Pellets- Help Large/Giant owners!

Ever since I brought Polo home I have been trying to cut excess pellet out of his diet slowly as to not upset his digestive system. He had been free fed pellets all day long at the ARL :shock: He was given hay, but had been used to unlimited pellets the 3 months he was with the rescue league. I have been slowly decreasing the amount in his bowl, and am down to giving him about a cup of pellets a day.

My question is how much pellets per day is ideal for a giant breed? He is an American Checkered Giant or more commonly known as a Giant Papillion on the boards it seems

He is about 12 pounds, if that also helps. His body condition seems good at the mo, lean and healthy. (Of all the piccies I've seen of Checkereds/Paps, their condition always seems to be very trim and lean, and his body type is consistent with the look of them).

Also any other diet recommendations. He has unlimited timothy hay, and is also given veg in the morning (not too much at the moment as he was never fed fresh veg before), and a half slice of carrot in the evening.

Any advice would be very much appreciated :wave: !

Any recommendations? :? Sorry for the bump... just hoping to get some feedback.

Sory can't help but bump bump!!!!

Hi :wave:

I have 2 giants, and they get a small double palmful between them in the morning and again in the evening. The rest they eat is hay and stuff like dandelions, grass, plantain and all kinds of other weeds, as well as some veg.

For one bunny I'd halve the pellets, depending on his age. It works out to about just over half a cupful across the day. It doesn't sound a lot but it's all they need.

In giants excessive weight can cause joint problems so lighter is better

ETA: it may be 3/4 of a cup, depending on the size of your cup! :lol:

Thank you very much for your advice I was thinking a little under a standard sized cup, but like I said.. I've never had such a big bun before so I wasn't sure :shock: He's still getting a little over a cup, I don't want to cut out his pellets too fast and upset his tum. We'll be at the right rate soon enough.

Thanks again!! :wave:

If he seems to be overly hungry or lose weight then add a few more pellets back in, but he should just make it up with hay and stuff.

Siona said:

If he seems to be overly hungry or lose weight then add a few more pellets back in, but he should just make it up with hay and stuff.

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I always make sure he has a huge pile of hay.. he gets to about 1/3 left and starts acting as if he's out and starts throwing his hay box around:lol:

Silly buns.

i used to over feed my giants but i soon cut down!

i give them each about 2 handfulls to share between them, but they are both still pretty young.
they are free range in the garden, so are always eating grass, and they dont always finish their pellets either!

just realised, im no help to you :lol:
but i cut down quite quickly, over a few days, they soon got used to it though! :wave:

I have two adult conti giants
A normal day for them would be (between them, not each)
Breakfast - half an apple, stick celery, couple leaves of greens and a medium carrot

They then have free range in the garden for a few hours and they eat everything they can reach along with the grass

Dinner time - one and a half teacups of pellets

Throughout the day they have several different types of hay, which is topped up again at dinner time.

Bedtime - they will get a small treat like a bit of plum, couple of grapes, mini weetabix or some dandelions

Hope that is useful!