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Feeding up one rabbit, a diet for the other.

Jenova

Wise Old Thumper
I know a few people have this problem and I thought I'd made a thread about it before, but I can't find it.

When you have a pair or group of rabbits and one needs to eat pellets all the time and other other one needs to loose a little weight. Grim can't eat hay so ideally I want him to have access to what he can eat all the time, which is pellets, but if I leave them out Smoo eats them and gets fat.

I'm sure I made a thread before because I remember someone suggesting giving Grim a box with a cat flap that only he could get through, with a collar or microchip. I thought this might be too much for him because he's basically blind now and also because I think Smoo would just put her nose on his back and follow him through.

I used to bring Grim out of my room to feed him, but he takes up to half an hour to eat so I can't sit an watch him. I closed my door and he would scratch on the door to get back in. Usually I would hear him, he can open the door himself and I would run up and pick up the food before Smoo got to it. But then he started to only want to eat if Smoo was with him. :roll:

So for Grim's health for the last two days I've been feeding them together, but then that is detrimental to Smoo's health. So my new plan has to be to remove Smoo from the room so Grim can eat. Which isn't really fair on Smoo. I'll have to put her outside as my room is the only room that is bunny proof (bar the landing but they can open my bedroom door from that side). So I pick Smoo up, which she doesn't really like, carry her all the way through the house and outside. Give Grim his food and he's no hungry... So then I'll have to feed Grim when she's there to see if he wants to eat and if he does then move Smoo. But that's so mean because then she knows he's getting food and she isn't.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! :lol:

Any ideas?
 
distract smoo with something edible, then put a pile of pellets on the floor in a different area for grim, and try to keep smoo's attention on whatever it is you have? Maybe put some plastic cups upside down on the floor and have food under some of them, or maybe a treat ball with a small amount of pellets in.

I do this when Eli is looking a bit skinny, it works quite well and is fun for the girls too.

Otherwise, what about setting up a pen in the room and put smoo in it?
 
oh dear lord I know your pain...

Atm I am feeding yuki while playing with yuri I will brush and fuss yuri while hand feeding yuki its very difficult but im having to do it. I give yuki as much fattening foods as I can its not easy and sometimes yuri attacks me when im feeding yuki but im doing what I can until yuki has put on enough weight...
 
I have a similar problem. Mimi could do with losing abit of winter insulation ;) whereas Timmy is a good weight, if anything hes prone to being underweight.

Ive bern giving them their breakfast pellets together as usual, 1 eggcup full, used to be 2. Then I feed Timmy his extra half of an eggcup of pellets throughout the day when Mimi osnt watching! It does feel mean especially when she pokes her chubby face in for a pellet, but it has to be done.

I also give Timmy a teaspoon of porridge every other day or so to keep him at a good weight x
 
I have a similar problem. Mimi could do with losing abit of winter insulation ;) whereas Timmy is a good weight, if anything hes prone to being underweight.

Ive bern giving them their breakfast pellets together as usual, 1 eggcup full, used to be 2. Then I feed Timmy his extra half of an eggcup of pellets throughout the day when Mimi osnt watching! It does feel mean especially when she pokes her chubby face in for a pellet, but it has to be done.

I also give Timmy a teaspoon of porridge every other day or so to keep him at a good weight x

yuri gives me a look of "dont you love me mummy" when I feed yuki and not her >_<
 
What about putting Grim in a carrier with a big pile of pellets a couple of times a day give smoo hay with pellets hidden through it so it takes longer to find them and eat them?
 
What about putting Grim in a carrier with a big pile of pellets a couple of times a day give smoo hay with pellets hidden through it so it takes longer to find them and eat them?

its a good idea but wouldnt work with some buns, yuri goes mental if separated from yuki and yuki tends not to eat when in the carrier for some reason
 
its a good idea but wouldnt work with some buns, yuri goes mental if separated from yuki and yuki tends not to eat when in the carrier for some reason

Mine don't give a :censored:, food comes 1st, 2nd and 3rd no matter where they are! :lol:
Just thought it might be an idea because the carrier meant they could stay in the same area and see and smell each other, but if Grim wouldn't eat in it wouldn't be any good.
 
