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Overweight Bunny

H

happybunny

Mama Doe
Does anybody have any ideas on how to encourage an overweight bunny into exercising?

Harvey is 6 years old and about 6 months ago started to gain weight. He is just getting bigger and bigger and seems unwilling to do much running about. He lives in a hutch with 2 other rabbits and they have out time of about 12 hours a day. Harvey spends most of that just laid out.

We have reduced the food they have availbale but that has made no difference to him (although I think he gets in first anyway).

The other 2 are very active.
 
Can you feed them separately?

Or maybe change exercise time? Buns are more active in an evening

Also I might be inclined to have a quick health check at the vets- my Bridge rex stop moving about a lot - turned out she had a heart murmer
 
My first instinct would be to get him a full health check. In my experience older rabbits tend to loose a bit of weight, especially as they loose condition over their hips. I would want to make sure there was no medical cause before forcing him to exercise or cutting down his food :?
 
I had him checked over the vet and they could find nothing obviously wrong. The vet sugegested feeding them seperately but unfortuenatley they tend to eat while we are at work.

I will re visit the vet if things do not improve.

Their out time is from 6pm until 6am. The only movement I can get out of Harvey is when he hears the rattle of a carrier bag with veg in it.
 
The best advice I ever heard was stairs. Put him on the bottom step and push his bum so he climbs them. Repeat. :D

Also lots of toys he can throw around like plastic slinkys, jingly balls and towels and rags.
 
I don't know where your buns live but I hang all my buns veggies by string from the ceiling in the shed. Some is hung high and I'll give them a low stool that they've got to climb on to get it. Other stuff is higher still so they've got to get onto the stool and then onto a chair. I basically make them work for everything they eat. They're generally very lazy buns - especially the two younger girls (Pea and Pod). Flora and Parsnip are six and a half so I expect them to slow down a bit but I still make them work for their food :lol: Don't just give them a bowl of pellets, stick their usual rations into a couple of treat balls so that they have to chase them around.
 
Thank you for your suggestions.

I put Harvey in the hallway when I got home from work and he ran about a little and went up and down the first 2 steps of the stairs a few times. He definately seems able to move without issue.

Is out time is in our spare bedroom so I will have to think of some ways to make him work for his food.

I will try him in the hallway daily to see is it helps (will try for 3 steps tonight!).

Thanks
 
I have a fatty bun who seems to gain weight by breathing, but what works best for her is to hide the food. It's stimulating for them to then have to find it.

You could hide food for all three (in toilet tubes with hay in each end, in empty tissue boxes, under hay, behind things, etc), so they all have to move to find their food and the chances of him getting there first are slimmer. Be creative :D
 
Step classes for bunnies!:lol:

We have talked about making him work for his food but we haven't looked at what and how much he is being offered. His diet should of course be 90% hay and only 10% pellets and veg - which could be hidden to encourage foraging and excercise. His hay could be in "hay balls" hung up or in hidy boxes about the room.

I find a rearrangement of the enclosure, just moving the toys, tunnels and boxes around, sparks some excercise. When you do the shopping look out for nice bun sized boxes and seal them up and cut holes in interesting places, hiding a pellet or 2 inside to reward the investigator. Pellets in a treat ball are fun too and make them work for their calories!
 
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