Mischief and Lillabelle's new diet plan

[twistedtiggerz69]

So weights today are...

Mischief is 5.325 kg so has lost 220 g since 29th June! So that is 50 g a week so on target!

Lillabelle is 4730 so has only lost 30 g.

I am so happy with that! Mischief is continuing to lose weight. I still feel he has tummy to lose so we will carry on with this diet for a while longer.

Lillabelle is maintaining her weight after reducing her pellets slowly. She did lose some earlier this month and looked thin and had nothing on her so we had to up her pellets to 20. She is now maintaining her weight and pellets have now been reduced really slowly to 15 now and I believe she is also eating much more hay. And this weight seems about right for her.

She is a right trouble maker now and apparently makes too much noise in the mornings so my OH never gets a lie in

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

I notice there are lots of treat bars and cookies on Bunny Bistro. They look like they are very healthy for bunnies as ingredients used for foraging. They also look like very tasty treats for them.

I realise Mischief is still on a diet to lose little weight and Lillabelle is on a good sustainable weight now. Does that mean treats are banned now? Can we give them treats like this albeit small helpings at all? Or should we keep away from these 'commercial' treats altogether now please?

I do have some fibafirst sticks and a pack of 3 Science Selective loops and garden sticks. They have sat here for months now! Can we feed them a treat once a week or something? I thought we could reward them for being good at their weekly weigh ins. However I don't want to ruin their diet. How many calories are in one of these treats compared to say hay or pellets? I don't expect you to know this exactly. But how bad for bunnies are these treats?

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Also as Natures Grub has changed to Bunny Bistro now the delivery price is £3.95 but is free to orders over to £19.99 compared to £50 before. So now I don't have to buy it all in one go. I'm very happy about that

 

[Omi]

Are you saying that wherever there is hay, of any type, they will wee and poop on it? In the trays where they have meadow hay at one end and wood chips the other, where do they wee and poop?

My bunnies have three litter trays, two large and one medium sized, all with timothy hay in them. They have decided, for no apparent reason, to wee and poop in only two of the trays (always in one discrete area). The other tray they keep completely clean. If Tui decides to remove some of the hay from one of the outside trays, so that it is loose on the concrete, both bunnies will wee on that too. So I think it is certainly the case that mostly where there is hay, they like to wee and poop.

If you find that there is one place in each area where they tend to wee and poop, then you could experiment by putting only meadow hay or the wood chips in that area. If it's all over, then I would try to encourage having just one area by moving it.

My bunnies also won't eat hay from a hayrack either.

 

[Omi]

So weights today are...

Mischief is 5.325 kg so has lost 220 g since 29th June! So that is 50 g a week so on target!

Lillabelle is 4730 so has only lost 30 g.

I am so happy with that! Mischief is continuing to lose weight. I still feel he has tummy to lose so we will carry on with this diet for a while longer.

Lillabelle is maintaining her weight after reducing her pellets slowly. She did lose some earlier this month and looked thin and had nothing on her so we had to up her pellets to 20. She is now maintaining her weight and pellets have now been reduced really slowly to 15 now and I believe she is also eating much more hay. And this weight seems about right for her.

She is a right trouble maker now and apparently makes too much noise in the mornings so my OH never gets a lie in

Well done to you and to the bunnies Great that Lillabelle is maintaining her weight and also that she is eating a lot more hay. I'm pleased that you were able to adjust her weight by changing the quantity of pellets. Mischief is also doing very well and his weight loss each week seems about the right amount. Do you have a target weight for him?

 

[Omi]

I notice there are lots of treat bars and cookies on Bunny Bistro. They look like they are very healthy for bunnies as ingredients used for foraging. They also look like very tasty treats for them.

I realise Mischief is still on a diet to lose little weight and Lillabelle is on a good sustainable weight now. Does that mean treats are banned now? Can we give them treats like this albeit small helpings at all? Or should we keep away from these 'commercial' treats altogether now please?

