Looks like Bunbuns is putting weight back on again... sigh

[FredW]

So we have been trying to get Bunbuns down to her ideal wait for as long as we had her. She was an overweight baby already and we got her when she was over a kg too heavy. We have managed to get her weight down a bit, but was really hard encouraging her to move around more. She naturally flops down and just want cuddles. She is also an extremely fast eater. In fact our vet said one of her back teeth is a bit sharp, last time she had her check up, which he felt could have been related to her not chewing enough and just getting it all down as fast as possible, but he felt that as long as she eats plenty of hay it would be ok.
anyhow... long story short... I think she is starting to put weight back on. I noticed her tummy getting rounder again. It's not that she doesn't have enough toys, shelves, running space etc, cause Fluffy is perfect weight and he runs around and plays all the time. Though he is starting to copy her laziness a bit I noticed. But with her, she has times when she goes crazy, but she does prefer to flop down and just want cuddles or him grooming her etc.
They get mainly hay of course, very, very few nuggets, about 5g each.... and some veg. problem is, he's not too fussed about the greens I think, he rather just eats hay, so she ends up eating his. But when I cut it down to one portion only... guess what, that's when he wants to eat his portion. I cant feet them separately as he wont eat unless she's around eating too.
so just wondering, does anyone got any tips I can try? I know I cant do more enrichment wise than what I do, they got so much, and when she actually plays she's worn out properly at the end, I think her issue is eating too much, which then makes her sluggish and she doesn't play. So Fluffy wants to play chasing, and she does a few rounds, then flops. If he wants to throw stuff around, she plays with him a bit, then... yep, you've guessed it, she flops. Our vet said she's absolutely healthy, so it's nothing health related, but no idea what more can be done. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... oh and I am hiding the nuggets around the place and their greens are hung up for them to reach to get to it.

 

[tonibun]

You can't give them any less food really so the only other thing to keep weight off is exercise, but if this is not practical then I am not sure what else you can do. My NZW is very lazy and now she is getting older (4+) I have noticed she has put on some weight, not a lot but more than she used to have. Some rabbits put weight on quicker than others too, sorry don't have any magical answers.

 

[Babsie]

I think, as with people, you can't make a rabbit exercise if the inclination isn't there. All you can do is provide 'things' to make playing fun - which you are. You say your vet considers she is absolutely healthy - how much weight does he say she should lose?

 

[FredW]

Thanks for that. yeah I don't really know what I can do with her anymore. When we first had Fluffy she was all excited and run around and played with him a lot, and she still does, like this morning, she actually really run around, jumped, climbed, crawled etc while playing with him. but he's still busy playing, she's already flopped on the floor again. So I am having to play with him, which is totally fine, I love it, but doesn't get her weight down. I try and encourage her to get up instead of laying there... which works for about 2-3 minutes, then she's on the floor again, or going to eat some hay. no doubt something will end up working in the end, I have hope
just so worried that Fluffy will end up copying her laziness, since he copies everything else she does.

 

[FredW]

I think, as with people, you can't make a rabbit exercise if the inclination isn't there. All you can do is provide 'things' to make playing fun - which you are. You say your vet considers she is absolutely healthy - how much weight does he say she should lose?

she was about 0.8kg overweight last time he checked. It was going down nicely when Fluffy first came and you could tell she was losing weight, it's just starting to come back up again since now she is just laying around all the time.

 

[Babsie]

Perhaps look at the calories in the veg you are feeding? You could try hand feeding veg so she doesn't pinch it all.

 

[FredW]

Yeah good idea. my initial issue with the hand feeding was that they only eat together, so they constantly take it of each other, he eats a bit, then she eats a bit, then he eats a bit, so their food goes from one to the other. then when he had enough he just goes and plays, while she continues to eat.. But I guess at that point I should just take it away till he is ready to have more. that could work. good thinking there Babsie
They usually get Spring Greens, two leaves between the two of them, then in addition one of the following each day, either... broccoli (rarely), Fennel, Celery or Green Beans. And in the evening just a few fresh herbs.
If anyone got any suggestions of which to change out, or add or take out etc, please let me know. I do think it probably is to do with the greens, since I cant see how it could be the small amount of nuggets they are getting.
I always wanted to do them a little herb station... but unfortunately Bunbuns will sit there and eat till it's all gone, so never was able to do that

 

[Babsie]

Yes, my two love their spring greens. They also like finely chopped celery, green pepper and other green veg. They don't like green beans and I've never tried them with fennel. Herbs definitely a favourite. I scatter feed 2 eggcups of Excel Light each evening after they've had their second lot of veg/herbs. I'm assuming they don't have alf-alfa, known for putting on weight.

 

[FredW]

funny how yours don't like the beans and both of mine love them, but give them peppers and they wont touch them. as for fennel, Bunbuns cant get enough of it, but I try to keep her more on celery, which she doesn't like too much, but I know it's better than a lot of the other veg. And no, no alfalfa hay, which is all part of the reason I just cant figure out why she still keeps putting weight on, bad little girl