Vet-recommended hay diet for Angora Lop

Your vet has given you solid advice — and it's worth understanding why. Hay should make up around 80% of a rabbit's diet; it keeps the gut moving and grinds down teeth that never stop growing. For a 6-year-old Angora Lop, this matters even more because dental and digestive issues become more common with age, and pellets can quietly crowd out the hay that's doing all the real work. Before I point you toward the right hay, can you tell me what you're currently feeding, roughly how much hay she's eating now, and whether the vet flagged any specific concern — teeth, weight, gut slowdown?

That picture makes complete sense — a cup of pellets is far too much for a rabbit her age and size, and if she's been filling up on those, there's been little incentive to eat hay. The good news is that most rabbits increase hay intake naturally once pellets are reduced, because they simply get hungrier for it. For an Angora Lop with dental concerns, the texture of the hay really matters. Long-stem, high-fibre hay provides the best grinding action for teeth. Can you tell me roughly how much she weighs, and is her coat in good condition — Angoras can have digestion issues tied to fur ingestion too?

Perfect — that's really useful. At 2.8kg working down to 2.2kg, you want a hay that's high in fibre, lower in protein, and palatable enough that she'll actually eat it in volume. The fur ingestion makes gut motility even more important; a rabbit that's eating plenty of long-stem hay moves fur through far more efficiently than one on pellets. My clear recommendation is Oxbow Western Timothy Hay. It's a first or second cut timothy, which gives you that long stem structure that actively works the teeth, it's consistent quality with low dust (important for a fluffy Angora), and most pellet-heavy rabbits do take to it well once food intake is properly managed. I'd cut pellets to no more than one tablespoon per kilogram of body weight per day — so roughly 2.5 tablespoons total, reducing to 2 as she loses weight — and offer the Oxbow hay in unlimited supply from a rack so it stays clean and she can't avoid it.

Some reluctance in the first few days is normal — she's used to getting her calories easily from pellets. The most effective trick is to put the hay rack right next to her litter tray, because rabbits almost always eat while they toilet. Keep the hay fresh; old dusty hay is unappealing. You can also try offering a small handful of fresh herbs like flat-leaf parsley or dried chamomile tucked into the hay to get her interested in rooting through it. Within a week of reducing pellets, most rabbits are eating hay much more enthusiastically simply because it's now the main food available. Stick with the Oxbow Western Timothy as your base — once she's into the habit, you can occasionally introduce a small amount of meadow hay for variety, but timothy should stay the foundation given the dental wear your vet mentioned.

That's the right move. Go gradually with the pellet reduction over about a week rather than cutting them overnight — it reduces stress and gives her digestion time to adjust. Keep an eye on her droppings; they should be plentiful, round, and firm once hay intake is up. If you see fewer droppings or very small ones, that's a signal to check back with your vet. The Oxbow Western Timothy is widely available on Amazon UK in large bags which works out much better value once hay becomes the main event. Good luck — you're doing exactly the right thing by your rabbit.