I do have some fibafirst sticks and a pack of 3 Science Selective loops and garden sticks. They have sat here for months now! Can we feed them a treat once a week or something? I thought we could reward them for being good at their weekly weigh ins. However I don't want to ruin their diet. How many calories are in one of these treats compared to say hay or pellets? I don't expect you to know this exactly. But how bad for bunnies are these treats?

I think that Fibafirst sticks are very healthy and they contain more fibre than normal pellets, so good for teeth and digestion. However, they do contain many more calories than pellets. Several years ago, when I was trying to work out the calorie intake of my bunnies, I found out the number of calories in one stick. I don't remember what it was and can't find it now, but I do know that I was shocked to find that it was many times more than the calorie amount in an equivalent weight of pellets. So, I would say that if you want to feed Fibafirst, then cut down on something else that day. But you can always experiment and change according to their weight. Personally, with Mischief, if you still want him to lose weight, then I would hold off giving him any, until he has got to his target weight. Hay or grass is a very small amount of calories.

Also not all commercial treats are equal. Some will be high in sugar and fat. I would never feed those. But if you look carefully at the ingredients, you will be able to judge for yourself how high in calories they are. I looked at the treat bars and cookies on Bunny Bistro. They give the ingredients for them. The treat bars have a binder included in them. Not sure what that would be. The tunnels have cellolose and starch. But the cookies are 100% forage, so they could have them occasionally instead of their usual forage I would think. This one https://www.bunnybistro.co.uk/collections/treats/products/botanical-cookies

 

[bunny momma]

Well done. It is good to hear they are doing well eating hay and sticking to the diet. Mischief still needs to lose weight, so I suggest you do not add any treats which they may then prefer to the healthier hay they are now eating until both are at their goal weight.
I know the loop treats have more calories than pellets, yet I do not know the conversion.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Are you saying that wherever there is hay, of any type, they will wee and poop on it? In the trays where they have meadow hay at one end and wood chips the other, where do they wee and poop?

My bunnies have three litter trays, two large and one medium sized, all with timothy hay in them. They have decided, for no apparent reason, to wee and poop in only two of the trays (always in one discrete area). The other tray they keep completely clean. If Tui decides to remove some of the hay from one of the outside trays, so that it is loose on the concrete, both bunnies will wee on that too. So I think it is certainly the case that mostly where there is hay, they like to wee and poop.

If you find that there is one place in each area where they tend to wee and poop, then you could experiment by putting only meadow hay or the wood chips in that area. If it's all over, then I would try to encourage having just one area by moving it.

My bunnies also won't eat hay from a hayrack either.

This is their set up. They have 2 large litter trays with meadow hay in. They always wee in the end of the litter trays that are by the back wall. They sit with their back ends to the wall and face outwards to the bedroom.

Then the large tray that the litter trays sit on is for their water bottle and also a small-ish pile of timothy hay on the left front corner of the giant tray at all times. They have their veggies and dry herbs scattered over their timothy hay now at meal times and they always eat together. They now eat off the floor (the giant tray) which is a more natural way for them and they also forage together in the hay for their meals. It is so frustrating that Lillabelle is weeing there as otherwise this is a set up that does really work. They eat much more hay on the tray compared to a hay rack aswell.

So Lillabelle is weeing on the giant tray that holds the 2 litter trays. We keep the pile of timothy hay small now so we have less wastage. We have had to throw out lots of timothy hay as she wees on it. She tends to wee on the middle to back right hand side of the giant tray near their water bottle. We now have the Timothy hay just in the front left corner of the giant tray and obviously throw out any hay that gets urine on it.

Lillabelle is also still chucking the hay out of the two litter trays a few times a day. Jane explained that she should stop doing this a few weeks after her spay but she is still doing this a lot. My OH has put the meadow hay spread out in the litter trays because when we put a pile down the end of the litter trays she just chucks it out on to the giant tray over their timothy hay. If she throws litter out on to the giant tray as well then we have to bin all the timothy hay she throws it over as well.

I honestly don't know if anything can be done to stop the weeing as I believe she is doing what she has been taught which is to wee on their hay. Putting a smaller pile of Timothy hay down has helped as she tends to wee on the right hand side.

