Thin Bunnies

[Bradfordian]

The two bunnies that were found on our street seem thin to me, when stroking them you can feel the spine quite a lot unlike my other two buns. Now these two were seen roaming around for at least week so haven`t had food and veg pressumably. I give them 2 bowls of food a day, hay and veg (carrots and cabbage). is this ok?they eat everything they are given, any advice would be great.

 

[Tamsin]

You need to be careful about introducing large quantities of foods they are not used to. Hay is fine but dry food and vegetables need to be introduced gradually to avoid upsetting the gut.

It's also more healthy to have a steady gradual weight gain than for them to suddely put on lots of fat.

It's quite possible that some of the weight loss, particularly around the pelvis/backlegs, is actually muscle loss, so that will take time for them to build up again.

There are other causes of weight loss than just lack of food so a vet check is a good idea. They may need treating for parasites and the vet will also be able to give you an ideal weight target.

 

[Bradfordian]

Thanks for the reply, I hadn`t even thought about muscle loss, they have an appointment with the vet next Monday.

 

[Muppet2]

My Sooty - who was tiny to start off with at 1.3kg - went down to 1kg recently when she had snuffles. I was recommended porridge oats to feed her up and that seems to have worked beautifully.

I was told just to mix the oats with warm water to make a porridge but actually Sooty likes the oats just fine as they are She gets a teaspoon twice a day (though half of it ends up on the floor cos she likes to flip the bowl in her excitement :lol