Feeding bonded buns seperately

[Aina]

Skye seems a bit too skinny lately. I am wondering how I would know for sure, or if I am just a worried moma. She is still hyper and is eating. Ronnie on the other hand, is just a tad overweight. So, I have come to the conclusion that they need to be fed seperately. How can I go about doing that, and how much do watch of them need to be fed?
I just weighed them today. Ronnie weighed 10 lbs, and Skye weighed 7. So Skye isn't the average sized fuzzy lop. However, with Skye I can feel most of her bones and she seems a lot more boney than Ronnie or Fergy.
Oh yeah, I feed them Purina show rabbit formula.
Thanks for the help!

 

[bunnydude]

Does she look skinny or weak, or can you just feel her bones more so than your other rabbits? For instance, Amber is more boney than Devon even though both of them are at a healthy weight. In order to tell for sure, you'd probably be best to contact a rabbit-savvy vet.

As for how much to feed them, my guess would be about a 1/4 cup to a 1/2 cup of pellets per day per rabbit. My bunnies each get a 1/4 cup per day, but they weigh in at slightly under 5 pounds. To be certain, I'd reccomend talking to a vet or someone on here who has rabbits closer to her size. Also be sure they all have plenty of hay and veggies (if veggies are currently a part of your routine).

Feeding them separately can be a pain, but if you have any concerns, its definitely worth it. You can either offer pellets only when you are watching them (but be sure they always have hay) or find some way to separate them during the daytime while they eat.

Because Devon was recently sick, our vets want us to feed them separately and monitor his fecal output for the next two weeks. So we found a way to put up a divider in their NIC cage. They can see each other through the grates and are allowed together during playtimes.

Hope that helps,
Matt

 

[cmh9023]

I recently had to start feeding my bonded pair separately. At their last vet appointment Sherry hadlost weight and felt very skinny and Buster had gained weight and was starting to resemble a little round gray ball.

They live in a NIC cage that has a small run attached to it. I put Sherry in the run with her larger dish of pellets and close the NIC cage door. Button stays in the NIC cage with his small dish of pellets. I keep them separate until Sherry has finished hers. She takes her sweet time which is probably why Button was getting all the pellets and becoming a porker . So, they stay apart until she's done but they are only separated by the NIC door.

I thought it would be kind of a pain, but it's working out really well. I feed them their greens and hay normally. I'm planning to take them to the vet in about a month to get weighed again.

 

[Aina]

Bunnydude: She seems to have lost some weight recently. If her hair was short like Ronnies you would be able to see her bones, which I don't think is normal for a rabbit. I am going to make both of them an appointment with our rabbit vet pretty soon. I hope to do it this week because it is spring break. When they were not bonded they both got a fourth a cup a day, bo I am going to go back to that.

cmh9023: Good idea. I have a run I can attach so I'll put one bun in there. Hopefully they wil eat quickly, because they like being with eachother all the time.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

If they both eat pellets when given, eating all at once, then you can just use 2 bowls, one for each bun. Try putting them in opposite end of the cage of different levels if you have that. Then take away any uneaten pellets in 15 or 20 minutes so one bun doesn't eat more than their share. You may need to offer pellets more often though.

 

[Infiniti]

The same thing happened a little while back to Max and Dubby. He eats much slower than she does, so she was pigging out on all the extra food that he just hadn't gotten to yet. For a little while, I just readjusted their x-pen to divide into two halves by wrapping two segments into the middle of the pen. They were still able to see each other, but were able to eat at the pace that they both could enjoy.

I gradually stopped dividing the pen, and they now eat on separate ends. I also just make mental notes to give Max extra helpings during the day.

 

[tonyshuman]

I have the same problem with Tony and Muffin. Tony's a pellet hog, while Muffin snorfs down on hay (which has almost zero calories) and greens. I feed greens and pellets in the morning, and Muffin will leave her pellet bowl to eat the greens. Tony keeps eating his pellets and then moves on to Muffin's before he goes for the greens. My solution is to give just pellets for a little while (ie long enough for them to eat most of them, but they only get ~1/8c each these days so that's about 20 min), and then bring out the greens. This might work for you. Another thing you could do is to keep Ronnie busy while Sky eats--pet him, let him run around, cuddle him, etc. so he isn't interested in the food.

Also make sure one isn't stealing the other's treats and getting fat that way... I think female bunnies are supposed to feel a little skinnier than boys because they have less muscle and more fat (that's how most females work, even humans!:biggrin2: it's so their bodies can handle the energy drain of pregnancy). Going to the vet is a good idea too to get a good estimate on what their weights should be. I can never tell by looking at a bunny. :?