I did wonder about using a vinegar spray as I have read it can help when rabbits (and other pets) spray urine to leave their scent around? Has anybody used vinegar to successfully eradicate urine smells on here please? I don't know how to make my own vinegar spray but I can google it.

Currently we are using Clean 'n' dry cleaner and kitchen roll to clear up urine followed by a steam clean.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

The stains on the tray are still there after we have steam cleaned and cleaned it with a few different cleaners just to explain. They are not wet patches although it does look like that in the photo. Thanks

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Well done to you and to the bunnies Great that Lillabelle is maintaining her weight and also that she is eating a lot more hay. I'm pleased that you were able to adjust her weight by changing the quantity of pellets. Mischief is also doing very well and his weight loss each week seems about the right amount. Do you have a target weight for him?

Thank you. Yes I said last night to my OH how I feel really happy as our bunnies are doing really well now after their diets. I said though that I feel Lillabelle is a bit skinny as I can feel the bumps in her spine. My OH however thinks she is just right. We have agreed we maintain her current weight now and continue to gradually reduce her pellets to switch her over to timothy hay instead.

We only reduce her pellets by 2 every week. We do it so slowly as we want her to gradually start eating more hay without feeling hungry. There is no rush to get her eating more hay as she eats a lot already. We are really fine tuning her weight now.

As far as Mischief's weight is concerned, the vet nurse at our old vets suggested he needs to get to around 5 kg. She also said Lillabelle needs to get to 4kg. Our new vet said they are both a healthy weight now. He said Lillabelle is her perfect weight now and Mischief is a good weight. I asked about his big belly and he said Mischief is a bigger older rabbit so he will have this big belly.

I still feel Mischief has fat to lose so I agree with the vet nurse at our old vets that 5 kg could be an ideal weight for Mischief give or take a few grams. However I do think that 4 kgs is much too low for Lillabelle as she has no fat on her already.

We also agreed last night that we will keep going on the diet for Mischief to around 5 kg until we feel his tummy has gone down some more. However he is a bigger, chunkier rabbit so we are mindful that he shouldn't lose too much more.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

I think that Fibafirst sticks are very healthy and they contain more fibre than normal pellets, so good for teeth and digestion. However, they do contain many more calories than pellets. Several years ago, when I was trying to work out the calorie intake of my bunnies, I found out the number of calories in one stick. I don't remember what it was and can't find it now, but I do know that I was shocked to find that it was many times more than the calorie amount in an equivalent weight of pellets. So, I would say that if you want to feed Fibafirst, then cut down on something else that day. But you can always experiment and change according to their weight. Personally, with Mischief, if you still want him to lose weight, then I would hold off giving him any, until he has got to his target weight. Hay or grass is a very small amount of calories.

Also not all commercial treats are equal. Some will be high in sugar and fat. I would never feed those. But if you look carefully at the ingredients, you will be able to judge for yourself how high in calories they are. I looked at the treat bars and cookies on Bunny Bistro. They give the ingredients for them. The treat bars have a binder included in them. Not sure what that would be. The tunnels have cellolose and starch. But the cookies are 100% forage, so they could have them occasionally instead of their usual forage I would think. This one https://www.bunnybistro.co.uk/collections/treats/products/botanical-cookies

Yes I looked at the cookies last night. They do a kg bag as well don't they? I was put tempted to buy a bag and give them one each at their weekly weigh ins. It is especially stressful for Lils as my OH has to pick her up and put her on the scales. She hates being picked up and does sometimes nip you when we pick her up although she is gradually getting used to it. We have slowed everything down and been very patient, giving her strokes for a while before picking her up. This has all helped her through each weigh in and she is much less stressed now.

