• 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.

Tips on helping an underweight bun gain weight

Orenoko

Mama Doe
So as some of you may know one of my bunnies, Teddy, is living with head tilt, which caused him to lose weight. He is stable and doing well at the moment, but I can't get the weight back on him. His appetite is great, he eats a little slower than your average bun because half his face is paralysed, but he's always snuffling around munching.

He weighs 1.8kg at the moment. For comparison Lilac weighs 2.1kg and is slightly smaller in size. I think he weighed about 2.2 or 2.3kg when I got him, so it's quite a drastic loss. He was never round like Lilac is but the difference is quite noticeable to me. Some of it is muscle wastage, but he's having physio and is pretty mobile, so hopefully that will continue to improve. He'll never be able to binky or climb things or jump up, but he can certainly run pretty fast when he wants to!

I've tried feeding a little alfalfa, and also I regularly give him porridge oats. I don't want to overfeed him and also have to bear Lilac in mind as I don't want her getting fat! Does anyone have any tips for helping to put weight back on in a healthy way? They are due at the vet next week for their jabs so I will mention it there as well, but just wanted to ask as everyone here seems so knowledgeable!
 
porridge oats I have heard are good...but you have those already :lol:
more pellet would be good, not free fed or anything but because a few spoons extra.
redigrass maybe? no idea how helpful that is.
hopefully your vet can offer some advise too
I hope he continues to improve and make a full recovery, he sounds a very lucky bun to have somebody has caring as you!
 
porridge oats I have heard are good...but you have those already :lol:
more pellet would be good, not free fed or anything but because a few spoons extra.
redigrass maybe? no idea how helpful that is.
hopefully your vet can offer some advise too
I hope he continues to improve and make a full recovery, he sounds a very lucky bun to have somebody has caring as you!

Thanks, I'll keep trying. I don't want him to get fat but I'd like him to have a little more weight on him than he currently has. Not that he cares one bit! ��
 
Will Teddy eat FibaFirst or the Supreme Vetcare Plus Digestive food (which is almost identical to FibaFirst)? As you've mentioned the problem with trying to put weight on one rabbit out of a pair has its problems. When I had this issue with an elderly doe, who was finding it difficult to maintain weight, I used to give her either a half or a whole one of these when she was out of sight of the other rabbits. They are quite high in fibre, so are quite nutritious as well.
 
Will Teddy eat FibaFirst or the Supreme Vetcare Plus Digestive food (which is almost identical to FibaFirst)? As you've mentioned the problem with trying to put weight on one rabbit out of a pair has its problems. When I had this issue with an elderly doe, who was finding it difficult to maintain weight, I used to give her either a half or a whole one of these when she was out of sight of the other rabbits. They are quite high in fibre, so are quite nutritious as well.

I can certainly try! I'll have a look online and order one of them. I can try to separate them at feeding times so that he can have this without interruption. He gets really stressed when I take him out of his room so I'll have to take Lilac out instead and try to feed her elsewhere, but she'll know some thing's up :roll:
 
Also would you recommend these instead of or in addition to his normal pellets? He has Burgess Excel.
 
Also would you recommend these instead of or in addition to his normal pellets? He has Burgess Excel.

I wouldn't change the normal amount and type of pellets that they have together. I used to give my doe a stick as an extra. You might find, like I did, that there will be an occasion when Lilac is asleep or busy doing something else and you can do it then. I agree it's not easy though, as when they're together they are able to smell if the other one has food :lol: Alternatively, you could use the same method to give him an extra couple of Excel pellets.

How do you manage to give him the oats without Lilac realising?
 
So as some of you may know one of my bunnies, Teddy, is living with head tilt, which caused him to lose weight. He is stable and doing well at the moment, but I can't get the weight back on him. His appetite is great, he eats a little slower than your average bun because half his face is paralysed, but he's always snuffling around munching.

He weighs 1.8kg at the moment. For comparison Lilac weighs 2.1kg and is slightly smaller in size. I think he weighed about 2.2 or 2.3kg when I got him, so it's quite a drastic loss. He was never round like Lilac is but the difference is quite noticeable to me. Some of it is muscle wastage, but he's having physio and is pretty mobile, so hopefully that will continue to improve. He'll never be able to binky or climb things or jump up, but he can certainly run pretty fast when he wants to!

I've tried feeding a little alfalfa, and also I regularly give him porridge oats. I don't want to overfeed him and also have to bear Lilac in mind as I don't want her getting fat! Does anyone have any tips for helping to put weight back on in a healthy way? They are due at the vet next week for their jabs so I will mention it there as well, but just wanted to ask as everyone here seems so knowledgeable!


