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Weight Issues?

anon101

Banned
Louie my little BIB (5 next month) has recovered rather badly from his last GA/dental and I’m dreading the next one. He’s lost even more weight, his coat is in terrible condition and he is often cold.

He’s not a big hay/grass eater at all hence the regular dentals. I’m already adding oats to his pellets but they are making little or no difference so I was thinking of changing his pellet feed to a more high protein variety to try and get some weight/condition back on.

Can anybody recommend a good high protein pellet feed? I have little experience of other feeds and have only ever used Allen and Page, which is low in protein.

Thanks,

Louise
 
Hi there,

I think the Excel pellets are more fattening, but you might want to just supplement the A&P pellets because Excel are a lot lower in fibre. Does your bun eat veg - if so, you could try giving some greens and carrot which should help with the dullness of his coat.

When Alice was recovering from her GA's, I sprinkled Recovery feed into her veg, but I have to blend it because she only has one tooth.

I think I'd just encourage your bun to eat more of a variety and his appetite might pick up a bit more.

If your bun is cold, you could invest in some vetbed and a snugglesafe, I use these all the time in winter for Alice. I'm not sure if older buns feel the cold more but Alice definately feels it more than Benny.

Hope this helps and big warming hugs to your bun ... :D
 
Thanks for the advice Gemma.

Louie lives in a group of five so vet bed isn’t really practical. They have a very thick bed of shredded newspaper and oodles of hay to burrow in. I believe his coldness is down to how underweight he is.

He does eat a selection of vegetables and loves them but one has to be careful to avoid sticky bum due to his lack of hay eating. Again he loves his pellets but he’s just not putting weight on with the A&P.

Might try mixing some Burgess Junior in with his A&P to see if that helps him.

http://www.burgesssupafeeds.co.uk/small/index.php?page=suparabbit_junior

Louise
 
Oxbow Bunny Basics Junior is 22% fibre and 15% protein but harder to get hold of, you may have to order online. Otherwise mixing the burgess with the A&P is probably the best option.

Do you have anyone near you that will do dentals without GA (just had a painkiller). One of my previous bunnies had to have dentals every 6-8 weeks and we were worried with his age (5yrs) but we found a vet that did it without a GA and that meant he was normal and eating straight afterwards.
 
Thanks Tamsin. :)

I know my vet won’t do dentals without a GA as I’ve asked before. Might ring a few other local vets and see what they say. Think I will be trying the Burgess/A&P mix. Only place I can buy Oxbow feeds is online which doesn’t make it very cost effective.

Louise
 
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