Excessive Eating

[ilovetegocalderon]

My new bunny Skip is such a pig. He eats like crazy. He never leaves any food left over in the bowl. And when its empty he'll look at me begging for more. I end up giving him more because I feel like he's starving but geez.....i dont understand how he can eat so much. And when I go to fill up his bowl he darts over to it in lightening speed like he hasnt eaten in ages. What is going on? (And he has plenty of hay by the way that he barely touches.

 

[tamsin]

Rabbits eat a lot! But they should mainly be eating hay. He's either filling up on pellets because he's not eating hay or filling up on pellets cos they're tastier and then not eating his hay.

Hard as it is, you have to not give in to that cute little face. Have a certain amount of pellets per day (50g for a healthy adult bunny is plenty) and don't top up. You can split that into several feeds a day or even just hand feed as treats.

Different types of hay taste different so try some different varieties to see what he likes better. You can also try mixing his pellets into the hay rather than putting them in a bowl that can get them started on hay munching.

Tam

 

[Sayuri]

He sounds like he likes his food more than he likes hay but the more you give in to him the less likely he is to eat his hay because he knows that food will be coming soon.

If he has hay he wont starve and it is an essential part of his diet to keep him healthy

From what I have been led to understand, if bunnies dont eat enough hay their tummys dont like it very much and their poos can get very squashy and not hard pellets...we had this same problem with Grace because she was just the same

You need to be strong and what I do is just give Grace a handful of food in the morning and one at night and she seems just fine on that.

I know in England you can get different hay that have herbs in and lemon stuff etc and that may be an idea for your bun to encourage him to eat it

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

Thanks for the responses! I'm gonna toughen up on him!

 

[NZminilops]

Just out of curiosity, how old is Skip and what breed is he?

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

You will not do your bunny any favors by giving him all he wants to eat.

Most of my mini-rex will scoff their food right down and look for more.

Most of them weigh around 4 lbs and they get a 1/4 cup of pellets in the

morning and the same at night as well as hay at night. The exceptions are

does that have a litter and I am still careful about what they eat. I do not

free feed them until the babies are out of the nestbox. I have a few does

that actually gain weight when they have a litter. I am looking into creep

feeders so that the babies have unlimited food but the doe can be limited

so she won't get too fat.

Roger

 

[rabb1tmad]

I think some rabbits are real piggies and love their food. My two will run to the food bowl like they have been starved for days no matter how much or little I feed them and whatever I put in is eaten within seconds. I stick to the recommended food dosage everyday and just chuck in loads of hay. At the end of the day if they are hungry they will eat hay and it's better for them. I always feel bad about them looking so hungry but at the end of the day it's just greed!

My foster bunny Diesel isn't bothered about food at all. He eats slowly and progressively throughout the day and he never gets excited when I put food in his bowl!

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

Skip is a two year old male. I'm not exactly sure what breed he is though. He is white with black rings around his eyes. He's a medium sized bunny. Much bigger than my dwarfs.

 

[iluvmybuns]

Skip sounds like he looks like Ozzy. He is a Hotot. Which is the eyeliner and the tips on the ears.

If it makes you feel any better my buns are piggies too. They flip out when I open the bag of pellets. They go in circles and when I put down the dishes I get eaten if I don't move my hands away fast enough!!! But hay is WAY better for them. If he won't eay hay you can try putting it in things to make it more like a game for them to get it out!