over weight rabbit

[Dia]

I am not sure if I am posting this in the correct section, but I hope I am. I adopted a bunny yesterday that is about 4 years old and she is over weight and I was wondering the best diet to feed her to help her start to loose weight.

For my other rabbits I feed them a morning salad of lettuce and carrots and a quarter cup of Oxbow pellets and then at night they get a salad of parsley and kale or other greens. Treats are a very limited thing at my house....because they aren't good for the rabbits and all rabbits are given tons of hay.

I am unsure how to feed this rabbit though. I don't want her to gain any more weight and i cannot just change her diet quick or it could be bad for her health.

any suggestions from other people with over weight rabbits?

thanks

 

[Maureen Las]

What does she weigh and what should she weigh?

What breed?


http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12058&forum_id=17

 

[wooly_queen]

I asked a similar quesstion about the weight loss. I was told to give less pellets and more grass hay...so Timothy maybe? Not alfalfa. Also...could it be the she is getting too many veggies and stuff too?

 

[Dia]

She is a female dwarf rabbit. this is a pic of her -

i figured less pellets and more hay...but what about the fresh lettuce and other foods? the food that she was bing fed was the stuff with the pellets and other crap in it. And she was given like 2 large bowls a day or more when ever she ran out.

should i still feed her the old stuff for a little while but only once a day or should i start on the Oxbow pellets now and just like one salad a day and hay?

She is actually at my work office now running around. i will take her here so she can exercise and run around.

 

[Flash]

I would start now with the Oxbow pellets start slowly introducing the new food and see how she likes it too. It took about 2 wks to switch Sophie's food over to Oxbow. Push more hay.

 

[Maureen Las]

She looks guilty that she was caught eating; she is cute but a little plump

She probably should only get about 1/8th cup pellets per day totalbut since she has been getting such excessive amounts daily I would cut her down to maybe a 1/4 cup a day with the old pellets mixed into the BBT. A lot of them do not like timothy pellets if they are used to junk. my adopted shelter bunnies used to pick out all the alfalfa pellets and leave the BBT. I would do that for maybe a week or 2 and give unlimited hay and slowly intoduce veggies like the others. Then I would cut her down to about 1/8 cup pellets . Slowly transition her over to the BBT

i think that if you slowly cut down the pellets, don't feed treats, give tons of hay and some veggies and ....EXERCISE that she will lose weight easily.

 

[wooly_queen]

Isn't the dried fruit and stuff in that food really fatning? lol

 

[Maureen Las]

She can pick that out
We would only use the old food to transition her over and get her used to a timothy pellet. Then we would eliminate it entirely
you're right that stuff is fattening and not at all good for them...

 

[aurora369]

I agree with the advice Angieluv has provided.

I would transition her to the new BBT food slowly. You can pick out the "treat" part of her old food, so it is only the pellet food. Slowly increase the ratio of BBT to old food until she is only eating the BBT.

Give lots of hay. If she is comfortable with fresh veggies, I would feed those as well. Fresh veggies are good for bunnies, and can help maintain a healthy weight. If she's not used to eating veggies, then you can start to slowly introduce those as well.

I would do all changes gradually as to not shock her system. You want bunnies to lose weight slowly because if they lose weight too quickly it can cause health problems. You want it to take 4-6 months for her to come back down to a healthy weight.

Through out the whole procedure, monitor her carefully for mushy poops or other signs of distress.

--Dawn

 

[Dia]

I mixed her other food with the Oxbow today and picked out the other junk that is no good for her. She seemed to eat a little of it, but she ate more hay....which is good. I just gave her kale for fresh food.

The person who had her before me fed her a lot of green beans, which is what she is eating in that picture that I posted above. I didn't think that they were good for rabbits, so I did some research. They are no good for them at all.....so I have not fed her any so far since she has been here and I sure don't plan on it any more.

I will still be bringing her to work with me every day so she can run around the office. The more exercise the better!

 

[Dia]

Here are a few more pictures of her -