Plump or Obese?

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Dottie looks like my mini lop and she doesn'tlook too plump to me (she resembles my wesley boy). I would follow thewww.rabbit.org regulations in regardsto feeding her and not really worry unless her weight starts to preventher from cleaning herself and really slows her down.
 
I need ideas, please.

What do you do when you have a bonded pair and one of them is overweight, while the other is on the skinny side?

I'm thinking of letting Snuggy (fat girl) out when I first get home foran extra hour or so while Baby (littleone) enjoys pellets,oats and a little fruit or carrot. Snuggy can get a littlemore exercise that way and she probably won't notice Baby is gettingtreats.

I want to take Snuggy off pellets altogether. The problemisBaby is a slow eater. It takes her all day toconsume three ounces of pellets, but she really needs them. Ido not want to cage them separately. It would devastatethem.

For now, I've takenSnuggy's oats, fruit and carrots away, butthey only get a little of thatanyway.

Any suggestions?

Laura


 
Laura wrote:
I'mthinking of letting Snuggy (fat girl) out when I first get home for anextra hour or so while Baby (littleone) enjoys pellets, oatsand a little fruit or carrot. Snuggy can get a little moreexercise that way and she probably won't notice Baby is gettingtreats.

I want to take Snuggy off pellets altogether. The problemisBaby is a slow eater. It takes her all day toconsume three ounces of pellets, but she really needs them. Ido not want to cage them separately. It would devastatethem.

For now, I've takenSnuggy's oats, fruit and carrots away, butthey only get a little of thatanyway.
Aw, I love Snuggy. Yes,I would suggest giving Snuggy a littlebit more exercise while Baby has a chance to eat. I have asimilar problem where Wesley is a piggie and Jordi is picky and petite.Have you tried mixing the pellets with something like oats for Baby?
 
jordiwes wrote:
Have you tried mixing the pellets with something like oats for Baby?
Yes, she LOVES oats! She's not too terribly skinny, but youcan feel all her bones.What's funny is she probablyeats more than Snuggy and she stays thin. Snuggyreallydoesn't eat that much, but she'slazy.When she's out, she usually finds a nice spotand parks it! She needs a treadmill!

I'm going to try bringing Snuggy out for an extra couple of hours perday and see what happens. I'll have to get another litter boxfor her on the way home today.

Laura


 
Snuggy is MAD at me. Taking her treatsis like taking my caffeine. I let her out first last nightand then tried to sneak Baby a piece of carrot. Snuggysniffed it out and had a fit.

I did manage to get her to play a game of chase with me. Irun in a big circle around the furniture and she chases me.We both got some exercise! She will only runcounter-clockwise though. Isn't that weird?

Laura




 
Snuggers!!!

Diets do tend to make the ones on them mad. :mad:

Glad to hear that she at least ran away from you!

:wink:

-Carolyn
 
Run down the Evil Ones, Snuggy! You Go Girl!!

:run: :runningrabbit:
 
Im back again! On news on Dottie...

She looks fine in weight at the moment, but it all changes when she lays/sits down. When she sits down with her front legs sticking out, and her back legs tucked away. There is so much access weight on her sides. I can feel her spine and her leg bones stick out alot. She is still a happy bunnie and can clean herself easily. Im not sure if I should cut down on her dried food or her fresh veg. She doesnt seem to eat alot of hay, nor does my other rabbit though. Its the guinea pigs that eat lots of hay all the time!

She doesnt look very fat at all, but when she lays down it looks really bad.
 
:D...this is Brindle's "before" pic......I still need to get an "after" one.
I started her on a limited pellet diet and she's gotten quite a svelt look now.:bunnydance:

Aug1824.jpg


I think that limiting the pellets was the key. That, and cutting out all none essential treats. Daily she gets 1/4 cup of pellets (half alfalfa - half timothy based), 1/2 tspn rolled oats, unlimited hay and water. Twice a week she gets 1 cup romaine....twice a week she gets timothy cubes (as a treat)....and twice a week she gets some dried papaya.