Mine don't give a :censored:, food comes 1st, 2nd and 3rd no matter where they are! :lol:
Just thought it might be an idea because the carrier meant they could stay in the same area and see and smell each other, but if Grim wouldn't eat in it wouldn't be any good.

it is a good idea I dont know if yuki is just weird lol >_<

wouldn't surprise me :roll:

the carry cage is in their pen with them so they are very use to it and they dont care about being in there on journeys they just sprawl out in there lol

However Yuki will not eat in there 0_o
 
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I don't have an answer but can empathise.

Dylan, my elderly bun, needs feeding up and he is part of a quad.

It is so difficult to feed one more or different food to the others when they are bonded. The minute Dylan sees a carrier he shakes so I would never put him in one to feed him.
 
Or if the carrier is too scary a little NIC grid penned off area!

I had this problem with D&D but I discovered that curiously Daisy wont, under any circumstance, jump up on one of the sofas so Dudley has his food up there and he comes and goes as he pleases. Daisy knows he is eating up there but she still wont jump up its very strange :?
 
Grim is a bit of an odd one. Because of his poor sight he can get very disorientated if you move him which can put him off his food. He's used to be putting him outside my bedroom door, but I have to sit with him for a while and reassure him and while he works out where he is. Then sometimes he will eat his food, but more often than not he eats a little then just wants to go back to the room. He eats most and most comfortably when I put food down in front of him where he is. I've started to groom Smoo while he eats but she does get very upset that she's not eating and creeps slowly closer and closer to the food.

Smoo also has a forage box which I feed her in. But if she's eaten all of Grim's food I don't feed her. :lol:

This morning I got up late and had to go to an appointment. I found Grim fast asleep in Smoo's forage box after making himself a little nest in there and Smoo fast asleep on the fleeces. So I made up some food for Grim and put it on a plate in the forage box and he started to eat. I don't think Smoo realised it was there because when I got back from my appointment she was still asleep and there was some food left on the plate. So every day I have to outsmart Smoo to feed Grim. Every day what I do is different. I'd like some sort of routine...
 
Grim is a bit of an odd one. Because of his poor sight he can get very disorientated if you move him which can put him off his food. He's used to be putting him outside my bedroom door, but I have to sit with him for a while and reassure him and while he works out where he is. Then sometimes he will eat his food, but more often than not he eats a little then just wants to go back to the room. He eats most and most comfortably when I put food down in front of him where he is. I've started to groom Smoo while he eats but she does get very upset that she's not eating and creeps slowly closer and closer to the food.

Smoo also has a forage box which I feed her in. But if she's eaten all of Grim's food I don't feed her. :lol:

This morning I got up late and had to go to an appointment. I found Grim fast asleep in Smoo's forage box after making himself a little nest in there and Smoo fast asleep on the fleeces. So I made up some food for Grim and put it on a plate in the forage box and he started to eat. I don't think Smoo realised it was there because when I got back from my appointment she was still asleep and there was some food left on the plate. So every day I have to outsmart Smoo to feed Grim. Every day what I do is different. I'd like some sort of routine...
*hug*

*gives cup of tea*

it can be quite stressful and frustrating I get bit alot by yuri when I have to stop her taking yukis food, eating to much, or when taking food off her......>_< dont blame her but argh its hear breaking sometimes
 
They've both got food now. Grim eats better when Smoo is there... she has lost weight so I do need to keep it up really.

I'm lucky Smoo doesn't bite me, but it's hard to restrain her because she has a jaw abscess so I have to be careful where I push her. I'm going to try the grooming Smoo method later.
 
looking at tabby rabbit today - she's been on a diet for a fortnight - i'm going to have to do something drastic. i thought of separating them completely, but that wouldn't be right. i can't starve matthew so that tabby can lose weight - he's perfect as he is. i'll have to take him aside and feed him. they'll both have to have fewer veg and herbs. hay, hay, and more hay.
 
sorry to be thick but >_<

what kind of oats and how do I serve them >_<

*am thick*

Well grim used to just get oats, as is. Just porridge oats, but none of the instant ones because they've got all sorts added too them. Some people say not to give them plain because they can swell up in the stomach, but I always did, and pellets swell up in water too. But since he's lost his teeth I now soak them in cold water first. Some people soak them in boiled water and let them cool. I also sometimes make up a porridge with oats, water, apple and banana and mush it up. That always goes down well. :D
 
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