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Overweight! :(

D

DebbieLouise

Young Bun
I weight Bunny (my rex) this morning and i noticed last night she is looking extremely large :( shes weighing in at 7.6pounds, shes only 6months old and the care sheets are saying she should weigh 3-4.5pounds! She lives free roam in the conservatory but there is no heating in there so its just like being outside but without the wind of course. Should i put her on a strict diet or will she burn it off over winter?

Shes currently being fed pellets and hay with around 3carrots a week. Shes on the same diet as all my others.
 
What pellets do you feed and how many and what is her EXACT diet apart from that and the carrots?

I'd cut the carrots out completely, as they are VERY high in sugar and so not particularly good for bun anyway :)

Is bun active or lazy?
 
Mmm. Can't really help other than to give practical advice I guess.

How many pellets does she have as they can be fattening?

Does she eat only her own pellets or does she help herself to the others' pellets too?

Personally I would ask your vet as she is double her ideal weight which is rather unhealthy I would imagine.

I might cut her pellets right down/out and decrease her carrots too, to 1 per week. 3 carrots a week, unless they are only small, is quite a lot. I have 2 Mini Rex bunnies and they're lucky if they see 3 carrots a month - and that's between them, not each!

Anything containing sugar, be it natural or not, will aid weight gain. So fruits and some veggies won't be doing her much good in that department, let alone the possible damage to her teeth.

Ask your vet for advice as they'll be more qualified. To suddenly put her on a strict diet without vet's advice could be dangerous.
 
Shes on haygate pellets, she has a bowl every 2days im not sure how much in weight, thats it her pellets hay and the carrots nothing else at all...Shes got a 'NIBBLES loof 'a' chews' for her teeth but thats it. Shes not lazy but shes not overly active, she chases the cats a few times a day and is also climbing on the cat toy and causing trouble:)
 
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Angie B said:
Mmm. Can't really help other than to give practical advice I guess.

How many pellets does she have as they can be fattening?

Does she eat only her own pellets or does she help herself to the others' pellets too?

Personally I would ask your vet as she is double her ideal weight which is rather unhealthy I would imagine.

I might cut her pellets right down/out and decrease her carrots too, to 1 per week. 3 carrots a week, unless they are only small, is quite a lot. I have 2 Mini Rex bunnies and they're lucky if they see 3 carrots a month - and that's between them, not each!

Anything containing sugar, be it natural or not, will aid weight gain. So fruits and some veggies won't be doing her much good in that department, let alone the possible damage to her teeth.

Ask your vet for advice as they'll be more qualified. To suddenly put her on a strict diet without vet's advice could be dangerous.
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The carrots she has are tiny only about 1cm long as i buy them for the ponies and cause they are brought by the sack they only come tiny. I will book her into the vets, no shes only got access to her own pellets.
 
DebbieLouise said:
Shes on haygate pellets, she has a bowl every 2days im not sure how much in weight, thats it her pellets hay and the carrots nothing else at all...Shes got a 'NIBBLES loof 'a' chews' for her teeth but thats it. Shes not lazy but shes not overly active, she chases the cats a few times a day and is also climbing on the cat toy and causing trouble:)
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Ideally you will need to weigh the amount she has as the vet will probably want to know anyway.

'A bowl' can range from a couple of ounces to an infinite amount, depending on size of your bowl and whether you fill it, half fill it, etc.

Mine only have a couple of ounces as their tea (at a guess; I've never weighed it either) and this is eaten within about half an hour (they leave it, go back to it etc rather than it being a steady 30 minute munching session) and then they don't get any more until the following evening's tea time.

Rabbits don't need 24/7 access to pellets. In fact, they don't really need pellets at all. They do need 24/7 access to hay though, with perhaps just a few pellets thrown in to give them extra nutrients etc but they don't actually need them.
 
DebbieLouise said:
I weight Bunny (my rex) this morning and i noticed last night she is looking extremely large :( shes weighing in at 7.6pounds, shes only 6months old and the care sheets are saying she should weigh 3-4.5pounds! She lives free roam in the conservatory but there is no heating in there so its just like being outside but without the wind of course. Should i put her on a strict diet or will she burn it off over winter?

Shes currently being fed pellets and hay with around 3carrots a week. Shes on the same diet as all my others.
Click to expand...

What type of Rex is your rabbit? A Standard Rex according to Wikipedia should weigh between 6-10lbs and a Mini Rex is between 3-4lbs.
 
Aly&Poppy<3 said:
This :thumb: mine barely get a carrot a year between 4 of them :lol:
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Mine get one actual peeling once a blue moon if they're lucky :lol:

OP - I use herbs as treats rather than sugary carrot and they have a shallow bowl of pellets once a week :wave:
 
Shes a mini rex, we took a trip to the vets yesterday afternoon, she didnt seem to mind all the attention :lol: the lovely vet gave her a full check over and said her teeth ect are all in super condition she just needs to lose the weight, iv been told to give her as much hay as she likes remove the carrots completely and start her off with 2ouncers of pellets each evening, we have another visit booked for 2weeks time and if the vet is still happy with her then the amount is going to be dropped :D

I felt extremely guilty last night when she was sat looking at me with an empty bowl and this morning she came running over like she wanted me to fill it but shes got to wait until early evening :(
Its best for both of us i know that so im not going to give in to her cute little looks, i love her so im not going to send her over the rainbow bridge with kindness.
 
