Hi
We have a mini lop who was purchased from a breeder and lives in the house. He has always had a very delicate stomach and over the years we have gone from reducing fresh intake right down to where we are currently (under vet supervision) where he has no fresh, Natures Diet muesli (which has very little nuggets) and timothy hay. He has always been quite greedy, something the breeder said about his mother too, who was huge!
I do think he was overweight if I am honest so decided to put him on a bit of a diet, I reduced his Natures Diet and continued with unlimited timothy. He then started mass eating the straw bedding so I have removed that too. But every day he is getting a huge poop ball on his bum and he stinks...we have had to resort to bathing him, he doesn't love it but neither is he very distressed about it.
He has lost some weight but in a healthy way. I phone the vet today for advice, she is not concerned he is very ill but said sometimes rabbits, especially male are lazy about cleaning themselves. So what she has prescribed is Fibreplex...this confuses me as I don't think he has a low fibre diet, but I think she is coming about it from helping him have good gut flora and hoping this solves the problem. We had to weigh him for the medicine and he is 5.5 pounds, which I think is bang on healthy for a male fully frown mini lop, so being fat is one thing I can eliminate
Does anyone have any advice about this as I can't just bath him every day and I really want him to get over this.
Thanks in advance
Jem
We have a mini lop who was purchased from a breeder and lives in the house. He has always had a very delicate stomach and over the years we have gone from reducing fresh intake right down to where we are currently (under vet supervision) where he has no fresh, Natures Diet muesli (which has very little nuggets) and timothy hay. He has always been quite greedy, something the breeder said about his mother too, who was huge!
I do think he was overweight if I am honest so decided to put him on a bit of a diet, I reduced his Natures Diet and continued with unlimited timothy. He then started mass eating the straw bedding so I have removed that too. But every day he is getting a huge poop ball on his bum and he stinks...we have had to resort to bathing him, he doesn't love it but neither is he very distressed about it.
He has lost some weight but in a healthy way. I phone the vet today for advice, she is not concerned he is very ill but said sometimes rabbits, especially male are lazy about cleaning themselves. So what she has prescribed is Fibreplex...this confuses me as I don't think he has a low fibre diet, but I think she is coming about it from helping him have good gut flora and hoping this solves the problem. We had to weigh him for the medicine and he is 5.5 pounds, which I think is bang on healthy for a male fully frown mini lop, so being fat is one thing I can eliminate
Does anyone have any advice about this as I can't just bath him every day and I really want him to get over this.
Thanks in advance
Jem