~Jim
 
Oh my goodness Jim! Move over Kirstie Alley! We havea new Jenny Craig spokeswoman!

:bunnysuit



Pam

jenny_craig_kirstie.jpg


 
I'm a bit confused now - I am pretty sure my rabbit is underweight yet she shows the signs of being fat. She has a huge dewlap, and even has mini dewlaps hanging off her front hegs. She has a 'ruff' of fur(flesh?) on her back end. She has a hard time cleaning herself some weeks. Yet she just just finished nursing a litter of seven last week, and her ribs stick out and are really easily felt, so are her spine and her hips. It's like the top half of her body is skinny and her bottom half is fat.

She sure looks fat, but feels really skinny. Her ribs drop of sharply into a narrow waist when I run my hand over her. I can feel the edge of the ribs at this point quite sharply. So should I be feeding her up or cutting down? She gets around 10 hours a day outside of her hutch running around and digging holes and generally being an outdoor rabbit. She eats around half a cup of pellets a day, some rolled oats, some hay (not much, she doesn't like it) and all the grass she could ask for. When she was nursing she was free fed pellets.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/Dodge/bunny3.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/Dodge/02.jpg
 
Minilops,

Brood does are sometimes very rough in condition due to the nutritional demands of feeding a litter.

What type of feed is she getting? Too much protein can result in a very rough condition, too little protein can result in a pot bellied appearance.

Has she always been somewhat rough in condition (Lops have a tendency toward rough body condition and loose skin).

Pam
 
Hello Pam, I will try and condense her story down, hopefully it sheds some light.

She is about 3 and a half years old. In January this year I had been visiting a family in the neighbourhood who I caregive for their mentally challenged daughter, and they had two rabbits belonging to a family member that was living there. They were starving and living in their own filth, in seperate outdoor hutches. I threatened calling the SPCA on them, either that or they handed the rabbits over which they did eventually. 31 days later the doe gives birth (what a shock). 10 weeks later the buck dies, not sure if it was because of his previous life or what but he was so much better by then (old age? they got him when he was already old). 31 days after he dies she gives birth AGAIN! I suspect either he manged to mate with her through the bars or someone thought it would be funny to put them together.

This litter of 7 has all been weaned a week ago. She has always had a huge dewlap but as she had such a bad start to life I am not sure what would be a normal body condition for her. Her coat has finally gotten to be plush and silky soft after 6 months of having her. She has never been fat. She was being fed with grass and unlabled pellets from a bulk buy store. I have her on a good feed now, supplemented by grass and puha (a New Zealand weed that rabbits go crazy for, even people boil it and eat it), the occasional bit of carrot etc, and every day she is let out of her hutch for a run around the lawn and a dig in the garden. Her ribcage seems wider since the litters, that maks it feel sharper.

Her stomach skin feels firm but the front half of her body seems fleshy and saggy?

We also don't have access to the type of rabbit foods that you have available in the US. She eats a brand called PCL which are meant for meat rabbits but it was the best thing I could find (apart from one type of pellet that I think was Oxbow? It was $32 for a 3.5 pound bag). PCL is not as high in protein as the other meat rabbit feed at the farm supply store and has less fat and more fibre and vitamens. It's also only $1- for a 20 pound bag. She doesn't eat many pellets anyway, she mosly eats grass and bits of the apple tree, and she loves rolled oast so I give her a few to nibble on in the morning. She gets a heck of a lot of exercise so I think she burns up all her energy doing that.
 
From your description (and from the photos), it certainly sounds like she's doing very well -- especially under the circumstances she came from.

Her coat seems to indicate very good health, and I would say the diet you've got her on and the fact that she's getting a lot of excercise has put her in excellent health.

It's not unusual for lops to have "saggy" skin, so that in itself, is not a good indicator of whether or not the rabbit is "too fat".

Pam
 
Just because a girl bunny has a dewlap that doesn't mean she's obese, right?

Gretchen has a dainty little dewlap.

203354525_b7adf800ed.jpg


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In fact, I worry that she is too skinny.
 
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