Nursing doe losing weight, anyway to get her to gain weight?

[CiaraPatricia]

I'm not sure if this should be here or in nutrition but I thought people here might have more idea. My baby rabbits are now 3 weeks old, and the mom is getting a bit skinny already. She's eating loads (unlimited pellets, fresh veg everyday, lots of grass and unlimited hay) and the babies are eating away now. Will she be ok until they are weaned, or is there anything I can give her to feed her up a bit more. I'm scared to give her too many veggies in case it upsets her stomach, and same for fattier foods like seeds, so I dunno what to do.

She's not extremely skinny, but by the time the babies are gone she might be. Or should I just fatten her up after the babies are gone?

 

[bunnybunbunb]

I use to have the same problem when I was feeding Purina. Even now with feeding Manna Pro the does I am not feeding veggies are lacking a little bit. I swear the does getting veggies everynight are very and pudgy so I really advice feeding veggies if possible!

Work on it now being thin for any amount of time is not good. What veg is she getting?

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

Some does do easily lose condition when they're on a litter, especially larger litters. I wouldn't be too concerned right now, most are not going to feel chunky and full fleshed in the middle of nursing. Just make sure she has plenty of pellets available to her and that she's eating them. She will put on her usual finish and condition as the babies are weaned. Sometimes some oats/seeds can help too.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Thanks

She eats different types of lettuces, carrot, sweet potato, turnip, broccoli and sometimes some apple maybe once a week. She gets lots of veggies every day. She also has dandelions leaves and grass and other safe weeds. Should I feed her more sweet types of veg to help her gain weight? She's used to a good few different veg and has never gotten diarrhoea from any.

She isn't terribly thin yet, and I guess she looks thinner than her normal self because she pulled a lot of hair out when she nested, from her belly, sides, back, legs, dewlap, everywhere!

I'll try giving her some seeds and oats. Are nuts safe to give if they're raw and not salted obviously? Like peanuts? though I'm not sure if they are totally raw raw, or if they have been blanched or something.

Sorry this is my first time with baby rabbits, so I'm asking a lot of questions!

 

[Sabine]

I've started adding some oats and black sunflower seeds to the food. They appear less skinny now than shortly after giving birth.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Thanks I'll try that. I feel so sorry for poor Evie, she's a really good mother, but it's taking it out of her

 

[bunnybunbunb]

The sweet veggies will cause her to get fat which you do not want. You want muscle, not fat. I feed mainly greens - diffrent lettuces, collard greens, celery, parsley, turnup greens, radish greens, ect.

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Ok so what about high fat, high proteins things like seeds? I want her to gain some fat if she gets too skinny, but also muscle.

And when the babies were born she was in a hutch (double level but still not big enough really) so she probably lost a bit of muscle, and now they're in a fairly big run that she can run around in, so hopefully she'll gain some muscle

I think I heard somewhere clover is high in protein, does this count for the leaves too? Cos she eats them. Also things like beansprouts, alfafa sprouts, clover sprouts, can I feed her those? I've fed her raw beansprouts before and she liked them