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
Running a rescue with 12 rabbits means you're buying hay constantly — so getting the right type in bulk matters enormously. Hay should make up around 80% of every rabbit's diet without exception: it keeps their gut moving and wears down their continuously growing teeth. Pellets are a small supplement, not a staple. Before I point you toward the best bulk option, it would help to know the ages of your rabbits, whether any have ongoing health issues, and what they're currently being fed.
Ages range from around 8 months to about 6 years. Mix of healthy ones and a couple with dental issues. They're currently on a cheaper meadow hay we buy locally but the quality is inconsistent and some of them aren't eating it well.
inparticular.ai
That inconsistency is a real problem — if rabbits are rejecting hay, their teeth and gut both suffer, and with dental cases in the group that's especially risky. The issue with cheap bulk meadow hay is often that it's dusty, stalky, or over-dried, and fussier rabbits or those with mouth sensitivity will just leave it. For a group your size, you need something consistent, palatable, and high in long-strand fibre. Are any of the rabbits particularly fussy, or is it more that the whole group picks through it and wastes a lot?
It's a bit of both — a few are very picky, and there's loads of wastage with the stalky bits left behind. The dental rabbits seem to struggle the most.
inparticular.ai
That tells me you need a softer, leafier hay rather than coarse meadow hay. For the dental rabbits especially, softer strands are easier to chew while still providing the lateral grinding action that keeps teeth worn. My clear recommendation for your situation is Oxbow Western Timothy Hay — buy it in the 3.17kg or larger bags, which are available on Amazon UK. It's consistently cut, low in dust, and has a good leaf-to-stalk ratio that reduces wastage significantly. Rabbits that reject cheaper hay very often eat this readily. It's not the cheapest per kilo, but the wastage reduction and the health consistency across a rescue group of 12 makes it the right call. I'd also suggest pairing it with a small amount of Oxbow Botanical Hay for variety, which can encourage reluctant eaters.
That sounds sensible. Do we need to do anything special transitioning them from the current hay, or can we just switch?
inparticular.ai
Because you're moving from a lower-quality hay to a better one, rather than introducing something entirely new, you can largely just switch — especially since the goal is to get them eating more hay, not less. Offer both side by side for the first few days so they can move across naturally. The dental rabbits may take a little longer to engage with a new texture, so monitor those ones specifically and make sure they're still eating during the transition. Within a week most should be preferring the Timothy. Keep an eye on droppings — consistent round cecotropes and plenty of regular pellets mean the gut is happy.
Really helpful, thank you. One last thing — what about pellets for this many rabbits? Should we be cutting back?
inparticular.ai
Yes, almost certainly. The standard guide is around one tablespoon of plain Timothy-based pellets per kilogram of body weight per day for healthy adult rabbits — and for your dental cases, even less, because you want them meeting their fibre needs through hay, not pellets. Pellets for rabbits over a year old should be a small top-up, not a meal. If they're currently getting generous portions, reduce gradually over two to three weeks so hay intake increases to fill the gap. For a rescue, Oxbow Essentials Adult Rabbit Food is a solid, vet-recommended pellet that won't cause issues — plain, no added seeds or coloured bits.