We have decided to not buy any more treats. As I said, we have 3 Science Selective boxes of loops and sticks left plus a whole half of a box of Fibrefirst sticks! We only give them a treat at weigh ins sometimes but mostly they don't have any commercial treats now. We give them a couple of pellets as a reward usually or maybe something out of their daily rations. We just feel they are better off without these treats and a kilo each lighter as well

 

[Omi]

This is their set up. They have 2 large litter trays with meadow hay in. They always wee in the end of the litter trays that are by the back wall. They sit with their back ends to the wall and face outwards to the bedroom.

Then the large tray that the litter trays sit on is for their water bottle and also a small-ish pile of timothy hay on the left front corner of the giant tray at all times. They have their veggies and dry herbs scattered over their timothy hay now at meal times and they always eat together. They now eat off the floor (the giant tray) which is a more natural way for them and they also forage together in the hay for their meals. It is so frustrating that Lillabelle is weeing there as otherwise this is a set up that does really work. They eat much more hay on the tray compared to a hay rack aswell.

So Lillabelle is weeing on the giant tray that holds the 2 litter trays. We keep the pile of timothy hay small now so we have less wastage. We have had to throw out lots of timothy hay as she wees on it. She tends to wee on the middle to back right hand side of the giant tray near their water bottle. We now have the Timothy hay just in the front left corner of the giant tray and obviously throw out any hay that gets urine on it.

Lillabelle is also still chucking the hay out of the two litter trays a few times a day. Jane explained that she should stop doing this a few weeks after her spay but she is still doing this a lot. My OH has put the meadow hay spread out in the litter trays because when we put a pile down the end of the litter trays she just chucks it out on to the giant tray over their timothy hay. If she throws litter out on to the giant tray as well then we have to bin all the timothy hay she throws it over as well.

I honestly don't know if anything can be done to stop the weeing as I believe she is doing what she has been taught which is to wee on their hay. Putting a smaller pile of Timothy hay down has helped as she tends to wee on the right hand side.

I did wonder about using a vinegar spray as I have read it can help when rabbits (and other pets) spray urine to leave their scent around? Has anybody used vinegar to successfully eradicate urine smells on here please? I don't know how to make my own vinegar spray but I can google it.

Currently we are using Clean 'n' dry cleaner and kitchen roll to clear up urine followed by a steam clean.

I'm not sure that you will be able to change this behaviour, but if it were me, I would certainly try. I think it's going to be a case of experimenting.

Lillabelle's hormones are responsible for her chucking the hay out of the litter tray. There are two reasons for this I think. Firstly there are still some hormones remaining after her spay, but they should soon go away completely. A reason why they may not have done so far, is that at this time of the year lots of females will be thinking about nest-building. There was a recent thread on the forum about this, as someone else's female was doing exactly the same. I do think this will improve to a stage where she will still do it, but only very occasionally.

I think the greater issue is to find a way of giving them timothy hay, which doesn't get soiled. I think you will need to stop leaving timothy hay on the giant tray for any length of time. It may be that after some time you could start doing this again, but at the moment Lillabelle will continue to wee on it I think. One suggestion may be to put some timothy hay down just when they have their veg and herbs and to remove all trace once they have finished eating. Faced with having just a clean giant hay, Lillabelle might wee only in one of the two large trays. I was also going to suggest that you put some timothy in each of the two large trays up at the end where they don't wee, but that wouldn't work until she stops chucking it out.

It is I'm afraid going to be a case of trying things to see if they will work.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

Well done. It is good to hear they are doing well eating hay and sticking to the diet. Mischief still needs to lose weight, so I suggest you do not add any treats which they may then prefer to the healthier hay they are now eating until both are at their goal weight.
I know the loop treats have more calories than pellets, yet I do not know the conversion.

Well done. It is good to hear they are doing well eating hay and sticking to the diet. Mischief still needs to lose weight, so I suggest you do not add any treats which they may then prefer to the healthier hay they are now eating until both are at their goal weight.
I know the loop treats have more calories than pellets, yet I do not know the conversion.

Thank you BM. Yes we are really pleased how their diet has progressed. I agree with you that feeding Chief commercial treats may make him prefer them to hay plus we have finally got to a point where we can look back and know that they are healthier rabbits for losing all their extra weight. It seems a shame to spoil it all by feeding them these treats again when they are happy with their diet and doing so well.

