing). I’d also try putting her food on a foraging mat (they’re washable), and see how she responds.
What is her diet like? Does she have constant access to things like hay and water? Do you feed pellets? What greens and how much of them are you feeding?
That’s sus. I feel like behavior change is one of the biggest factors that something is wrong. Have you noticed behavior change?
My bun is a slow eater- im not sure if this is exactly what you’re talking about though.
She doesn’t typically rush over to her food when I put it out. She eats it in small amounts and takes long breaks but it all eventually gets eaten. When she’s gets upset with me, she goes on hunger strike and won’t eat for a day lol.
She absolutely demolishes hay and cardboard though. And bananas of course
How are her feces? If they come out as regular, dry round balls roughly pea size there shouldn’t be any problem
My little girl is a slow eater compared to my boy (He is a VACUUM when it comes to pellets and veggies). She’s gotten quicker because he will sometimes invade her bowl, but she’s always been a slow chewer. As long as she’s pretty much always been like this and she seems happy/healthy and eating food, I think she’s fine.
Maybe you guys haven’t found a FAVORITE treat of hers yet? Or maybe her tastebuds changed? My little boy used to LOVE Spinach, Kale and Blueberries and go CRAZY for Strawberries, but about a year ago he will snuff his nose at all of those. Now he LOVES Oba leaves and Bok Choy (he used to HATE them), and has always been a Banana-drug addict.
Maybe try other types of fruits/veggies that she’s not used to? I’m sure you have, but just making a suggestion if you haven’t! Maybe even oats! I use a different type of pellets as “treat” pellets because they contain a type of oat. Their normal pellets only contain Timothy, Apple Fiber, and Papaya, so when there’s something with Oats in the mix, they go crazy for it.
Some bunnies are just not food motivated I guess, but I’m sure it’s difficult to train without some kind of motivation, so I just thought to throw out some ideas.
Health-wise if she’s active, eating hay, pooping and peeing regularly, there shouldn’t be any problems! 😀
I had a very slow eater, he got progressively less interested in food but was still eating. Turned out he had teeth problems. They weren’t overgrown so it couldn’t really be seen. After treatment he was very happy to eat plenty of his chopped up food!
I’ve had buns that are more or less food-motivated, and more or less fussy, but this was different behaviour that, thankfully, made me suspicious. A bun showing interest in food (sniffing, investigating etc) but not eating has become a red flag for me – there’s usually some melodramatic ‘ah, no, I can’t. Sadness.’ after sniffing the food when my buns have been unwell.
Check the list of what rabbits can and can not eat on Google very knowledgeable over the years for rabbit information
It looks like you just brought her home? Keep an eye on her as she settles in. It takes them some time to get comfortable in a new environment.
The most important thing is that she’s pooping. If things are moving through her, she’s probably alright.
If she had been there for months and was a slow eater, I would say to try to increase her activity levels, but for now, I would just try to make her comfortable.