Rabbit refused timothy hay? Try orchard grass

So your Creme d'Argent has flatly refused timothy hay — that's actually more common than people think, and it doesn't mean you're stuck. Before we get into orchard grass, here's the non-negotiable part: hay still needs to make up around 80% of your rabbit's diet. It's not a supplement or a treat — it's what keeps the gut moving and what wears the teeth down properly. Pellets are a small top-up, nothing more. How old is your rabbit, are they otherwise healthy, and what have you been feeding them alongside the timothy hay they've been rejecting?

Good — healthy weight at 4 is exactly where you want her. The Science Selective pellets are a solid choice and the greens are fine as a daily supplement. Now, the timothy refusal: pet shop hay is often dusty, dry, and low quality — it genuinely smells different to a rabbit than fresh-cut hay, and rabbits are extremely smell-driven. That may be all it was, not a preference for a different grass type at all. That said, orchard grass is a legitimate alternative — it's softer, slightly sweeter, and many timothy-refusers accept it readily. The key thing when you're trialling it is to make sure it's the primary food, not a curiosity alongside pellets. Has she shown any interest in the orchard grass bag you bought so far?

The fact that she's nibbling is genuinely promising — that's the first hurdle cleared. On the nutrition question: timothy and orchard grass are nutritionally very similar for an adult rabbit. Timothy has a marginally higher fibre content, but the difference is small enough that it doesn't matter if she won't eat it. A rabbit eating orchard grass enthusiastically is in a far better position than one ignoring timothy hay entirely. My honest advice: commit to orchard grass as her primary hay, stop forcing the timothy, and if you want to keep the gut-health and dental benefits maximised, focus on getting her intake up to that 80% mark rather than worrying about which grass it is. For a reliable, high-quality orchard grass that consistently gets good results with fussy rabbits, I'd go with Burgess Excel Long Stem Orchard Grass Hay. It's well-cut, low dust, and arrives in decent condition — which matters a lot when smell is driving the decision.

The standard guide is unlimited hay — as much as she'll eat, always available. The practical benchmark most vets use is roughly the size of her body in hay each day, which sounds like a lot but is accurate. For a 4-year-old Creme d'Argent, that's probably a generous double-handful twice a day as a minimum, but the goal is a full rack or pile that she can graze from continuously. Pellets should be no more than one to two tablespoons per kilogram of body weight daily — so if she's around 4kg, that's roughly 4–8 tablespoons maximum. Keep the greens going, they're good for hydration and variety, but hay is the thing to get right first.