We will probably feed them these treats very gradually as we have a few boxes left so they don't know when to expect them. I expect the binders can be fattening or not good for them. Also they are made by squashing these ingredients together so probably lots more food per gram is in one cookie or loop. However they do love them so it would not hurt to give them on their birthdays and at Xmas for example. We all love to treat our bunnies sometimes and makes us feel good as well as the bunnies

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

I'm not sure that you will be able to change this behaviour, but if it were me, I would certainly try. I think it's going to be a case of experimenting.

Lillabelle's hormones are responsible for her chucking the hay out of the litter tray. There are two reasons for this I think. Firstly there are still some hormones remaining after her spay, but they should soon go away completely. A reason why they may not have done so far, is that at this time of the year lots of females will be thinking about nest-building. There was a recent thread on the forum about this, as someone else's female was doing exactly the same. I do think this will improve to a stage where she will still do it, but only very occasionally.

I think the greater issue is to find a way of giving them timothy hay, which doesn't get soiled. I think you will need to stop leaving timothy hay on the giant tray for any length of time. It may be that after some time you could start doing this again, but at the moment Lillabelle will continue to wee on it I think. One suggestion may be to put some timothy hay down just when they have their veg and herbs and to remove all trace once they have finished eating. Faced with having just a clean giant hay, Lillabelle might wee only in one of the two large trays. I was also going to suggest that you put some timothy in each of the two large trays up at the end where they don't wee, but that wouldn't work until she stops chucking it out.

It is I'm afraid going to be a case of trying things to see if they will work.

Yes I am sure you are right about this. It certainly seems to be a hormone thing. Lillabelle has been acting a bit ditsy throwing the hay everywhere as well as running around like a looney. She is also making a lot of noise in the mornings plus jumping on us in bed waking us up for her breakfast

I wonder if her weeing could be due to her hormones as well?

My OH has suggested he could make a low table for their Timothy hay as well so they can have lovely clean hay all day as Lil's can't wee on it so easily. Would that still be classed as ground level though? I can see my OH making a low table only for her to wee on that as well though.

Since we have been leaving their timothy hay on the left and keeping their hay piles small Lillabelle has not weed on the giant tray at all. We will have to see how it goes at night now. Fingers crossed.

Yes we were leaving a pile of meadow hay on the ends of their litter trays and mixed Timothy hay in it to encourage them to eat the meadow hay but not much success. Since we bought the timothy hay they have hardly touched the meadow hay. We will be looking out for a new meadow hay to try once their current one nearly runs out. Also Lillabelle is chucking hay everywhere so we limit the amount of hay we leave in the litter trays now.

Hopefully Lils will calm down once her hormone levels drop. As you said, trial and error is the only way really. So far no wee on their timothy hay today and also no chucking of hay out so a good day

 

[Omi]

Yes I am sure you are right about this. It certainly seems to be a hormone thing. Lillabelle has been acting a bit ditsy throwing the hay everywhere as well as running around like a looney. She is also making a lot of noise in the mornings plus jumping on us in bed waking us up for her breakfast

I wonder if her weeing could be due to her hormones as well?

My OH has suggested he could make a low table for their Timothy hay as well so they can have lovely clean hay all day as Lil's can't wee on it so easily. Would that still be classed as ground level though? I can see my OH making a low table only for her to wee on that as well though.

Since we have been leaving their timothy hay on the left and keeping their hay piles small Lillabelle has not weed on the giant tray at all. We will have to see how it goes at night now. Fingers crossed.

Yes we were leaving a pile of meadow hay on the ends of their litter trays and mixed Timothy hay in it to encourage them to eat the meadow hay but not much success. Since we bought the timothy hay they have hardly touched the meadow hay. We will be looking out for a new meadow hay to try once their current one nearly runs out. Also Lillabelle is chucking hay everywhere so we limit the amount of hay we leave in the litter trays now.

