Joanne_and_Fred
Young Bun
I was reading about overweight buns and as Sophie is dreadfully overweight was thinking a strict diet... The article advised taking away dry food and only feeding hay and some veggies... Is this drastic?
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Bunny Diet!
- Thread starter Joanne_and_Fred
- Start date
Hoppit!
Wise Old Thumper
How much pellet food do you give her at the moment? About an eggcup a day is recommended for an 'average sized' rabbit. What about fresh foods? You want to cut out all fruit if you give her any (it's very bad for a rabbit's digestive system, as well as being fattening) and only give a tiny amount of carrot here and there as a treat.
Also, how much exercise does she get? This is an important part of the weight loss too.
Also, how much exercise does she get? This is an important part of the weight loss too.
Joanne_and_Fred
Young Bun
We recently inherited her so too speak, she is obese! She gets wagg bunny brunch... and has just been getting her food bowl topped up... She is my nieces bunn but her mum can't keep her anymore...
She has a run out the back but she just sits in it and doesn't do anything... Starting tomorrow I am bunny proofing the back and supervising her going to encourage her to play more... in the hope some weight might come off.. Also going to weigh her that way I keep track of her progress.
If it is raining can she still go out the back or is that a bad idea?
I have some timothy hay and orchard grass hay for the piggies so shall be sharing that with her too!!
She has a run out the back but she just sits in it and doesn't do anything... Starting tomorrow I am bunny proofing the back and supervising her going to encourage her to play more... in the hope some weight might come off.. Also going to weigh her that way I keep track of her progress.
If it is raining can she still go out the back or is that a bad idea?
I have some timothy hay and orchard grass hay for the piggies so shall be sharing that with her too!!
I wouldn't go too drastic in one go. Reduce the pellets to a normal amount, some pellets are good to ensure she gets all her vit/minerals. Then you can watch to ensure she eats her hay and gradually increase the amount and type of vegetables. Pick leafy greens over root veg and fruit.
Exercise is important to so I would scatter her food/mix it in the hay to make her move around more, use a treat ball etc. If she hasn't had much exercise previous, again go for a gradual change so her body can adapt
Monitoring her weight is an excellent idea. It might be good to get a general health check up with a vet as well and make sure she doesn't have any other problems like teeth issues that can also be associated with a bad diet.
Exercise is important to so I would scatter her food/mix it in the hay to make her move around more, use a treat ball etc. If she hasn't had much exercise previous, again go for a gradual change so her body can adapt
Monitoring her weight is an excellent idea. It might be good to get a general health check up with a vet as well and make sure she doesn't have any other problems like teeth issues that can also be associated with a bad diet.
Joanne_and_Fred
Young Bun
She was at the vets to get her nails clipped she's quite an aggresive bun and hasn't been spayed but I don't think they can spay her just now because she is so big and shes about 6...
Plan is too get her weight down so she is healthy enough to get spayed.
Treatball what could I put in it? Healthy treats? veg?!
Should I chance her from wagg bunny brunch to something else or just limit what I give her?
Plan is too get her weight down so she is healthy enough to get spayed.
Treatball what could I put in it? Healthy treats? veg?!
Should I chance her from wagg bunny brunch to something else or just limit what I give her?
Dustyrabbit
Warren Veteran
I think the Wagg Bunny Brunch is a mix isn't it? These types of food are usually more fattening than a high fibre pellet so that coupled with the facts that she's had lots of it and little or no hay has probably contributed to her weight gain.
As I said before, all food changes need to be made very gradually. I would just start reducing the Bunny Brunch little by little each day until she's getting maybe a flat desertspoonful a day. At the same time I would try to get her interested in some hay (with the reduction of mix she should naturally turn to the hay to fill up) - ordinary meadow hay is fine with perhaps some timothy as a treat, put it in hay racks, in boxes, in her litter tray - they like to poop and munch at the same time!, stuffed in to toilet roll tubes anything to keep her interested - you could scatter her ration of bunny brunch amongst it to encourage her to forage and eat the hay too.
You could put her bunny brunch ration in the treat ball.
Its up to you really if you decide to change to the high fibre pellets (Science Selective are a popular choice, Excell is widely available too but some people find their buns have sticky poo problems with that one) as she's older she may be set in her ways and so long as she only gets a very limited amount of mix and eats mostly hay, I shouldn't think it will make a lot of difference really.
As I said before, all food changes need to be made very gradually. I would just start reducing the Bunny Brunch little by little each day until she's getting maybe a flat desertspoonful a day. At the same time I would try to get her interested in some hay (with the reduction of mix she should naturally turn to the hay to fill up) - ordinary meadow hay is fine with perhaps some timothy as a treat, put it in hay racks, in boxes, in her litter tray - they like to poop and munch at the same time!, stuffed in to toilet roll tubes anything to keep her interested - you could scatter her ration of bunny brunch amongst it to encourage her to forage and eat the hay too.
You could put her bunny brunch ration in the treat ball.
Its up to you really if you decide to change to the high fibre pellets (Science Selective are a popular choice, Excell is widely available too but some people find their buns have sticky poo problems with that one) as she's older she may be set in her ways and so long as she only gets a very limited amount of mix and eats mostly hay, I shouldn't think it will make a lot of difference really.
