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New bunny owner in need of advice!

Hi everyone!
Ive had my dwarf lop for 5 days now. Ive been told shes 10 weeks old when i bought her and was given brief instructions but i could do with more advice on feeding and signs to look out for.

At the moment ive been giving her a full tray of Timothy Hay and an eggcup of nuggets a day. Also between half to one carrot a day but a full one makes her have diarrhea.. Is this the correct amount? Would be really helpful if someone could give me a routine for me to try so i know im doing it right.

Also when do i change the amounts of food she gets as she gets older? I cnt seem to find a proper answer off the internet..

Lastly, shes been sneezing a lot these past 2 days but theres no sign of a runny nose or eyes. Im hoping its just the dust when she runs under the sofa!

All help is very appreciated!

Thankyou

Jen:)
 
Unlimited hay is the most important thing. I'd be inclined to give her more pellets as she's young but everyone has different opinions. :)
Carrot has quite a lot of sugar in it though so it might be too rich for her right now. I wouldn't give it very often, just as a treat and I would start to introduce tiny amounts of green veg like cabbage and broccoli. But wait a few days between introducing anything new just to make sure that they don't upset her stomach.

You sound like you're doing really well so far. :wave:

I'd watch the sneezing closely though, it may well be the dust, but sometimes rabbits from pets shops get exposed to snuffles. A bacterial infection. It can bee treated well if it's caught early so if you're worried at all take a trip to the vets. Actually while she's healthy is a great time to look for a good vet. You want someone who has dealt a lot with rabbit or exotics, not all vets know a lot about rabbits unfortunately.

Insurance is up to you. They don't often cover dental problems which are very common in rabbits, but it might be worth it for any other problems. Or you could make a vet fund and add to it each month?
 
:wave: Hi!

She sounds adorable!;):love:
Giving her hay is the most important thing - as thier diets needs to be 80-90% hay! So thats great!:thumb: You can get different types of hay - timothy is great - mine love that - as well as the usual meadow hay. You can buy this in a bale for about £7 and it lasts for ages...great for winter too as you can heap loads in for her to snuggle and burrow into without worrying about the cost and of course it will encourage her to eat more. Make a hols in a carboard box...fill it with hay and watch her burrow:lol::love:
An egg cup sounds fine...but if she is an outdoor bunny - make sure she gets enough to build herself up ready for winter and also as she is young she is growing. I would weigh her and keep an eye on her weight to see how she does.
Of course if you feed her too many nuggets she will get a runny tummy. and also be too full up to graze on her hay - which is what you want her to be doing most of the time.
Bless her- half-one carrot a day is just too much for her. Its too high in calcium and should only be fed in small quatities. One of my buns is fine with things but the others really battle - so I feed them nuggets (high fibre ones) and hay hay hay!!!:p A mix of meadow hay, timothy & rye and INGS (wetlands hay) and dried foraged foods...like hawthorn, apple leaves & branches, sunflower leaves, brambles herbs etc.
Only occasionally do I give them a bit of banana, carrot etc...of course they adore it but it makes their tums upset so most of the time they dont get it. I try to give them as much as a wild diet as possible and it works wonders. I have given vege before...a very slow introduction, but still found theyreally battled...esp. like cabbage & brocooli and brussel sprouts...all quite gassy foods...of course each bun is different and small treat for mine are fine, but i dont feed it daily..or even weekly.
Of course encouraging chewing of twigs..like apple branches and hawthorn is great for their teeth...great fibre too. and whenever they started to get interested in some furniture..I would stick a fresh branch under their noses and mine free range indoors and dont chew anything but their own stuff and their sticks....(touch wood!);):lol:

As she grows up abit she can have abit more nuggets...but think of it like this..someone on RU said: Hay is their main meal and nuggets is dessert...the only reason we feed commercial nuggets is to make sure their diets has enough nutrients etc to enable a balanced diet. In the wild they would have more options...but they are grazers and grass/hay is what they need...it enables their systems to function properly and keeps their teeth ground down. Bunnies teeth never stop growing so they grinding motion of their back teeth whilst eating hay helps this and is very important.
is she eating her ceacotrophs?
Poop1.JPG

