overweight bunny

[bunbun5]

Hello, I am looking for some advice on a bunny we have just re-homed. She is a dwarf lop and is about 3yrs old.She has been neutered. I am not sure how much food she has been given daily but I get the impression she may have had pellets given freely (she came with a bag of burgess excel for senior rabbits) and when we picked her up in the evening she had a bowl with pellets and chopped banana in it). She was a house rabbit.
She looks quite large, I cannot feel her spine and she has a matted, dirty area underneath her tail.

Any advice on how to clean her up and how to proceed with her daily diet and excercise will be gratefully recieved.
Many thanks

 

[elmoandfern]

It's difficult to know how much to feed her if you don't know how much she was being fed before, but it imagine if you start at the upper end of the scale and gradually reduce her pellet ration that should prevent any problems from a sudden change. Do you know if she eats much hay? If you can reduce the pellets right down and just feed a few with lots if hay and a few herbs she should start to lose the weight.

In terms of exercise, What is her setup now? When feeding you can try using a treat dispenser to encourage exercise, also scatter feeding rather than using a bowl. Also games like filling a cardboard box with hay or shredded paper and hiding herbs at the bottom :thumb: I guess the problem at the moment is the heat, so try to encourage exercise at the cooler times of the day :wave:

As for the cleaning, I've never had to do that myself so hopefully someone with some experience will come along with advice. Has she been for a vet check yet? The vet or a nurse may be able to help with the cleaning I would also be extra vigilant in case of fly strike

Good luck and please share pictures!

 

[Sarah1991]

Finnlay is slightly overweight at the minute. All I'm doing is giving him half a cup of pellet on the morning and then hay all day. Maybe a few herbs or very small amount of veg in the evening. He is still growing so hopefully he will fill out.

I just have cut out all treats and things basically.

 

[FondueKid]

Hi, + 1 to all the food related stuff above. I would reduce the overall amount by no more than a quarter per week so that it's nice and gradual. Also weighing her regularly is ideal so that you will know if she starts loosing weight quickly (which you don't want).

Re bottom washing I find the best way is either in the bathroom sink or in a small wash basin either on the floor or your lap. I would try the floor first in case she kicks as this can send everything flying and end up very messy! You want to be supporting their front legs with one hand and gently massaging the water into their bum fur with the other. The water should be just deep enough to cover the dirty area. Afterwards give them a good dry with a towel, it's really important you don't leave them wet. You can also use a hair dryer on low heat if they'll let you but only if it doesn't stress them out.

 

[bunbun5]

Thank you for all the advice. I only picked her up last night so she has' nt been vet checked. Her owner says she does' nt eat hay but I left her some in with her last night and shes been nibbling at it she was given the run off the house with last owner but she did work so not sure if she was caged or left out when the owner was .at work? We plan to move her outside with a hutch, run set up where she will have open access to go in or out when she pleases.
I noticed her droppings are very small and hard..could this be due to not eating hay?

What can I do to avoid flystrike?

 

[fruitandnutcake]

Firstly, be very careful reducing her pellets down if she is a non-hay eater. Buns may have a little nibble of hay and fool us into thinking they are eating more hay than they actually are.

As others have said, weigh her regularly ...I'd suggest every few days at first, and reduce her pellets very gradually. At the same time, try to get sample hays from hay4pets, and the hay experts etc. and also try hay cookies (you can easily see if a hay cookie is being eaten). Also try some ready grass, or freshly cut grass but introduce it in small amounts just in case she isn't used to it.

The poops will be small & dark & hard if she isn't eating hay, but as long as she is pooping then I wouldn't worry too much. If they get very small, then increase her pellets back up again. If she stops producing poops when you reduce her pellets down, then she will need to go to a vet for gut stimulant and then you will need to increase her pellets back up.

If she has a messy bum, then it could be due to fruit & veg or too much protein rich pellets (catch 22 situation with a non-hay eating bun). Excel often causes excess cecotropes which cause messy bums.

If she is producing excess cecotropes after cutting out fruit & veg then try changing her to a higher fibre lower protein pellet. I know science selective is high fibre, as that is what i put my non-hay eating bridge bun on (incidentally he was a dwarf lop and his optimum amount of pellets was abou 100g a day). Also try pro-Fibre for rabbits which is pro-biotic. ( You could try Fibrefirst, but non of my buns really liked it). Science selective may even do a "light" version for overweight buns, but not sure.

Finally, it is better to have a slightly over-weight bun than one that is drastically losing weight if it doesn't eat hay...

 

[bunbun5]

Thank you fruitandnutcake I bathed her this morning (bottom end) and now she is messy again and seems to have loose stools? I have made contact with her previous owner about rabbits diet and she said that she half filled the bowl up with pellets in the morning and if the rabbit ate it all (which was not always) she would half fill it again with pellets and give her banana and strawberries and I was told she loves egg biscuits (whatever they are)!
So diet not particulary good....we have given her grass today and the pellets I gave her this morning she has hardly touched...I have science selective for my other buns so will tryher on some of those...

Any other ideas of what action I can take?