Is my bunny fat?!

She's going to be 10 weeks old on Monday, and was hand raised from 2 days as an orphan. She eats oxbow alfalfa hay, oxbow orchard grass hay and oxbow Timothy. I also give her a little handful (approximately 1/8th of a cup) of oxbow young rabbit pellets twice a day. She has free range of a big bedroom all day and all night as her cage door is kept open all the time. She looks fat compared to my new mini Rex. I understand they are different breeds and sizes (but the same age) but she looks so fat compared to the Rex.....

She looks healthy; however, a qualified vet who knows rabbits could tell you definitively. She looks like a cutie pie.

She was at the vet a couple days ago and she didn't tell me she was fat, but it's possible she assumed I knew she was fat and didn't say anything. I will ask her tomorrow. she was used in a 4H rabbit club lecture

Ps, thanks for the quick reply

She just looks fluffier than the rex. Can you feel her spine when you pet her?

I don't think it's possible for a rabbit that young to be overweight, they've got lots of growing to do and are supposed to be given unlimited food. Her diet looks fine too, I would even say you should be giving her more pellets.

If you can't feel her spine and it feels like her body has an actual layer of fat around it, it could be a thyroid issue that you may want to take her to the vet for.

She looks fine to me. Could be slightly chunky or may just be the fluffiness, but nothing to be concerned about. She'll still be growing so it won't hurt for her to have a little extra weight there for a growth spurt.

Feeling along the back can give you an idea of her condition. You don't want the spine, ribs,or hip bones to feel sharp, which would indicate being underweight. Overweight buns will tend to have fat and skin puddle around the rump, legs, and chin(not a normal females dewlap).
http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-weight.asp

Vets would tell you if they are too fat or skinny. For example, I was told that my Trix is too skinny right now, but she's 11.5 years old, so I am taking appropriate actions.

:yeahthat:

hand raised kits often have a bigger belly than kits not orphaned or hand-raised. it usually sorts itself out by the time they are 12-14 weeks old. She looks like every hand-raised kit I've ever seen. A slightly poofy belly. She should sleek down in the next couple of weeks. Even with out knowing she was hand-raised, she looked hand-raised to me. I'd be giving her more pellets... she would be eating a good minimum 1/4-1/2 cup daily to help balance out all those trace nutrients that bunnies need to remain healthy.

10 weeks is pretty young to have gotten overweight. Your rabbit looks pretty fluffy and with rabbits it can be hard to tell by just looking at them. The link JBun posted is a good one for determining your rabbit's body condition score. An analogy I like to use for the ribs is to look at your own hand. Rub your hand over your rabbit's ribs, then over your hand. If your rabbit's ribs feel like your knuckles (where your fingers meet your hand), they're too thin. If they feel like the bones in the palm of your hand, they're too fat. If they feel like the bones in the back of your hand, they're just right.

She looks pretty good to me. She is still little and growing so it would be very hard for her to become overweight. Also maybe feed her a little more pellets while she is growing up.

Thanks so much everyone. I will look at the links too. I'm gradually feeding her more and more pellets every day, she's the one who had troubles with soft poops so I had to cut back and then up them gradually. My family keeps saying she's fat and I got paranoid Lol. I work at the vets and she probably feels like I know if my pet is fat but I don't. Dogs/cats/horses yes! But rabbits no. I knew 0 about rabbits until 10 weeks 😄 I thank you all, I'm learning so much from you. I can feel her spine it's not covered in fat but her stomach is big and smushy feeling. It feels much different than other rabbits. It makes sense if hand fed rabbits get this, and someone recognized her as one 😉 that made me feel better.