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Healthy Weight for a Flemish Giant

A

angela82

New Kit
Hi All,

My boyfriend and I have a flemish giant called Stanley and he is 14months old. He is a lovely cuddly rabbit and he is now a house rabbit who loves running up and down our stairs.

I wanted to ask what is a healthy weight for a Male Flemish giant, he weighs around 6kilos when we last weighed him. He has a hay, and cereal mix diet supplemented with carrots. He doesn't seem to have any agility problems and is very active when we let him wander around the house. From reading on here i have discovered that we aren't feeding him enough hay, I had no idea you feed hay to the size of his body!

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Angela
 
you need to give them a constant supply of hay. he seems quite small for a giant but weighs vary depending on rabbits. does he have a nice rounded bum when u look from above? can u really feel his bones on his back???

cereal mix isnt usually a good feed for rabbits because they are selective eaters and the protein and fibre arent usually as high.

also carrots are bad for buns, they are too sugary. they can be fed once or twice a week as a treat but buns benefit from other veg such as spring greens
 
Giant rabbits vary a lot in weight so we can't really give you a fixed figure. Your vet will be able to check his body weight and tell you if he's about right or not.

You can never feed too much hay - it's the most important part of their diet. You can also supliment it with grass - though introduce that slowly.

If you want to treat him then fresh herbs are a great healthy treat.

Tamsin
 
If you want to treat him then fresh herbs are a great healthy treat.

I know this, he ate my parsley and fennel when it was planted in the ground. He definitely loves herbs.
 
Wispa & Zola said:
you need to give them a constant supply of hay. he seems quite small for a giant but weighs vary depending on rabbits. does he have a nice rounded bum when u look from above? can u really feel his bones on his back???
Click to expand...

He has a nicely rounded bum with no protruding bones. The only bones you can feel is his jaw when he lets you rub his chin.

I'm shocked about the carrots and cereal food as we got him from a very well known Flemish Giant breeder (he has over 30) and he recommended the Rabbit Royale which we feed him and he loves carrots.
 
Rabbit Royal is quite a popular food with breeds as it's higher in protein which is good for nursing does, growing babies and putting weight on for showing. The pet rabbit pellets tend to be lower in protein and higher in fibre which is good for adult rabbits that aren't being bred from :)

It partly depends on quantity too, if your rabbit eats mainly hay and only small amounts of dry food it doesn't make as much difference what dry food you feed.

It's the same with carrots, they are higher in sugar than a lot of veg (hence very yummy) but as long as you're not feeding a bunch a day or not feeding lots of hay too then they are fine :)

Diet is quite a complicated topic sometimes as different things suit different rabbits and different people have different ideas of what is right :)

Tamsin
 
im not sure on the rabbit royale mix, it depends on the nutritional values.

carrots are ok in moderation but they are too sugary. thats why your bun loves them. buns love sugar!


also just because someone breeds and has a lot of rabbits it doesnt make the right.
 
All my Giants are fed on a mix, and they are all in tip top condition, they get alot of hay and alot veg. Some of mine do selective eating but they get all they need in the hay and veg, the difference with using pellets and a mix is that there is no waste with pellets.
Josh who is my Flemish weighs 7.4kg and as just been for his vet check this morning and is in great shape, like Tamsin said though they all weigh different
 
Giants weight vary, as Tam and Kay have said.
Amber my giant weighs about 7-8kg :D
I guess it depends on the breed :?
 
Amy & Amber said:
Giants weight vary, as Tam and Kay have said.
Amber my giant weighs about 7-8kg :D
I guess it depends on the breed :?
Click to expand...

I also read somewhere that the males tend to be slightly smaller compared to the does. So I guess 6/6.5 kilos is about right. I will up his hay though.
 
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