Overweight bunny

Last week we rehomed a Dutch bunny from gumtree. He is an absolute sweetheart and the plan is to bond him with Bugsy over Christmas. However he is currently overweight. He can clean most of himself but not his bottom, but is pooing and eating caecals (by turning round to get it). He was on wagg muesli and carrots and we're weaning him on to Excel (50g same as the girls - is this a good amount?). He is only getting spring greens, kale, broccoli and a little cauliflower (handful of those mixed), plus forage and unlimited hay. He eats hay well and is eating the Excel, though he selecting most of the muesli first and eating it slowly. He follows us which is useful for encouraging him to run around, but actually he is an active little bunny of his own accord. It does look like he's lost some weight already and is a bit more muscled, which we're very pleased about. We haven't had Dutch bunnies before so any examples of how they should look are much appreciated, as is any advice of what else we can do to help him loose the weight.

Here are some photos of him.

One just after we got him home


One from yesterday of him sitting, that's as low as him bum can go :-(



One of him laying down


And the best one we could get of his tummy


Thank you! :-D

Wow! There's no doubt of his weight is there! Well done for rescuing him Having a diet of bunny muesli and carrots it's no wonder he has piled on the pounds is it, you're absolutely right to stop the carrots as they will probably be the main culprit. I would introduce new foods very slowly and gradually to avoid upsetting his tummy; personally I'm not sure I'd go with excel (not at this stage anyway) - it does seem to cause excess caecatrophs even in many normal weight bunnies so it seems likely that it will only exacerbate his existing problems at the moment. If he is eating his hay and herbs/veggies, I would maybe even keep him on very small amounts (like half a handful daily) of the muesli for now rather than upset his guts by changing food then changing again if you want them on excel eventually.

It is actually very important to make sure they don't lose weight too quickly as well, as rapid weight loss can cause permanent liver damage, it's much better to do it in a slow, controlled manner, so I would advise weighing him regularly - once or maybe twice a week - so you can chart his progress and check that his weight loss is nice and steady. Having cut out the carrots, if you keep it simple with lots of hay, a very small amount of muesli and some herbs/leafy greens and plenty of exercise, that should do it. Then just adjust portions etc as you need to, to make sure that the weight loss continues but not too quickly.

Is he already neutered or are you going to get him done once he has slimmed down a bit? It probably wouldn't hurt for the vet to see him now and assess his weight/condition etc, that way they will be able to compare and contrast when he goes back. It's very difficult to advise you on what sort of weight he should be, as there is so much normal variation even within breeds. As a general rule, you should be able to fairly easily feel his ribs, spine and hip bones, without them protruding too much. Feeling round the tummy isn't generally a good indicator of weight (although when he's that big it's pretty obvious!) as even underweight bunnies can have quite bloaty full tummies.

Good luck - he looks like a gorgeous boy

Goodness me! :shock: Bless his heart...so glad you rescued him and will get him back to health! :thumb:

Aww what a gorgeous bun. Well done. I cant offer any advise i'm afraid. What's his name?

Oh the poor love!! It makes me sad to think that he could be in that state, but glad that you rescued him.

I have no constructive advice sorry but I wanted to wish him luck in his slimming.

:wave:

vHi, thanks for the replies I can't believe I forgot to post his name! It's Chestnut. Originally from Greenwich rabbit Rescue apparently.

Sounds like we are doing the right things. Thank you for the information about Excel. He is currently about 2.3kg, we'll keep weighing him to keep an eye on his speed of weight loss. When I said he'd lost some I just mean you can feel he has bones in there - when we picked him up he was kind of solid and you couldn't feel his bones at all :-(

Yes he is neutered we were told, I presume I'd be able to tell?!

Apparently he had his vaccinations in May, I can't believe the vet didn't say anything! He's only 18months old.