Quality hay for my rabbits?

Ankhyu

Does anyone know where I can get good quality hay for my rabbits in Limerick/Ennis? I'm leaning towards Burgess Excel Herbage if anyone has seen that in any pet shops around this area it'd be great to find out.

animalcrazy

I have been in a couple of petshops in Limerick but I have never seen any Burgress hay. I am from Ennis and there is never any really good quality hay, to be honest I can't even find any good quality food for them in Ennis. I buy my hay in a big bale from Mc Inerney's feeds and farm store in Ennis, usually what's good enough for a horse is good enough for a rabbit, mine love it and I have never had problems with it. The stuff in Mc Inerney's is just as good as the hay all petshops supply except I'm paying the same price in Mc Inerney's for the equivalent of about 10 bags of the petshop stuff.

comongethappy

I buy the milk thistle / meadow hay mix off of zooplus.co.uk (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/rodents/snacks_supplements/natural_treats/herbs_and_leaves/83819). I also tend to buy the rabbit food from zooplus. I find it's a very good hay and they deliver to your door.

Unfortunately, I've found that most hays sold in pet shops here aren't a very good quality. There's one I used to buy from the aviary in kilmacanogue in wicklow, but I can't remember the brand name.

Sigma Force

as animalcrazy said it's way cheaper to buy good quality bales of hay from somewhere like that. Although if you've one or two buns unless you have somewhere to store it it might not work.

I stopped buying that rubbish meadow hay from the pet shop don't know the brand name but it's packaged in Athy (says on the bag) it's too musty and dusty and not always fresh smelling.

The main hay I buy now is from Homevalue Hardware in their pets section pets own choice I think it's called it's from Holland I think but it's a low dust hay and smells much better than most hays. I have a bag of Timothy hay with dandelions here and that doesn't even smell as good it's nice but too over priced.
I also have that redi grass of whatever you call it but it's just dried grass and a bit of a waste unless it's the middle of winter or you have no access to fresh grass.

The pets own choice hay I buy is 4.99 a bag and lasts longer than the large meadow hay athy one.

zooplus is worth checking out. Tesco is selling hay now as well but some bags are fresh and others smell musty so it's pot luck.

If not already highly recommend Burgess rabbit ..green bag. Very good food.
If you get a good quality hay no need for anything fancy, you can always add in some fresh safe herbs youself rather than buying the herby hay that can be more expensive (although zooplus is reasonable). Orgeano, thyme (not for preg. rabbits), apple mint (not pennyroyal which is toxic), dandelion, rosemary. You can buy the tubs of herbs in the supermarket although I usually re pot or use organic compost and leave the herbs grow out for a while because a lot are sprayed with chemicals. Wash all fresh food well and if unsure don't feed.

Ooops I'm waffling. There's another hay Plospan I think it's called which is nice as well and most pet shops sell it now I think.

jessicaR

You can buy the Excel Herbage and Forage online by a site called Brenda's pets https://www.brendaspets.ie/
I personally get a huge bale (60 kg) of timothy hay from a supplier of horse feed in Dublin. If you collect it yourself it's 25 euro but even with delivery to Cork it works out way cheaper than pet shop hay, not to mention expensive oxbow timothy hay...