Fuzzy Lop won't eat hay? Try Oxbow Western Timothy

Three rejected hay brands is genuinely frustrating — and with Fuzzy Lops especially, it's a pattern I hear about more than you'd think. They can be remarkably opinionated about texture, smell, and how fresh a batch actually is. Before I point you somewhere specific, a couple of quick questions: how old is your Fuzzy Lop, and can you tell me which brands you already tried? Knowing what didn't work narrows this down fast.

Yes, and at two she's fully formed the habit now — which is fixable but does take a bit of patience. The issue with Burgess and Supreme isn't always quality, it's consistency batch to batch. Some bags are lovely and green, others arrive dusty and pale and a picky rabbit notices immediately. The supermarket hay is almost always cut too coarse and sits in warehouses too long. What I'd suggest is Oxbow Western Timothy Hay — it's imported from the US, harvested to a tighter standard, and the smell is noticeably fresher when you open a bag. A lot of owners with hay-refusing rabbits have turned things around with it specifically. Have you tried any rationing strategy yet, or have pellets been freely available?

Yes — that's actually the most important lever here. If pellets are always available, there's no incentive to investigate the hay. The standard guidance for an adult rabbit her size is around one to two tablespoons of pellets per kilogram of body weight per day, offered once daily. Remove them after an hour or so. It feels a bit mean at first but rabbits are grazers — they will turn to hay when that's what's on offer. Pair the rationing with the Oxbow Timothy and give it about a week before you judge. Most owners see a shift within four or five days.

Definitely. Storage makes a bigger difference than most people realise. Keep it somewhere cool and dry, out of a plastic bag — a breathable cotton sack or a cardboard box is ideal. Plastic traps moisture and accelerates that musty smell that puts rabbits off. For presentation, a hay rack positioned near her litter tray works really well because rabbits naturally graze while they toilet — it sounds odd but it dramatically increases consumption. Fill it generously and refresh it daily even if there's still some left; stale hay sitting in a rack gets ignored. The Oxbow comes in a 1.13kg bag which is a good size to test palatability without committing to a large quantity you might not need.

I think she will — the combination of a genuinely better-smelling hay and actual appetite behind it is usually enough. If after ten days she's still resistant, come back and we can look at whether adding a small amount of dried herbs into the hay to encourage initial interest is worth trying. But most fussy rabbits with this history respond well once the pellet supply is managed. Good luck with her.