I find the easiest (and quickest) way to put weight on a rabbit is to mix a little porridge oats and some junior pellets. The junior pellets are going to be high in calories than the normal ones. You need something that he's going to be able to eat fairly quickly so that Lilac won't notice, and also his eating is slower anyway as you say.

Alfalfa hay is fine so long as he doesn't have any problem with sludgey wee, as it's fairly high in calcium.

He sounds like a real character and very endearing x
 
I wouldn't change the normal amount and type of pellets that they have together. I used to give my doe a stick as an extra. You might find, like I did, that there will be an occasion when Lilac is asleep or busy doing something else and you can do it then. I agree it's not easy though, as when they're together they are able to smell if the other one has food :lol: Alternatively, you could use the same method to give him an extra couple of Excel pellets.

How do you manage to give him the oats without Lilac realising?

She'll generally notice unless she's busying herself with something else!
 
I find the easiest (and quickest) way to put weight on a rabbit is to mix a little porridge oats and some junior pellets. The junior pellets are going to be high in calories than the normal ones. You need something that he's going to be able to eat fairly quickly so that Lilac won't notice, and also his eating is slower anyway as you say.

Alfalfa hay is fine so long as he doesn't have any problem with sludgey wee, as it's fairly high in calcium.

He sounds like a real character and very endearing x

I've ordered some fibafirst, I'll see if that helps, if not I'll try some junior pellets. I was a bit wary about the alfalfa because of the sludge so I've only fed it sparingly.

He is endearing apart from when he gives me the runaround when it's time for his neck massage!
 
So just to update quickly, Teddy had his vaccinations today and he's dropped a bit of weight and is down to 1.75kg (he was 1.8 ). I don't know if this is normal fluctuation or perhaps a sign of something else going on. The vet was happy with his teeth and everything else. Weirdly, in recent days I'd become convinced he'd put weight on but it must've been wishful thinking!

I've been feeding Fibafirst when I can (he's not a huge fan so nibbles at it throughout the day). He LOVES the readigrass I bought so am giving them both a bit of that every day. I haven't bought any junior pellets yet as I also bought him some joint support tablets (oxbow), so all of that coupled with the vaccinations has made for an expensive month so far!

I did get a pouch of banana flavoured baby food, I'm away this weekend but plan to give him some when I get back and see what he thinks.

I don't know how much a rabbit's weight fluctuates (if at all) or if I'm panicking. I know we have only been using Fibafirst and readigrass for a week at most so I wasn't expecting miracles, I was just surprised he'd lost a bit. If the baby food doesn't work, then we'll try junior nuggets but then I'm all out of ideas! I imagine that if none of that works then there must be an underlying issue so of course I'll take him to the vet, but I'm hoping something will help.
 
I wouldn't get despondent about the difference between 1.8kg and 1.75kg. It's really so minimal and could have been due to causes other than an actual weight loss. Was the weight recorded at the same time of day each time? Was it recorded on the same scales? It really could have been the fact that Teddy had a big wee just before being weighed!

It's interesting that he's not keen on Fibafirst, as I find that one of my rabbits has times when he'll just sniff it and then completely ignore it and then a month or so later will positively beg for it :) It's great that he's a fan of the Readigrass though.

As you say, it's only been a week and my experience is that changing weight in a rabbit, either up or down, takes time and to be honest this is also the best way for the rabbit.

It's wonderful that the vet was pleased with him and I would really be happy with the situation if I were you :)
 
Thanks, I wasn't sure if I was panicking over nothing, I definitely worry about him more than your average bun! I'm hoping he likes the baby food, I got banana flavour as he loves a bit of banana lol

Sent from my G3121 using Tapatalk
 
Aw, he sounds like a little darling :love:

Blossom lost lots of weight a few months back (with no obvious cause) so we started topping her up with a few junior pellets (Science Selective, as she has the adult version) and she's a perfect weight now and doing really well.

Oh that and moving her inside to our bedroom, where she's made herself right at home (a whole other thread) :lol: x
 
Interesting. I need to try and not focus on the figures so much I think, he's happy, he's eating, he's mobile, and his body condition is better than it's been since he got ill. Need to look at the positives. Obviously weight loss isn't ideal, but hopefully it was just a case of doing a big wee or the fact he hadn't had his veg yet when he was weighed!
 
Back
Top