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Rabbit weight

FishForLife2001

FishForLife2001

New Kit
Hi all,

I am looking for guidance as to my rabbits weight and general health. I believe she may be very overweight based of diagrams I have seen.

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Could you weigh her ? She does look a bit cuddly in the fourth picture, but her actual weight would be a better guide. If she is overweight then you should very gradually reduce her food. If you would like some advice re her diet then let us know what she eats each day. Hay should make up the majority of her food. I see she had some sticks to nibble which will be excellent for her teeth.

Her markings are very cute :love:
 
Aww she is beautiful, such a cute little face! :love:

I don't think she looks particulary over weight but take her to the vets and they will tell you, if she is you just need to decrease her food take slowly and get her out to run around more frequently, take it slow and steady with her though, as it will take her time to adjust.
 
She's lovely :love: She perhaps looks a bit chubby to me, although one of my rabbits Beano does yet her actual weight is fine. Is she fed pellets, if so how much? They will often be what's causing weight issues, they only need an egg cup of pellets a day :)
 
She looks pretty OK to me, but it's hard to judge accurately from a photo.

She has a large dewlap, but that isn't an indicator of overall weight. Is she spayed?

When you take/took her for a vet check up, what did they say about her weight?
 
she looks alittle bit chubby, although I say that about my bun even though she is all hair and isn't chubby, can you weigh your bunny? and is she active ?any ways to increase her activity would be a good idea, make her work for her food foraging etc, toys things to climb on tunnels
 
Omi said:
Could you weigh her ? She does look a bit cuddly in the fourth picture, but her actual weight would be a better guide. If she is overweight then you should very gradually reduce her food. If you would like some advice re her diet then let us know what she eats each day. Hay should make up the majority of her food. I see she had some sticks to nibble which will be excellent for her teeth.

Her markings are very cute :love:
Click to expand...

It may be difficult to weigh her, although she is fine with being near her and stroking she doesn't like being picked up due to there being no proper bonding when we got her (sister was scared of being bitten).

She has a constant supply of hay, a full bowl of pellets refilled every few days and she gets vegetables every night and when cleaned out.

I especially like the half coloured face she has :)

Anyone know what colour she is? I feel like it is 'German- something' but I can't remember.

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Ashleigh said:
Aww she is beautiful, such a cute little face! :love:

I don't think she looks particulary over weight but take her to the vets and they will tell you, if she is you just need to decrease her food take slowly and get her out to run around more frequently, take it slow and steady with her though, as it will take her time to adjust.
Click to expand...
It's not so cute when she starts biting your cloths though! ;)

I can try to get her to a vets but my parents probably won't let me. They probably won't see the problem even if I tried to show them information, they are quite stubborn with animal husbandry.

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I'd suggest cutting down and monitoring the amount of pellets she has, as I don't think you'd be able yo tell how much she is eating a day if the bowl is filled then refilled once she's eaten it over a few days. Cut them down slowly until she is being given an egg cup a day, I split that into half an egg cup each morning and night for my rabbits. It doesn't sound like a lot and she will probably eat them all there and then within a few minutes but they really don't need a lot. Good quality hay is key to their diet so they don't need many pellets :)

I believe her colouring is called harlequin, although some one may be able to correct me on that one!
 
FishForLife2001 said:
It may be difficult to weigh her, although she is fine with being near her and stroking she doesn't like being picked up due to there being no proper bonding when we got her (sister was scared of being bitten).

She has a constant supply of hay, a full bowl of pellets refilled every few days and she gets vegetables every night and when cleaned out.

I especially like the half coloured face she has :)

Anyone know what colour she is? I feel like it is 'German- something' but I can't remember.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I appreciate the problem with weighing :( I presume she is OK with you being in the run with her? What might work, and I don't know what scales you have available, but if you have the flat kitchen type, I would try putting something on top and trying to encourage her to jump on it or in it, whilst the scales are switched on. Alternatively, and this is what I do, is put a shoe box on top of flat kitchen scales, quickly lift rabbit in, put my hand over the eyes (seems to calm them) and then quickly read the weight and lift the rabbit out. Rabbits in my experience are much happier if you manage them on the floor rather than lift them up onto a table.

Regarding her diet, is she eating very much of the hay? She should be eating at least her size in hay every day. I never leave pellets with the rabbits. They get a very small amount morning and evening (approx eggcupful each) of Science Selective pellets and and few FibaFirst. If they left any of the pellets (which they don't) after a few minutes I would remove them. Rabbits also like herbs, forage and tree sticks. These also relieve any boredom as well as providing a small amount of food.
 
MightyMax said:
She looks pretty OK to me, but it's hard to judge accurately from a photo.

She has a large dewlap, but that isn't an indicator of overall weight. Is she spayed?

When you take/took her for a vet check up, what did they say about her weight?
Click to expand...

No she isn't spayed because we originally had two females. One died within 2 weeks, due to unknown causes. I have heard spaying is important even when they are alone though. We got them from p@h and they are not good for fish or reptiles, I'm not sure whether they have a bad reputation in the rabbit community? The shop didn't give advice about spaying or vaccinations so she has never had these, in fact she hasn't ever been to the vets.

I will try to convince my parents to take her to the vets but I can't see it happening to be honest.

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mini lop1 said:
she looks alittle bit chubby, although I say that about my bun even though she is all hair and isn't chubby, can you weigh your bunny? and is she active ?any ways to increase her activity would be a good idea, make her work for her food foraging etc, toys things to climb on tunnels
Click to expand...

I can try to weigh but I'm not sure it will go well.

She isn't very active, she spends most of her time sat in one place by she does sometimes run around. I would let her into the garden but to remove the from the enclosure I would need to pick her up which just stresses her out. The garden probably isn't very secure for a rabbit either.