DebbieLouise said:
Shes a mini rex, we took a trip to the vets yesterday afternoon, she didnt seem to mind all the attention :lol: the lovely vet gave her a full check over and said her teeth ect are all in super condition she just needs to lose the weight, iv been told to give her as much hay as she likes remove the carrots completely and start her off with 2ouncers of pellets each evening, we have another visit booked for 2weeks time and if the vet is still happy with her then the amount is going to be dropped :D

I felt extremely guilty last night when she was sat looking at me with an empty bowl and this morning she came running over like she wanted me to fill it but shes got to wait until early evening :(
Its best for both of us i know that so im not going to give in to her cute little looks, i love her so im not going to send her over the rainbow bridge with kindness.
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Mine are Mini Rex bunnies too :love: They were last weighed in July this year (by the vet) and were 2.2kg (Thumper) and 2.7kg (Coco). They're 18 months old.
 
xlaurax said:
Mine get one actual peeling once a blue moon if they're lucky :lol:

OP - I use herbs as treats rather than sugary carrot and they have a shallow bowl of pellets once a week :wave:
Click to expand...

:lol: it's my dad who gives little bits to them through the year so I don't bother:lol:

I use herbs too and occasionally spring greens which they take their time with because they know they won't get any more for a while :lol:
 
Just thought id put a little update on Bunny ... Shes now got use to having just a small meal early evening its only taken her 3days :) Shes not happy and content with just her hay all day and has stopped trying to climb on me every chance she gets :love:
 
DebbieLouise said:
Just thought id put a little update on Bunny ... Shes now got use to having just a small meal early evening its only taken her 3days :) Shes not happy and content with just her hay all day and has stopped trying to climb on me every chance she gets :love:
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Means she's not happy and doesn't like you anymore. Think she's done something wrong and you took away some of her food.
 
im ashamed to say that in the past we have always had a full dish avaliable for our bunnies and they have become overweight , now we have barney im determined to keep his weight right, when we got him from a good home i weighed him at 2.7 kilos, he looked perfect, the healthy side of lean, i measure out his pellets each night so that he always gets the same amount, his pellets run out by approx noon the next day , he always has hay , so he just eats that until its pellet time again. he has 1/2 carrot each day and 1 cabbage leaf,if he has a treat we deduct his pellets.

he is 2.9 kilos, i weigh him regular as i dont want him over 3 kilos , if you dont keep them a little bit hungry they will eat and eat and get overweight, hay is the best thing for them and with a a permenant supply of pellets my bunnies dont touch the hay.

in a nutshell, plan his diet and make sure his food runs out a few hours before next feeding time
 
Neill said:
im ashamed to say that in the past we have always had a full dish avaliable for our bunnies and they have become overweight , now we have barney im determined to keep his weight right, when we got him from a good home i weighed him at 2.7 kilos, he looked perfect, the healthy side of lean, i measure out his pellets each night so that he always gets the same amount, his pellets run out by approx noon the next day , he always has hay , so he just eats that until its pellet time again. he has 1/2 carrot each day and 1 cabbage leaf,if he has a treat we deduct his pellets.

he is 2.9 kilos, i weigh him regular as i dont want him over 3 kilos , if you dont keep them a little bit hungry they will eat and eat and get overweight, hay is the best thing for them and with a a permenant supply of pellets my bunnies dont touch the hay.

in a nutshell, plan his diet and make sure his food runs out a few hours before next feeding time
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You're still feeding your bun too much. Should take around 5-10 minutes to finish eating pellets at most.
 
denla said:
You're still feeding your bun too much. Should take around 5-10 minutes to finish eating pellets at most.
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really, his weight has been the same for 4 months or so.

so are you saying that i should be giving him 10 mins worth of pallets per day , he already drives us nuts looking for food in the evening
 
Neill said:
really, his weight has been the same for 4 months or so.

so are you saying that i should be giving him 10 mins worth of pallets per day , he already drives us nuts looking for food in the evening
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You have to be cruel to be kind ;) :lol: My pair a handful between them, they get a few in the morning then the rest at night. They're always starving apparently but pellets should be thought of as a treat rather than a main food part, that's hays job :thumb:
 
Neill said:
really, his weight has been the same for 4 months or so.

so are you saying that i should be giving him 10 mins worth of pallets per day , he already drives us nuts looking for food in the evening
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You're saying you give enough pellets so it takes overnight and all morning until the afternoon before they're finished, and by then you're feeding your rabbit again. That's the same as saying you give your rabbit unlimited pellets to eat. Not good at all unless you manage to make him run around for several times more than a normal rabbit to compensate the extra food he's eating. And what kind of bowl do you use? A small rabbit bowl can't possibly hold that much pellets. I fill my rabbit bowl half way and it takes 5-10 minutes for my bun to eat. Fed twice a day.
 
denla said:
You're saying you give enough pellets so it takes overnight and all morning until the afternoon before they're finished, and by then you're feeding your rabbit again. That's the same as saying you give your rabbit unlimited pellets to eat. Not good at all unless you manage to make him run around for several times more than a normal rabbit to compensate the extra food he's eating. And what kind of bowl do you use? A small rabbit bowl can't possibly hold that much pellets. I fill my rabbit bowl half way and it takes 5-10 minutes for my bun to eat. Fed twice a day.
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just so you all dont think im a bunny over feeder. I give him this amount of pellets every night at about 11pm when he goes in his cage , its a small glass that i half fill and then tip into his bowl, he gets the same amount ech night, it takes him until the next day to finish them, he is not a greedy bunny , hes a big boy at 3 kilos so i think this is quite a small amount. He gets half a cabbage leaf or 1/2 carrot in the morning . He always has hay which he tends to much in the evenings when waiting for his pellets

DSCF0169.jpg
 
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