This is a specific conversation about Rabbit food and hay — getting the diet right — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
A 9-year-old Dwarf Hotot is a genuinely impressive age — these little ones typically top out around 8, so you're clearly doing something right. Hay should make up around 80% of any rabbit's diet regardless of age, but in seniors it becomes even more critical: the long fibres keep the gut moving and naturally wear down teeth that may already be showing some irregularity. Pellets should stay a small supplement — a tablespoon or so — not the centrepiece of the meal. To point you toward the right hay, it'd help to know: is your rabbit eating well right now, any signs of digestive slowdown or tooth issues, and what are you currently feeding?
She's eating reasonably well but she's definitely slower than she used to be. The vet mentioned her gut motility isn't as strong as it was. She's on a standard timothy hay at the moment plus some pellets — probably more pellets than I should be giving her.
inparticular.ai
That's really useful — reduced gut motility is the thing to work around here. Standard coarse timothy is fine structurally but at her age you want something she'll actually eat consistently and in volume, because the mechanical action of chewing long-strand hay is what keeps everything moving. A couple of things worth knowing: is she still chewing enthusiastically or does she seem to drop food or take longer than usual? And roughly how much hay is she getting daily compared to pellets?
She chews fine, no obvious tooth problems the vet said. She probably gets a small handful of hay morning and night and maybe a tablespoon and a half of pellets each time. So yes, too many pellets.
inparticular.ai
Right — so the pellets need to come down to one level tablespoon per day total, not per meal. That alone will push her toward eating more hay, which is exactly what her gut needs. On the hay itself: given her age and the motility concern, I'd move her onto Burgess Excel Timothy Hay. It's consistently soft-cut, highly palatable, and older rabbits tend to eat more of it than coarser hays — which is the whole point. The longer she chews, the more saliva she produces, the better her gut moves. It's also low in calcium, which matters in seniors because kidney function can quietly decline and you don't want to add unnecessary calcium load. Widely available on Amazon UK, and she's unlikely to turn her nose up at it.
That makes sense. Should I be mixing it with anything — I've heard some people add meadow hay for variety?
inparticular.ai
A meadow hay mix is fine as enrichment — the variety of textures and scents encourages natural foraging behaviour, which itself stimulates gut movement. Just make sure the timothy stays the majority, around two thirds of what's in the rack. Meadow hay tends to be softer and slightly lower fibre so you don't want it crowding out the timothy. For a 9-year-old with known motility issues I'd keep the ratio conservative: mostly Burgess Excel Timothy, a handful of meadow hay mixed in for interest. That's a genuinely good setup for her stage of life.
Perfect. And should I look at any supplements or is hay and fewer pellets enough?
inparticular.ai
For most senior rabbits, getting the hay right and reducing pellets does the heavy lifting — you don't need to add supplements on top of that unless a vet has identified a specific deficiency. The one exception worth asking your vet about is a probiotic like Protexin Pro-Fibre if the gut motility issues are ongoing — it can help stabilise the cecal bacteria. But that's a vet conversation, not a starting point. Fix the diet first: Burgess Excel Timothy as the hay foundation, one tablespoon of pellets a day, and a handful of fresh leafy greens like romaine or herbs. That's a strong senior diet.
