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Slightly overweight rabbit?

R

Rex Rabbity

Warren Scout
Our new female black Rex rabbit Willow is about 9 months old. Our other rabbit Flopsy is also also a Rex, but male and only a couple of weeks younger. She seems quite a bit bigger than Flopsy and looks like she is possibly carrying a bit of extra weight. She seems to have extra 'rolls' around her hind legs that Flopsy does not have and has a much larger dewlap. I have read that females do have larger dewlaps than males, but it does seem quite large. Maybe it's just me, as I have never seen another female Rex up close before. Also, our vet told us that rabbits are more prone to putting weight on after being neutered and told us to keep an eye on Flopsy's weight, as he has been done recently. Willow was spayed last September. Below is a photo of her. Her colour makes her awkward to photo, so the contrast of the cream carpet hopefully shows enough detail! If she is a little overweight, can anyone suggest exact quanities of food we should give her. I presume this will mean cutting right back on pellets and giving her mostly hay and some veg. Thanks.

willow.jpg
 
If you are worried about them being over weight, put their food in a treat ball, make them work for their food. They won't starve themselves. It will keep them occupied and out of mischief.

Janice
 
She looks like my floppy and the vet said he was over weight but im finding it quite hard to cut him back on food,he shares his hutch with another bunny too.
I bought a treat ball but the food is still in it :(
Hes the one in my signature in with the little black n white bunny
 
Just like humans, it's got to be a combination of diet and exercise! Try and give her as much time to run around as possible. Once they are bonded it should also get easier as I find that bunnies do tend to move around more when they are together. Other than that, as already suggested, I'd cut down on the pellets (what are they eating?) maybe try and see if you can swap to one that is a little lower in protein, like the Allen & Page or the Bunnybasics one, also cut down or out on snacks like carrot and apple, which contain a lot of sugar and hence calories! Instead feed things like cabbage, parsley and lots of hay.
 
She does look to be carrying a little extra weight. As alison said, diet and exercise are they key. For diet - plenty of hay and small amounts of dry food. For exercise, space and toys to encourage her to move around in it :)

Tam
 
She looks like lilac did when i first got her,but like everyone else said cutting down dry food and lots of hay and plenty of exercise is the key lilac looked better within 3 weeks
Shes a lovely bunny
 
We only got her yesterday from a rescue. The rescue did say she loved her food though. We have started feeding her Science Selective which she seems to like, but only giving her small portions and plenty of hay. We have also changed Flopsy over to Science Selective, as he was on a mix and was picking out the best bits.

Willow is is bit shy at the moment and hard to catch! We have had her indoors this morning and this evening so she can get used to our voices and see us. We have been following her around the house for the last half an hour trying to pick her up to put her to bed! That gave her (and us) some extra exercise!

She has her own hutch above Flopsy's in the shed and they take it in turns to use the run. Flopsy know's there is another rabbit about and is looking and sniffing around all over the place!

Willow is so lovely and we hope she eventually settles in. She did nip my partner this morning when he tried to get her out of the hutch, even though he was careful and stroked her a bit first. It was a proper bite, but not a bad one, just a warning and no blood drawn. She has not done it since, so fingers crossed it was a one off!
 
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