Thats the poop you see when she has a messy bum...otherwise it should look like loads of tiny grapes all in a sausae shape...she should eat this straight from her bum...if you see any laying about she is prob having too many nuggets or veges and so feels she doesnt need them....but its important she does eat them ...the only poop you should see is the waste poop...it should be crumbly in consistency. Keeping an eye on your bunnies poops will tell you alot about how her system is doing, how her health is. Im always inspecting the poops! and can always tell when they have had abit too much of something....their little faces say "Im starving....Im going to run in little circles and tell you give me more give me more...Im SOOOOOOOOOOOO hungry!":lol::love: buuut don tfsll for it...mine now do that when I get them apple leave and GOOD treats! in fact anything thats edible and tasty!:lol:
I thought Id mention drinking....giving them a bottle is great as oyu know they have fresh water...thats nnot be spilled or wee'd in etc...but a bowl, I think, is a must...purely because they drink more water this way...it more natural for them. Mine drink alot more at night too....I fill mine up twice in one evening.;)

Im not sure about her sneezing...but if she is on sawdust then replace that - sawdust is a huge problem for bunnies...its full of phenols and can cause respiratory problems...as they are small animals and are close to the ground - they breather it in and it can cause issues. You can use aubiose (hemp - about £10 for a massive bag - its horse bedding and works really well) or megazorb...or carefresh (expensive)....I tried some but mine ate it so now use aubiose and it smells great and works well...it keeps the buns feet dry as the wee soaks to the bottom. and you can compost it.
I'd love to see more piccies of her!Your pic is so cute! and her name? sorry its so long...:oops::lol: I hope it helps!:wave:
 
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ignore- chelles coverd everything aha! :)

I couldnt add any more info apart from spring greens are nommy veg to! you can buy them in most supermarkets, my lot love them!
 
ignore- chelles coverd everything aha! :)

I couldnt add any more info apart from spring greens are nommy veg to! you can buy them in most supermarkets, my lot love them!

:oops::oops::oops::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: nommy nommy...bless them...mine would eat everything and then get really upset tummies and be ill:cry:...even when the spring grass comes I have give them limited time:love: a little goes along waaaay:lol:
 
:oops::oops::oops::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: nommy nommy...bless them...mine would eat everything and then get really upset tummies and be ill:cry:...even when the spring grass comes I have give them limited time:love: a little goes along waaaay:lol:

awww! only one of mine (matilda) has a sensitive tum, the rest have steal stomachs!:roll: and eat anything put infront of them! ha
 
awww! only one of mine (matilda) has a sensitive tum, the rest have steal stomachs!:roll: and eat anything put infront of them! ha
aaah bless! I dont mind really though...much prefer leanring and trying to give them a natural wild diet than hooman veges.:p Im always worried about some food on the floor...like OH choclate biscuits or something:roll::lol:...its great really - keeps the house that much more tidier making sure its safe for da bunnies!:love:
They like me to lay down rugs for when they visit us in the lounge though so they can hop nicely instead of the wooden floors...except for Archie,,,he hops everywhere whilst the girls hover!

going abit off topic here:lol:....
 
aaah bless! I dont mind really though...much prefer leanring and trying to give them a natural wild diet than hooman veges.:p Im always worried about some food on the floor...like OH choclate biscuits or something:roll::lol:...its great really - keeps the house that much more tidier making sure its safe for da bunnies!:love:
They like me to lay down rugs for when they visit us in the lounge though so they can hop nicely instead of the wooden floors...except for Archie,,,he hops everywhere whilst the girls hover!

going abit off topic here:lol:....

ahah i feel like a bad bunny owner now :lol::lol: mine have been known to eat well everything from the sky arial to half a pack of haribo ahaa mine are such foodies tho ha!
 
