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Rabbit not putting on any weight

A

angeleyes

Warren Veteran
I have a problem with one of my fosters, I have a pair of brothers who live together quite happily, they have a new home to go to but couldn't go out a few weeks ago as Harley is underweight and not gaining any.

They are of the same build but Harley is skin and bones and Beau is quite porky.

They have obviously been to the vets and my vet cannot find any problems, she put them on a 4 week course of panacur to see if that would help, I have been doing it for 3 weeks and there has only been a very slight weight gain, they are also getting lots of extra food. Harley given extra on his own.

3 weeks ago at the vets Beau was 1.48kg and Harley 0.9kg.

They have been going up and down in weight and today they stand at Beau 1.66kg and Harley 1.08kg, they are around 6/7 months old.

I am at a loss and so is my vet can anyone offer advice? I cannot let them go out in this condition, the poor lady just lost her last bun (of old age) and i don't want to send them out when i don't know what is going on :?
 
Buuny_Friend said:
Do you think Beau could be getting more food when they eat?

How does Harley seem in himself?
Click to expand...

I watched them eat and he doesn't seem to be eating any more than H plus H has been getting extra foods on his own, will have to try them eating seperately all the time now.

H is fine himself he is a total nutter, always looning around if he was human I would think he had something like ADHD!
 
angeleyes said:
I watched them eat and he doesn't seem to be eating any more than H plus H has been getting extra foods on his own, will have to try them eating seperately all the time now.

H is fine himself he is a total nutter, always looning around if he was human I would think he had something like ADHD!
Click to expand...

He's probably buring all his food off! :lol:
 
Is he leaving any caecotrophs Katie ?

Are his hard poos normal, not very small ?


Maybe giving him some Fibreplex for a few days may help. Some dysbiosis in his caecum can cause issues with the absorption of nutrients.


If he is a very active Bun his metabolism may just be permanently on fast burn.
Some additional heat source to take the chill off the living environment may also help. Then he wont be burning so many calories keeping warm.

Do you still feed the Excel Pellets ? You could try mixing his with some Pellets specifically made for growing Rabbits or even (shock horror!!) some Rabbit Royale mix. I now feed that (more shock horror!!) and I can give you a bag of it for Harley if you like.
 
When my bun lost a lot of weight when she was ill (she got down to a kilo and a half, normally 3.5 :shock:) the vet said just to feed her anything and everything to get her to put on weight, and that when she put it on hopefully it would stay there.
She got things like half a banana and lots of carrot, lots of sugary things which are usually not allowed, but was only in the short term. I also added to her normal pellets some for young rabbits which I think helped too. Luckily she did put on the weight and hasn't lost it again.
 
For some reason I cannot quote this morning :?

In reply to your questions Jane, he is not leaving any cacel poos, his hard poos are brillinat big and golden (he eats a lot of hay)

He constantly has a heatpad as I was worried about him being so skinny in this weather, not sure if he uses it though!

All foster buns are on A+P, my lot are on excel, I will get some different pellets to try him on, thanks Jane :wave:
 
angeleyes said:
For some reason I cannot quote this morning :?

In reply to your questions Jane, he is not leaving any cacel poos, his hard poos are brillinat big and golden (he eats a lot of hay)

He constantly has a heatpad as I was worried about him being so skinny in this weather, not sure if he uses it though!

All foster buns are on A+P, my lot are on excel, I will get some different pellets to try him on, thanks Jane :wave:
Click to expand...

I stopped feeding A+P as many of my Buns lost so much condition on it.
I would try him on SS or Excel, I feel sure that should help :)
 
I'd move an underweight bun off A&P too - great to maintain a healthy weight but not brill at getting weight on.
We use the Excel junior for young buns with weight issues, and the mature for the older buns.
I guess his teeth have been ruled out as a problem?
 
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