Fat Bunny Anonymous

gmas rabbit wrote:

Poor little Fraggles, mom saying you'll need a hand truck to move you.First of all Benjamin is told it would take 4 hawks and a come a long to lift him out of yard...

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:laugh:

Sorry for the multiple quoted replies but there's so much fabness in this thread!

Jo xx

Photo is of Ben when he was only 4 month old. He is a great deal bigger now. Will have to take some photos this weekend and download them, especially if he is going to marry Fraggles ( by proxy??). Fiqure him in a "Bert Reynolds"pose in dandelion and clover flowers. He is a real snuggler. Climbs into bed with us and spoons. When it is really cold, he likes to sleep in the middle, guess Len and I are part of his herd.Benjamin seems to carry his extra weight around his middle, not that noticable unless he is stretched out on the rug, then you get these big round sides. Spends most of his day outside in his rather spacious yard so does appear to be losing a little of his winter fat.

That is so cute that he cuddles in bed with you. Fraggles likes to lay around too. They have so much in common

My name is Julie and I have a fat rabbit.. saw this title to a thread and thought "just respond" before youread any response.. So here it is.

Baxter came to me half starved; the Vet said he was lucky to be alive. Got educated as to how to feed him (knew nothing about buns). About a year into "Getting to know bunsIfound he LOVES dried banana chips. He now looks like "Jabba the Hut".. has fat deposits underneath his armpits? This is not normal.. d

He eats a good diet of parsley, cilantro and lettue every morning and night, but those 2 banana chips are just making him fat. I feel horrible - truly. Its hard to say NO.

Its not funny, but glad you were honest enough to put out the thread...

Now I'll go read the responses; but please update this thread.

O.K. read throug the thread; saw the word "Moobs" which my bun has.... He has Man boobs that no bun should have.

So I have to take away the banana chips.. Sigh.Next thread is "How to deal with a grumpy Bun".. Help me!

Welcome Juliew. I have great success getting Fraggles to chase a cat wand but I can't seem to cut out her craisons which she loves

I think sugar is a buns choice.. how to deprogram this is my question?...

Fraggles also loves banana chips which I have cut out but she begs for craisons all the time and company comes over and they all know that she will get in there laps if they have craisons.

I give Benjamin tiny slices of fresh banana and apples as a treat as they do not have added sugar. We also started giving him tiny bits of dried "ancient grain" bread , or something like that with really low carbohydrate count and high fiber. I know what you mean about how hard it is to say no!!! They look so sweet sitting there begging for treats, and just so happy when they get them. Benjamin also likes peanuts, grapes, oranges, peaches, pears, any type of cracker, raisons and the list goes on. He has jumped into my lap when I am eating yogurt or ice cream and just helps himself. I should probably push him down, but there is just something too cute!!!!!!!!!!! about him helping himself out of the dish sharing. Some people at this point would be saying ugh, you just don't eat directly where he did. Seen the commercial on TV where the big dog starting eating the kids ice cream? ( I believe I said he most have been a St Bernard in a previous life time ) sure acts like it.

This is my thread on my fat rabbits from last Dec.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=62493&forum_id=48&highlight=overweight+fat+rabbits


Iactually did not increase pellets but did increase greens amd even lowered the pellets a little. My fattest boy, Rudy, is looking better.

One of the vetsI see think that the hayI feed (timothy from Oxbow)is such fine quality that it actually could put weight on a rabbit.
Rabbits are not bred to stuff themselves on high quality sorted out hay boxed especially for them; their outdoor cousins forage on branches, leaves and almost anything else; rabbits are built to be able to assimilate a lot from food that basically is not that full of nutrition.

Iwas happy to see another thread on fat as I felt like a "closet bad bunny parent" becauseI am knowledgeable re. rabbits and still haveoverweight ones.

I_heart_Fraggles wrote:

Fraggles also loves banana chips which I have cut out but she begs for craisons all the time and company comes over and they all know that she will get in there laps if they have craisons.