Thanks for the tips guys!
Ive just purchased the Pets at Home insurance because it was the cheapest i could find, it does also have some sort of dental cover too.
Ive just changed her bedding and removerd the saw dust and have put in 'Wilkinsons harvest straw for rabbit beds' at the minute, Going to buy her a litter tray today and see if i can get her in a routine, at the minute shes pooping all over the cage. Shes absolutely loves celery and carrots i feel tight that i cant give her more! But thankyou for the food advice and hopefully i can make her one healthy little bunny! Unfortunatley she decided to wee all over my bed so shes no longer allowed up here any more! She does like to climb ontop of my laptop though!

Is is normal for her to have random outbursts when running around? She'l be chilling having a nosey around and the next thing shes jumping high up and going mad?

Shes called Tinkerbell by the way, but i cnt seem to add any piccys?!:(


Jen:)
 
As long as you've got the lifetime cover thats okay, dont bother with the yearly one as most of the expensive rabbit illnesses are ongoing. The excess is slightly higher, £65 or 75 per condition per year I think? than some of the others, and you have a lower amount of monetary cover too than Petplan. Be aware the dental cover does not cover routine dentals or things like malcolusion (sp?) it only covers 'illness or injury'.

She's old enough for vaccinations now, there are two she needs, vhd (once a year) and myxomatosis (every 6 months), and they should be given at least 2 weeks apart.

She's young so litter training will be a bit harder, expect it to get a bit worse as she hits puberty, but it should settle down after her spay. Did the breeder/pet shop/rescue you got her from explain that she needs to be spayed when she is a bit older? Some vets will do it from 14 weeks, others like to wait till a certain minimum weight, or 6 months old. This will prevent her from getting uterine cancer, which is very common (85%) in unspayed rabbits and is fatal, the only treatment and preventative is spaying.

I would keep her on the same diet as she was on before for the first 2 weeks you have her. It is a very stressful time and their stomachs are more prone to upset. When you do start to introduce veg and fruit, do so extremely slowly and stop if she gets a dodgy tum, introduce one thing at a time. Remember diarrhea (sp?) can be fatal. Any changes to a rabbits diet need to be done gradually.

The random fits of activity are excitement. If you see her jump in the air and twist, or flick her head and feet around, it is called a binky and an expression of excitement. It is good that she is doing this as she'll get plenty of exercise, try to make sure she is allowed to free-range in a safe room for exercise for an absolute minimum of 5 hours a day, depending on her cage size. If she has a small cage (like the commercial 'rabbit' indoor cages) then she will need a lot more time out than if she has a big pen for her cage.

Also, as I take it she is a house rabbit, protect your wires! Make sure they are out of reach or bunny-proofed properly, as most bunnies will chomp through them in one bite!

edit: I would also try her on some different hays to see what she prefers, ideally you want her eating a minimum of a pile the size of herself everyday :) you can find lots of different types on here, they do a sample pack too: https://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/index.php you'll find she probably has preferences between brands as well.
 
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Firstly congratulations on your new family member and well done for joining this forum, you will find it invalubale!
I have two dwarf lops, Jimby and Cookie, Jimby is a harliquin and cooke is a sooty fawn.
They both are suseptible to Statis so we have to be very careful with what they eat.
Here is what we feed them a day:

Breakfast- the both have 1 TSP Allen and Page pellets and 1 TSP Pro Fibre pellets
Throughout the day they have hay, hay and hay- Oxbow Timothy, Oxbow Oat hay and Oxbow Orchard Grass as their yummy hay and Meadow hay and Alfalfa King Timothy hay for their potty hay.
Dinner- same as breakfast
Pre bed time snack- fresh herbs, they each have about x4 sprigs of flat leaf parsley, x3 large sprite of dill, x8 small basil leaves, x6 small mint leaves and over the weekend they will share 1 sprout between them.
Treats- the only treats they have are dried herbs such ad Cotsfolt, dandelion, Apple and blackcurrant, Fenugreek Crunchies, Excel Nature rolls and Treat ums hair ball remedy.

The most important thing to remember is the bunny food scale and try to stick to it as best as possible-

Hay and Grass 80%
Herbs/veg- 15%
Pellets- 5%
 
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