Increasing food aggresion/competition

When i first got Indi and Phoenix, at about a year old, they insisted on eating out of the same bowl and would share all their veggies, even stealing out of each others mouths with no problems.

At their myxi vax at the beginning of May, Indi outweighed Phoenix by about 350g (they are sisters) - Indi is 2.65kg (what they both were before), Phoenix is 2.3kg - and now i am noticing an increase in aggression from Indi over food. They still share the same bowl and steal food from each other, but every now and then Indi boxes Phoenix away or growls at her.

I have tried feeding them separately - Indi is fine with this but Phoenix gets stressed being along and goes looking for Indi so wont eat by herself, even if she can see Indi. i've tried feeding Indi first so that she is "full" then both together, which worked to some extent but Indi still ate a significant amount of the food.

I was thinking of buying a double cat bowl so they can have a portion each but still be side to side

Any other suggestions on how to reduce the aggression and get Phoenix her fair share?

no-one got any ideas???

My two had a double cat bowl and Ozzy always finished his side first then moved onto Spice's so I let Spice start eating first (so I'd maybe pick up Ozzy and stroke him or something) then when Spice has eaten enough I let him in to scoff his :lol: Will phoenix eat on your lap or maybe on the otherside of something so Indy can't get to her feed bowl? I used to give Spice extra food in a treat ball which worked well as she loves that ball where as Ozzy isn't bothered and maybe just follows it a little in case Spice misses a pellet :lol:

I scatter the food around on the floor to reduce the risk of aggression with my lot. Also makes them forage and find food rather then making it easy for them in a bowl (read about it in the rabbiting on magazine)

Good luck...hope it sorts itself out soon

Shel said:

I scatter the food around on the floor to reduce the risk of aggression with my lot. Also makes them forage and find food rather then making it easy for them in a bowl (read about it in the rabbiting on magazine)

Good luck...hope it sorts itself out soon

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hehe thats what we do now with our 4 :lol: although Spice gets extra as she needs to get fat haha :lol:

The two bunnies I had were the same. I got them a double dog bowl, but in the end started hand feeding them, to ensure that they both got an equal share. There was always lots of chasing around when they saw me with food though.

Yep, get rid of the bowl. It's much more fun for them to forage a bit anyway.

Tam

Are they indoor rabbits?
My 2 indoor ones are a bit like that. We let SmokyJoe out and keep Lizzie in the pen, then feed them - so they can be next to each other but have their own food too. It might work for you?

Has Phoenix had a full health check? Sometimes this can happen because of an underlying problem in the smaller bun rather than simply out of food aggression from the other one.

thanks for the replies
Yes she had a full health check, which is when i discovered the extent of the weight difference, though i had realised for a while that Phoenix was slimmer. She hates having her teeth checked so perhaps that wasnt done as thoroughly as Indi's, but she did have a look and didnt see anything, and Phoenix shows no other signs of dental disease. But i know you cant really tell without sedation/GA.

maybe i'll just get rid of the foodbowl all together then? and scatter the food in the dog bed where their hay is?

They are outside bunnies at the moment - i tried feeding one in the shed and one in the run, with the catflap locked, but Phoenix just goes searching for Indi. They are coming inside from end of September so could feed one in the dog crate and one outside it?

i think i will try to weigh them again and see if there is any change

Did you have any luck with the food scattering? Last night when I feed my newly bonded Trio Autumn was extreamly food aggressive. She used to share fine with her husbun and all three have shared happily for two weeks but yesterday she was a little madam.