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Too skinny or maybe diet change or stress?

P

Phdchick

New Kit
My bunny was just obtained through rescue. He has had a clean bill of health, and he eats non-stop.

Like a teenage boy. I fill his litter box and hay ball up 2-3 times a day, he eats 1/4- 1/2 a cup of pellets, and maybe 4 cups of greens a day, and a small bite or two of banana a day.

But he feels like he's loosing weight. He was checked for parasites just last week.

I feel like he is eating too much to be loosing weight. But he is really scrawny on his back, hip, and he doesn't have the chubby tummy all my other rabbits had (probably overweight).

He is new, and has been scared to leave his cage most of the last week. He is getting much better, and getting Naughty now. So is it maybe some stress that is aiding weight loss?

Like I said he eats and poops like a champ, never had accidents out of the cage, a fantastic bunny.

Just worried that when he is eating like double what he should be, he is loosing weight.
 
I'm going to state the obvious and say that he maybe needs a check up at the vets, perhaps to run some blood tests. It's good that he's eating and pooping well, but if he is losing weight despite this he needs further investigation. Good luck, I hope it's something that's easily rectified.
 
Horace the Bold said:
Have you weighed him?
We weigh our buns every couple of weeks to keep an eye on their weight
Click to expand...

I agree, it is not really possible to accurately monitor a Rabbit's weight without actually weighing them. I weigh all mine once a week.

Do you know how old your Rabbit is or anything at all about his previous history ?
 
Phdchick said:
My bunny was just obtained through rescue. He has had a clean bill of health, and he eats non-stop.

Like a teenage boy. I fill his litter box and hay ball up 2-3 times a day, he eats 1/4- 1/2 a cup of pellets, and maybe 4 cups of greens a day, and a small bite or two of banana a day.

But he feels like he's loosing weight. He was checked for parasites just last week.

I feel like he is eating too much to be loosing weight. But he is really scrawny on his back, hip, and he doesn't have the chubby tummy all my other rabbits had (probably overweight).

He is new, and has been scared to leave his cage most of the last week. He is getting much better, and getting Naughty now. So is it maybe some stress that is aiding weight loss?

Like I said he eats and poops like a champ, never had accidents out of the cage, a fantastic bunny.

Just worried that when he is eating like double what he should be, he is loosing weight.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the Forum :wave:

How old is your rabbit and have the Rescue Centre any history on him? You could always give them a call if you're concerned. Do you know how long he was in Rescue?

I would monitor his weight for a few weeks. It's not worth weighing him too often, but once every one or two weeks is good. You can buy some baby scales on Ebay or elsewhere if you haven't any reliable ones. Or take him to the surgery for the nurse to give him a weigh if that's not too stressful.
 
Doing better

I think it was just stress, he has been starting to put on weight now.

He is around 1 year, and he was rescued from a animal hoarder. He dosen't like other bunnies, and he is not big on people either. He used to cuddle with me, and come out and play

Now he has started acting weird and not wanting to leave his cage. He will come out to try and get food from people, but other than that he refuses to leave his cage.

I think my daughter may have done something to scare him. She keeps swearing nothing happened, but I found sticky bunny prints on my floor, and today she said he jumped off the couch the other day. It is low, but with me he refuses to hop off, he used to jump up, but never off.

The foster family who had him said he became used to them, but he never liked to come out of his cage much there either. When he does come out he just sits in his bed. I think he doesn't like the wood floors, but the times he does get happy and runs around he doesn't care about the floor.

My last bunny was lazy too, but he was old. Thinking I need to het him a bigger cage to climb around and stuff, as he is kind of lazy now.
 
Phdchick said:
I think it was just stress, he has been starting to put on weight now.

He is around 1 year, and he was rescued from a animal hoarder. He dosen't like other bunnies, and he is not big on people either. He used to cuddle with me, and come out and play

Now he has started acting weird and not wanting to leave his cage. He will come out to try and get food from people, but other than that he refuses to leave his cage.

I think my daughter may have done something to scare him. She keeps swearing nothing happened, but I found sticky bunny prints on my floor, and today she said he jumped off the couch the other day. It is low, but with me he refuses to hop off, he used to jump up, but never off.

The foster family who had him said he became used to them, but he never liked to come out of his cage much there either. When he does come out he just sits in his bed. I think he doesn't like the wood floors, but the times he does get happy and runs around he doesn't care about the floor.

My last bunny was lazy too, but he was old. Thinking I need to het him a bigger cage to climb around and stuff, as he is kind of lazy now.
Click to expand...

My Madeline is very particular about how I pick her up. She likes to feel secure. Otherwise, she loves to sit on my lap. Perhaps your daughter picked your bunny up in an awkward manner causing him to hop off.
I have had bunnies who would not set foot on my kitchen tile due to the poor footing they got with their fuzzy feet. They would only go on the tile if they were running away from something and once they were in the middle of the tile they would freeze until I came to the rescue.
When Madeline first came to my home she would hide under her fleece bed a lot. Many bunnies like tunnels or hiding places when they want to be alone. Even outside noises/animals can scare my inside bunnies.
Over the years I have adopted (or they adopted me) bunnies with many different personalities. Some are very independent and like to explore, run around, and, yes, even destroy things. Others just want to sleep.
 
Phdchick said:
I think it was just stress, he has been starting to put on weight now.

He is around 1 year, and he was rescued from a animal hoarder. He dosen't like other bunnies, and he is not big on people either. He used to cuddle with me, and come out and play

Now he has started acting weird and not wanting to leave his cage. He will come out to try and get food from people, but other than that he refuses to leave his cage.

I think my daughter may have done something to scare him. She keeps swearing nothing happened, but I found sticky bunny prints on my floor, and today she said he jumped off the couch the other day. It is low, but with me he refuses to hop off, he used to jump up, but never off.

The foster family who had him said he became used to them, but he never liked to come out of his cage much there either. When he does come out he just sits in his bed. I think he doesn't like the wood floors, but the times he does get happy and runs around he doesn't care about the floor.

My last bunny was lazy too, but he was old. Thinking I need to het him a bigger cage to climb around and stuff, as he is kind of lazy now.
Click to expand...

Can you put some mats down on the wood flooring ? Wood floors provide very little traction for a Rabbit to hop on.
 
Phdchick said:
I think it was just stress, he has been starting to put on weight now.

He is around 1 year, and he was rescued from a animal hoarder. He dosen't like other bunnies, and he is not big on people either. He used to cuddle with me, and come out and play

Now he has started acting weird and not wanting to leave his cage. He will come out to try and get food from people, but other than that he refuses to leave his cage.

I think my daughter may have done something to scare him. She keeps swearing nothing happened, but I found sticky bunny prints on my floor, and today she said he jumped off the couch the other day. It is low, but with me he refuses to hop off, he used to jump up, but never off.

The foster family who had him said he became used to them, but he never liked to come out of his cage much there either. When he does come out he just sits in his bed. I think he doesn't like the wood floors, but the times he does get happy and runs around he doesn't care about the floor.

My last bunny was lazy too, but he was old. Thinking I need to het him a bigger cage to climb around and stuff, as he is kind of lazy now.
Click to expand...


I'm sorry your bun is acting weird and not wanting to come out of his cage. When rabbits jump off objects (such as a sofa) in my experience they are put off if the floor is wooden, or some sort of shiny surface. I see them hop along the sofa until they find a rug to jump down onto. They instinctively know that their footing could be insecure when they jump off.

Equally, the same bunny will fly around wooden floors once on them - so it could be exactly as you've described. Could you make the surface he jumps onto more secure feeling with carpet or rugs?
 
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