I will get some more toys etc at some point though.

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Hello there. Your bunny is a Harlequin and very pretty. I would say she is a tad overweight, going off the photos. Can you not feed her everyday with her pellets rather than giving her a whole bowlful to last a few days. Rabbits will always try to eat everything all at once but if she leaves some this is a good indication of her being overweight. Could you just give her a handful of pellets every day and cut down on the veg, this will encourage good hay eating but it won't happen overnight. Female rabbits are very prone to getting uterine cancer, it's the way they are designed without going into more detail, so spaying will prevent this from occurring and give her the chance of a longer life. Also you would be able to get a male friend for her as females get very lonely on their own. Rabbits have feelings very much like us, so try telling Mum that it's not really right to have 1 bunny on her own, unless they spend a lot of time with their owners.
 
FishForLife2001 said:
No she isn't spayed because we originally had two females. One died within 2 weeks, due to unknown causes. I have heard spaying is important even when they are alone though. We got them from p@h and they are not good for fish or reptiles, I'm not sure whether they have a bad reputation in the rabbit community? The shop didn't give advice about spaying or vaccinations so she has never had these, in fact she hasn't ever been to the vets.

I will try to convince my parents to take her to the vets but I can't see it happening to be honest.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Sorry if it appears we are bombarding you with lots of advice :)

Regarding p@h, no they don't have a great reputation although it possibly varies from branch to branch. Importantly all rabbits, whether they live inside or out, should have a yearly vaccination as a preventative against Myxomatosis and VHD, which are both incredibly horrible diseases resulting (almost 100%) in death. If you do some online research for both of these diseases you will see how easily they can be transmitted to pet rabbits. Females, as tonibun has said, should be spayed because of the very high risk of uterine cancer. Perhaps if you gather some "evidence" to show your parents, they will understand the importance.
 
FishForLife2001 said:
No she isn't spayed because we originally had two females. One died within 2 weeks, due to unknown causes. I have heard spaying is important even when they are alone though. We got them from p@h and they are not good for fish or reptiles, I'm not sure whether they have a bad reputation in the rabbit community? The shop didn't give advice about spaying or vaccinations so she has never had these, in fact she hasn't ever been to the vets.

I will try to convince my parents to take her to the vets but I can't see it happening to be honest.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

To be honest, if you don't take the rabbit to the vet at all, for neither spaying nor vaccinations, then you are never going to find out if she's overweight! Buying scales and weighing her will tell you what her weight is, but not whether it's the correct weight for her and her particular size and breed :D

Do be aware of uterine cancer, it's very prevalent in unspayed does:

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/neutering28807.pdf

Can I please ask why your parents allowed you to have a rabbit but subsequently will not allow her to have any veterinary care?
 
tonibun said:
Hello there. Your bunny is a Harlequin and very pretty. I would say she is a tad overweight, going off the photos. Can you not feed her everyday with her pellets rather than giving her a whole bowlful to last a few days. Rabbits will always try to eat everything all at once but if she leaves some this is a good indication of her being overweight. Could you just give her a handful of pellets every day and cut down on the veg, this will encourage good hay eating but it won't happen overnight. Female rabbits are very prone to getting uterine cancer, it's the way they are designed without going into more detail, so spaying will prevent this from occurring and give her the chance of a longer life. Also you would be able to get a male friend for her as females get very lonely on their own. Rabbits have feelings very much like us, so try telling Mum that it's not really right to have 1 bunny on her own, unless they spend a lot of time with their owners.
Click to expand...

I will start feeding her daily with a handful of pellets.

Would you mind going info some detail about them being designed to get uterine cancer? Sorry to be awkward but it sounds quite interesting (in a sad way).

I can try to convince them to get her spayed and a friend but I don't see it being likely. She doesn't get much attention, I am the only one to actually interact with her and with school I have limited time.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
 
Omi said:
Sorry if it appears we are bombarding you with lots of advice :)

Regarding p@h, no they don't have a great reputation although it possibly varies from branch to branch. Importantly all rabbits, whether they live inside or out, should have a yearly vaccination as a preventative against Myxomatosis and VHD, which are both incredibly horrible diseases resulting (almost 100%) in death. If you do some online research for both of these diseases you will see how easily they can be transmitted to pet rabbits. Females, as tonibun has said, should be spayed because of the very high risk of uterine cancer. Perhaps if you gather some "evidence" to show your parents, they will understand the importance.
Click to expand...

Don't apologise, its what I came here for :)

What would the price range be for a weight check, spay and all vaccinations? I will definitely try to get them to take her. Can you recommend some good sites to persuade them, preferably big name shops/organizations? I would show them the forum but if they get it from a familiar source I think it would be more believable with the attitude they have.

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MightyMax said:
To be honest, if you don't take the rabbit to the vet at all, for neither spaying nor vaccinations, then you are never going to find out if she's overweight! Buying scales and weighing her will tell you what her weight is, but not whether it's the correct weight for her and her particular size and breed :D

Do be aware of uterine cancer, it's very prevalent in unspayed does:

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/neutering28807.pdf

Can I please ask why your parents allowed you to have a rabbit but subsequently will not allow her to have any veterinary care?
Click to expand...

I appreciate this but please bear in mind I am limited to my options, I am too young to drive and if I cannot persaude my parents there is not much I can do. Obviously this isn't good and I would take her to the vets straight away if I could, it's my parents debatable moral standards towards animals that is stopping me.

She was my sisters but she is as clueless as them. I actually tried to stop them getting her as I knew she wouldn't be looked after but they gave in to my sister. They are not great with animals, and I think they view rabbits as being less important than a dog etc.

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Apologies if I have missed any questions and replys, feel free to reiterate any questions I have missed. Having this many long posts is confusing (but obviously appreciated, I need the advice too).

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