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Feeding in Cold Weather

Mrs Honey Bunny

Warren Scout
Hi, :wave: I'm new to the forum and have a 5 year old dwarf lionhead called Honey.

With the very extreme cold weather we have been having I've noticed that she has been eating huge amounts. She has always been a good feeder and very trim with it.

She's an outdoor rabbit who is fed Burgess's Dwarf Rabbit feed along with plenty of greens and carrots, also plenty of hay. Usually in Winter there isn't much difference in her feeding habits but at the moment she's clearing anything that I give her. Normally if I give her a treat stick once a week and it will take her a few days to finish it, but now she's finishing it overnight. She's never been keen on brocolli and will usually leave it, but last night she ate a full stalk from a head of brocolli.

I have increased her feeding, but just wondered how much I should be increasing it by? Any advice would be welcome.

Karen
 
Is she also eating hay? I've increased my rabbits pellets a bit since the cold weather, but have been advised to try and get him to eat more hay. I'm not giving him more veg, but am giving it in smaller portions and more often because it tends to freeze. I would be wary of giving too many treat sticks, especially if they have sugar in the ingredients.
 
I'm giving my boys a few extra pellets because it's so cold, but they're having the same amount of forage food. They are eating more hay, though, so I'm leaving big piles of that for them.

I think, like us, they want to eat more when it's cold, but hay is the best for them, so try not to give too much extra veg and treats (it's always hard to resist the fuzzy wee faces tho!)
 
Thanks for your replies;

She's never been a big eater of hay even though I give her tons of the stuff, but she's definitely been eating more of it. She seems happy enough, though every time I open the hutch door she's looking for food.

She isn't getting as much running around time though. Usually I just leave her hutch open during the day (rain or shine) and she can run around as much as she wants, but in the last week I kept her in for warmth over exercise. She is in a large two storey hutch and I've been hiding her food so that she has to work for it.

On another thread I read that the rabbit should only have about an eggcup of pellets per day - Honey gets 3-4 tablespoons in the morning :shock: which she will have cleared by mid morning in the cold weather (usually would last her all day).

At least she's not cold - she loves her snugglesafe and there has never been any sign of her water freezing (bowl inside) which must mean that it doesn't go below freezing inside the hutch.

Roll on Summer :rabbit2:
 
I think we all need a bit of extra food this cold weather!:) ;)I would increase the pellets daily as they give buns more energy to keep warm.

if your bun is considered a healthy weight when you visit the vet then you are feeding her the right amount:)

(I think the change to fewer pellets and more hay came about because some rabbits were getting problems from being overweight- also of course hay is important for dental care.:) )

All buns are different and if your vet thinks they are fine on the diet you give then I reckon thats ok.:)

I doubt the cold weather will last more than a few weeks and buns shouldn't get fat in that time as they will be using the extra energy to keep warm. But do remember to gradually increase pellets ( and later gradually decrease pellets to normal amounts) to avoid tummy probs.
sue:wave:
sue:wave:
 
Thanks for your replies;

She's never been a big eater of hay even though I give her tons of the stuff, but she's definitely been eating more of it. She seems happy enough, though every time I open the hutch door she's looking for food.

She isn't getting as much running around time though. Usually I just leave her hutch open during the day (rain or shine) and she can run around as much as she wants, but in the last week I kept her in for warmth over exercise. She is in a large two storey hutch and I've been hiding her food so that she has to work for it.

On another thread I read that the rabbit should only have about an eggcup of pellets per day - Honey gets 3-4 tablespoons in the morning :shock: which she will have cleared by mid morning in the cold weather (usually would last her all day).

At least she's not cold - she loves her snugglesafe and there has never been any sign of her water freezing (bowl inside) which must mean that it doesn't go below freezing inside the hutch.

Roll on Summer :rabbit2:

See I think the 'egg cup' rule is quite a small amount, I think you need to read the bag and go by the weight and size of your rabbit especially in this cold weather, they are using up more energy to stay warm so they do need to eat more probably, I thought a good guide was the pellets or mix in a portion size equivalent to the size of the buns head, the hay in an equivalent size to the body - I haven't got greedy rabbits though, they don't seem to just keep eating and eating apart from on hay, they always have dried food available and don't gorge on it, maybe I'm just lucky:?
 