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Troublesome enablers eh .

Jo xx

Angieluv this is just my problem too: "I'm in the room and tell him to jump down he will do it, I think he's just cheeky and a bit too clever!"

Buns are minipulators to the "9th" degree and I apparently am an enabler.. We need a self helf group (Al-Anon for Bun Slaves)..

Benjamin will run around and flip his ears looking just so cute, if that doesn't work he will actually follow you into the kitchen. I agree we all could belong to Al-Anon for Bunny Slaves, probably flunk out the first day.

One of my coworkers that I mentioned this thread to coined the phrase "Fabbits"... thought it was fitting. Have also tried increasing the "greens" I usually give, 2 full grocery store bunches of cilantro and parsley (as opposed to givingthese as "treat" or appetizier to the big meal - pellets). Have noticed the buns get "full" and now are perplexed when their scheduled time of asking for sugar treats happen.. Learning curve is being found at my house.

Am thinking about doing away with pellets entirely (know a few individuals that do not feed "House buns" pellets at all) - just a high diet of good hay and greens. Am trying this tomorrow - will throw MAD amounts of greens and fresh hay - still think a raisin, craisin, or banana chip will be needed to get over the "FRENZY" at the pellet bowel at 6 AM (am always woken up by the male at the break of dawn "I need pellets - now!") you can't push him away - he always comes back gets me out of bed; but will see..

Fraggles is actually pellet free. Has been since she was 4 months old. Pellet free and still fat.

My name is Rue, and I have a fat rabbit too.

Gus gets about 4 Tbsps of pellets per day, parsley, cilantro, lettuce, and sometimes carrot or radish, and a large handful of hay every day (plus fresh spring grass right now!). Plus he's aquired a taste for crackers, cereal, tortilla chips (his favourite), as well as most any fruit. We cut him off Craisins and banana chips about a year ago, but he hasn't lost any weight.

He's not obese, but he's definitely overweight. He has a dewlap and a skirt and he gets pee on his bum because it hangs downpast his tail. Sigh.

I keep trying to cut back his food, but he gets destructive when he doesn't get fed (oh, he has me so well trained ).

Now that the weather's improved, I plan to take him for daily walks. Plus get him doing agility again. We'll see how that goes. Lazy bunny. :rollseyes

Rue

Rue - Gus is so cute. Looked on your blog at the photos of him on his harness. He will certainly slim down a bit once he gets walking. Benjamin gets pretty mad when we don't feed him. I am also well trained. I have never tried Benjamin on a harness. Was it hard to train him to walk to one. Also do you worry about him eating stuff on the side of the street when you are walking. I would be worried about picking up tapeworm or fleas. The boys really seem to love him!!!!!

Aw, thanks, Alma.

I can't tell you if Gus was hard to train to use his harness, he already knew how to use it when we got him! It's a bit of a struggle sometimes to get it on him, but once he's in it, he's totally fine with it. Of course, it's not like a dog where they want to walk beside you, he leads andwe follow. But with the longer leash, it's really easy to walk him. You just need to be careful not to let the leash get caught under his legs, then he'll panic. But otherwise, he's really good.

As for fleas and worms, I just treat him with Revolution as need be. It seems to work really great.

Rue

thanks Rue, will have to try him in a harness. He will probably chew it off knowing him, but worth the try when travelling so that he can stretch his legs. Will have to look into Revolution, someone else mentioned it for ear mites. We had an English spotted from Innisfail, AB. He was one of the casualities from pine litter. As a result of him and a couple of other rabbit from the rescue rabbit society, they put a warning out for rabbits. We called him Bailey ( bad, bad beattle bailey at times) He was an extreme cutie too. All these photos of rabbits, makes you want to have a dozen or so!!

I just bought a new rabbit harness for Fraggles be she will not have any part of it. Gus is really cute by the way.