• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Are my bunnies chubby?

Beapig

Mama Doe
Hi everyone,

Since getting Plumpkin and giving her such large portions to try and help her put on weight, I'm worried I've been giving Hamilton and Beatrice too many extras/larger portions without even realising it, and that they're getting a bit overweight. Here are some photos I took this evening:

20180611_182743 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

20180611_182802 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

20180611_182646 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

20180611_182631 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

They both get a cereal bowl of greens each day (mainly leafy greens such as spinach, kale, cabbage, but also a tiny bit of carrot and occasionally broccoli or cauliflower), also an eggcup of pellets each and hay throughout the day. They've been getting extras in the form of forage recently because Plumpkin has been getting it and they get very jealous if they see me feeding her and don't get anything.

I asked my vet about it today and he said you should be able to feel their spine, which you hardly can on Hamilton but you can a bit more on Beatrice :S I wouldn't say that Bea looks overweight, but I think Hamilton definitely does.

My instinct is to cut out the pellets completely and just give forage and hay without the rich greens from our fridge. What does everyone else think?

I feel really bad for letting their portions slip and letting them get a bit chubby, but I've been so worried about Plumpkin that it seems to have crept up on me :cry:
 
They look ok to me but remember Spinach and Kale are high in calcium, so perhaps only twice a week and not a huge amount. Forage is better if you can find enough. Maybe cut the pellets by half and that would mean you are giving them about the same as mine get, and mine aren't as slim as I would like. At the moment round here there is lots of the long grass which they love. I have just discovered that we can give hedgerow bindweed, not field bindweed, but some of mine didn't like it. :roll: But Francis Harcourt-Smith says it's ok!
 
I have posted a picture of my bunny when is was very over weight in stories if you are interested. He is pellet free. The problem is he was eating his partners pellets too, even when scattering them

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
Hi everyone,

Since getting Plumpkin and giving her such large portions to try and help her put on weight, I'm worried I've been giving Hamilton and Beatrice too many extras/larger portions without even realising it, and that they're getting a bit overweight. Here are some photos I took this evening:

20180611_182743 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

20180611_182802 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

20180611_182646 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

20180611_182631 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

They both get a cereal bowl of greens each day (mainly leafy greens such as spinach, kale, cabbage, but also a tiny bit of carrot and occasionally broccoli or cauliflower), also an eggcup of pellets each and hay throughout the day. They've been getting extras in the form of forage recently because Plumpkin has been getting it and they get very jealous if they see me feeding her and don't get anything.

I asked my vet about it today and he said you should be able to feel their spine, which you hardly can on Hamilton but you can a bit more on Beatrice :S I wouldn't say that Bea looks overweight, but I think Hamilton definitely does.

My instinct is to cut out the pellets completely and just give forage and hay without the rich greens from our fridge. What does everyone else think?

I feel really bad for letting their portions slip and letting them get a bit chubby, but I've been so worried about Plumpkin that it seems to have crept up on me :cry:


It's really difficult to tell from a photo, and a vet will be able not only to weigh them, but to feel their 'fat ratio'.

They do look fine to me, and they could be solid muscular rabbits.
Cut out the pellets gradually if you feel you have to x
 
I agree its easier to tell by feel than look. If I had to guess I'd say Ham is slightly overweight but Bea is fine. I like to get my vets impression of their weight & use that as a benchmark.
 
I use the 'bum-feel' test (see the link Jane posted): if their rear spine feels OK, they're OK. If it feels a bit squishy, I cut their pellets more. If it feels a bit too spiny, they get more pellets. Takes a couple of days to take effect. I generally feed mine about 30 pellets (a quarter of a scoop/eggcup) when they're getting full forage rations :) In the depths of winter they get a whole scoop.
 
This is really useful as I’ve been wondering about whether I feed mine too much. My vet friend (now lecturer) told me once that Lavender was really overweight and took a photo to show her students what a fat rabbit looked like! I was most offended (but instantly put poor Lav on a diet, which meant the others had to as well). As they are out on grass most days, I have cut their pellets down and don’t give them as much green veg. I tend to give them bits of weeds as I’m gardening but mostly they eat grass (and unlimited hay of course) with some pellets at night. I think I’ll have a feel of them and see if I can feel their back spines.
 
On a related note, Matt was concerned Lopsy felt too bony: his hips are much prouder than Aboleth's. I felt Lopsy's ribs and spine and they were just right, I thought, so Aboleth's a shade overweight I would say, maybe because she doesn't run around as much, or maybe she just eats more :lol:
 
Back
Top