Hopefully Lils will calm down once her hormone levels drop. As you said, trial and error is the only way really. So far no wee on their timothy hay today and also no chucking of hay out so a good day

I reckon that a low table with timothy hay could work, especially if it was small enough in area so that she couldn't feel comfortable sitting on it I would try not mixing the timothy hay with the meadow hay at the end of the large trays, but just put some on the top. That way they'll be able to eat just the timothy. I doubt that you'll have much success with encouraging them to eat the meadow hay, but they would eat some timothy. It might just be that they don't like the meadow hay. Mine don't and won't eat it.

 

[Omi]

Thank you. Yes I said last night to my OH how I feel really happy as our bunnies are doing really well now after their diets. I said though that I feel Lillabelle is a bit skinny as I can feel the bumps in her spine. My OH however thinks she is just right. We have agreed we maintain her current weight now and continue to gradually reduce her pellets to switch her over to timothy hay instead.

We only reduce her pellets by 2 every week. We do it so slowly as we want her to gradually start eating more hay without feeling hungry. There is no rush to get her eating more hay as she eats a lot already. We are really fine tuning her weight now.

As far as Mischief's weight is concerned, the vet nurse at our old vets suggested he needs to get to around 5 kg. She also said Lillabelle needs to get to 4kg. Our new vet said they are both a healthy weight now. He said Lillabelle is her perfect weight now and Mischief is a good weight. I asked about his big belly and he said Mischief is a bigger older rabbit so he will have this big belly.

I still feel Mischief has fat to lose so I agree with the vet nurse at our old vets that 5 kg could be an ideal weight for Mischief give or take a few grams. However I do think that 4 kgs is much too low for Lillabelle as she has no fat on her already.

We also agreed last night that we will keep going on the diet for Mischief to around 5 kg until we feel his tummy has gone down some more. However he is a bigger, chunkier rabbit so we are mindful that he shouldn't lose too much more.

As you have experienced, different vets will have different opinions about what weight a rabbit should be. I think with Lillabelle she seems to be doing very well and I agree there is no need to rush. I wouldn't be concerned about being able to feel her spine. Better to go by the actual weight that she is. Mischief seems to be doing very well also and I agree that trying to get rid of his tummy would help him. It's really great that you're weighing them both regularly and managing their weight accordingly.

My bunnies don't have any commercial treats, although I replace their first 'pellet' portion of the day with a Fibrefirst.

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

I reckon that a low table with timothy hay could work, especially if it was small enough in area so that she couldn't feel comfortable sitting on it I would try not mixing the timothy hay with the meadow hay at the end of the large trays, but just put some on the top. That way they'll be able to eat just the timothy. I doubt that you'll have much success with encouraging them to eat the meadow hay, but they would eat some timothy. It might just be that they don't like the meadow hay. Mine don't and won't eat it.

Ok well my OH has produced a little table made of plywood. It is very low and big enough that Lillabelle could sit on but hopefully she won't. We are going to trial it when they get there next fresh lot of timothy hay with their dried 'herbs' time. It is the end of the box of timothy so not many long strands but new box is on it's way hopefully.

The hay we get is pretty cheap meadow hay but we are thinking we could trial a few boxes one at a time until they like it? It can't be worse than their current meadow hay. They hardly touch it. It seems a waste to throw away good hay. We will keep the timothy hay going as they love it so it's a no brainer really.

I will let you know how the table trial goes. I'm actually excited!

 

[twistedtiggerz69]

The table was ok for 5 minutes until the herbs fell underneath and Chief stuck his head in a panic under the table to get it. The table started sliding about and created a mess then Lils jumped up on the table and we gave up

We have been keeping the hay pile small and in the left corner away from where Lillabelle wees and she has stopped weeing on the hay now which is fantastic.

When I ordered their forage last time from Bunny Bistro the box didn't turn up on the Friday it was due. When it still didn't turn up on the Monday I emailed Bunny Bistro and they said they would look into it.