See I think the 'egg cup' rule is quite a small amount, I think you need to read the bag and go by the weight and size of your rabbit especially in this cold weather, they are using up more energy to stay warm so they do need to eat more probably, I thought a good guide was the pellets or mix in a portion size equivalent to the size of the buns head, the hay in an equivalent size to the body - I haven't got greedy rabbits though, they don't seem to just keep eating and eating apart from on hay, they always have dried food available and don't gorge on it, maybe I'm just lucky:?

I think an eggcupful is not enough especially in the cold weather and of course depends on the size of your eggcup and whether or not you scoop it up brimming full or not etc. I think if your bun is deemed a healthy weight by the vet don't change the amount of pellets.

All buns are different- some eat tons of hay-others loads of grass - others more pellets.

I think reduction in pellets has been encouraged mainly to get buns eating more hay and reduce obese buns and dental probs.

Bunnies get a great deal of nutrition from pellets which they do not get from hay. Bunnies that graze all day on a variety of plants will have a more varied diet but still need pellets IMO.
sue:wave:
 
See I think the 'egg cup' rule is quite a small amount, I think you need to read the bag and go by the weight and size of your rabbit especially in this cold weather, they are using up more energy to stay warm so they do need to eat more probably, I thought a good guide was the pellets or mix in a portion size equivalent to the size of the buns head, the hay in an equivalent size to the body - I haven't got greedy rabbits though, they don't seem to just keep eating and eating apart from on hay, they always have dried food available and don't gorge on it, maybe I'm just lucky:?

I thought that the general guide was the head size related to the amount of veg. I know the hay/body size is the very minimum of hay - mine eat at least 4 times that amount, and even more in this weather.
 
Have you tried different types of hay? My Spenser is quite a fussy hay nommer, so I have been getting him sample bags from Animal Magic Pet Supplies, which seem to suit him. He seems to favour the oat hays at the moment.
 
Honey has never had problems with her weight, in fact she could probably do with being a bit heavier.

In a way I'm glad that she clears all her food bowl of dried food as it means I can always tell when she's not feeling her best as thats the first thing I notice - food left over.

I spoke to soon about the water freezing. Her water bowl had a 1/4 inch of ice on it this morning - the first time ever since I've had her. A bit more silver space insulation has been added, so hopefully that should do the trick.

She is very particular about certain foods and I can't begin to estimate how much I've spent on different things that "bunnies are sure to love" to find her turn her nose up at them. Most recently hay cakes from PAH, and a bag of some type of bark and countless types of speciality hays - she's a difficult bun to spoil :lol:
 
Spenser didn't like PAH haycakes either! He was also very dismissive of all the 'highle recommended' excel hays. :roll: They turned into rather deluxe and expensive bedding hays. :roll: If Honey is healthy and happy, it might just be that the 'ideal' rabbit diet is not for her. Especially when it's cold, I'm certainly reluctant to reduce Spenser's pellets to encourage hay-eating.
 
My two normally get a handful of nuggets on a morning, and i've got medium hands :lol: but since this cold snap i've been giving them another handful at night too mixed in with their hay, they are still eating their hay which is the main thing, if they were leaving the hay in favour of the nuggets i'd cut the nuggets back a bit but I really don't see the harm in some extra calories while it's so cold. Mine would finish an egcup in about two mouthfuls each, they're right gannets!
 
I use one of those plastic cough medicine measures to feed my pellets. Pebbles has 4 of those spread across the day of Science Selective. I weighed it once and it comes out to around 44grams. She had her myxi a couple of weeks ago and the vet was very pleased with her condition (apparently she's perfect :D)

Barnaby is still on Excel and, again, has 4 medicine measures spread across the day. I haven't weighed his pellets yet but he is underweight so I'm trying to get the weight back on, plus he doesn't have a great winter coat (compared with Pebbles) and I want him to be warm in this icy weather.

They have fresh greens morning and night and my mum insists on giving them a piece of carrot every lunchtime too :roll:

They have unlimited hay and despite all this food and a roof over their enclosure to help them stay warm, I also have numerous covers and fleece blankets that take an age to put up every night.:lol:
 
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