By Wednesday we ran out of forage so my OH went to the horse feed shop near us that has some bunny food. There seemed no point ordering more forage online as we had some being delivered soon. The only thing he could find was Readigrass timothy hay or the usual Readigrass. As we already had timothy Hay we got Readigrass.

I gave them just 3 handfuls of Readigrass scattered over their timothy hay at their herb (forage) time instead of forage. They absolutely loved it. I was mindful not to give them too much as I read up that it had around 2% more protein than timothy hay so would probably be fattening in large amounts. I also sprinkled a few dandelion root nibbles we had left from Bunny Bistro to make it more interesting. We ended up giving them Readigrass for around 5 days. The other forage got lost in transit so I had a refund and ordered the same as before from Bunny Bistro.

We weighed them again after the week on Readigrass. Chief was only 20g heavier but Lillabelle had put on 200g!! I think she loved the Readigrass so much that her poops had doubled in size and were really fluffy and full of fibre when I broke the poops up. I wonder if a small amount of Readigrass a day (a handful or less) would be beneficial for her as she eats it readily so I thought I would ask RU if anyone could answer this please? I am only wondering if the extra fibre would help her as her poops grew nice and big like Chief's?

She obviously doesn't eat as much timothy hay as Chief still. She has no tummy now when she is standing up. Just a firm tummy that feels like she is eating well. They both feel a lot slimmer. Chief's tummy is a little bit wobbly but is a again a lot smaller!

Lillabelle has since lost the weight again from eating the Readigrass as we reduced her pellets by 10 for a while.This seems to have worked as she is now back to her ultra slim self So we have gone back up by 10 pellets so she doesn't lose weight too quickly. We will reduce them ever so slowly now to try and hopefully move her on to eating more. She is very slight now so we don't want her losing weight now just eating more hay instead of pellets.

Chief is still the same weight. I think he eats the same amount of forage as he did the Readigrass as he eats until he is full anyway. He lies by his forage guarding it and eating at the same time. He has not lost his appetite at all

They do the kitchen run every night. They run down our long hall and sit by the door waiting for me to come to the kitchen and give them their treat. I sometimes give them a grape if they run down to the kitchen more than once and are lively and running about and binkying. I realise grapes are high in sugar but it is only once a week that I 'give in' as mostly they have a sprig of herbs or a slice of brocolli stalk as their treat from their daily rations. And they are both a healthier weight now so I reward them only if they are active and a grape only once a week due to the high sugar content.

I want to say thank you to everybun on RU but especially Inspector Morse, Omi and Bunny Momma for your guidance and fantastic tips to help us learn about their diet and how to reduce their daily calories down slowly and safely. You give us praise for them losing weight but really we just did what you suggested and they have lost so much weight! Chief has lost 900g and Lillabelle has lost a whopping 1.1 kg! I didn't realise she was carrying so much extra weight and it makes me feel very guilty when I think about it.

However I also feel very chuffed that we got their weights down. They have not always liked us for reducing their food and they did pester us for commercial treats at first. However after a couple of weeks they forgot about commercial treats and accepted what we gave them instead. Healthy treats from their daily rations.

I have had to stay resolute in their diet and re-train myself that giving them too many treats could shorten their lives. I decided I wanted them to have the best lives possible which meant they needed to lose weight to be healthy. I just reminded myself that I needed to choose healthy treats instead. And now they are a healthy weight and more active. And I feel so happy when I watch them knowing we are doing the best we can for them

 

[bunny momma]

We do not have Readigrass here, so I have no experience with it. However, since Lilabelle liked it and it had a positive impact on her poo size and texture though it increased her weight, you may want to give her some readigrass in place of some of her pellets.

Their antics with the table made me laugh!
I am pleased you had success with keeping their hay pee free, and they both are at a healthier weight. I am impressed by your ability to stand firm and not give them unhealthy treats. This thread convinced my spouse and I to not give the treats that we had left from my bridge bunnies to my lionheads who are experts at melting our hearts. I doubt they will thank you.
I feel so guilty eating a treat (human type) in front of them. They are probably thinking they are not the only ones inthis house who need to eat healthier!