Putting Weight on Rabbits?

[HopsandLops]

We have three little girls that are very underweight in my opinion that were dumped at a vet clinic. They are all going to the vet tomorrow but I was wondering if I could get an opinion or two on here about getting weight on them.

Back Story: Today around 2 pm est I was called about a box of bunnies that were left at a vet clinics door. Its been raining all day, but I am full, so I thought I would at least look at them and see where I could send them. Well, when I got there the cardboard box was soaking wet, full of nasty newspaper, lots of poop, moldy food, and well 3 nasty skinny rabbits. The rabbits are all females, all seem to be adults, but not over a year or two, and all seem to be some kind of angoras, but all are matted pretty bad so its hard to tell, but all have long wool. I gave them a once over, I found some ear problems and all are at least half of the weight they need to be. The orange colored girl is the worst, but the black girl is tiny compared to the other two. The white colored girl is ok but not where she needs to be.

Note: Orange girl is tatted, left ear, but can't read it all.

I feed Manna Pro normally to all the rabbits with lots of Tim. Hay and Orch. Hay, but what do I need to feed them to fatten them up? Right now they have unlimited water and food, water first.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I would just give the water, hay and pellets for a few weeks. They were probably not feed on a regular basis or good food, so just giving them food will help. As food was probably not a regular thing for them, you don't want to give too variety much too soon. I would avoid veggies for at least a week so they can adjust to the new food and environment. Once they have good poops and are putting on weight, then I would slowly introduce veggies (if you plan on feeding them).

When you are at the vet, get at least one of them tested for worms. Worms and parasites can cause weight loss and prevent them from putting weight on. Assuming that they have been together for while, if one of them has parasites, they all probably will.

If after about a month or so of water, pellets, hay and some veggies and they are not gaining like they should be, then you could add something like oats to help them gain.

As long as they are relatively healthy, they should not have an issue putting weight on with a good diet.

Also remember that most commercial pellets are designed to put weigh on rabbits fast. So if they aren't putting weight on with a 17 or 18% pellets, then there is an underlying problem.

 

[HopsandLops]

We have the appt in 3 hours. All finished their bowls of pelles last night and have started on another bowl this morning. I will have all of them wormed, just in case. Thankfully they don't have fleas! They will need something for their ears as well.

I am going to have them tested head to toe. They spent the night in our spare bed room so if anything is wrong that can make the other's sick we at least tried to keep them away from each other. Their becoming more active, and so eager to eat! I had to shave them down last night, finished this morning. I think the one is a Woolie Mix, but the two bigger girls are for sure angoras of some kind, but not french or at least full. I figured out where the orange girl come from, thanks to the tat. She came from an English breeder is NC (I am pretty sure), so she is an English I guess. The other other maybe a giant something mix, but that is a guess based on size and the ears.

 

[HopsandLops]

The girls, confirmed girls, all checked out ok with the vet! All had worms and are on some ABs for their ears. The two bigger girls are worse then the little one and don't seem to be related as far as I know. The girls' weights are as follow: Black Girl 2.1 lbs, Orange girl 3 lbs even, and the white marked girl is 3.4 lbs. The vet thinks they should be at least double this and triple for the white girl, if not more. The vet said if they are pregnant she doens't think they will carry the litter or deliver a live litter due to their body conds now. All the girls have sore feet as well and the black girl has a pretty nasty infection that had to be drained, I have to keep her feet packed and wrapped for the next week or so. They also had to shave her feet, so she looks a bit funny with wraped half shaved feet! We did get good news though, no URI as I first though! No major health problems either! They go back on the 13th at 5 for a recheck and will be checked for pregnancy then. Sad thing is that our vet said she couldn't spay them right now due to them being so underweight.

Diet-Our vet is suggesting lots of hay and pellets to make sure they are use to food before moving onto anything else. No treats, veggies, nothing but plain pellets and hay. Lots of water also! When we go back our vet is going to see if she thinks we will need to add anything then. She also said that oats need to be added slowly to their diet, starting with a teaspoon today and then up to a Tablespoon over the next two weeks. She said it will help keep poops normal as any digestive issues now can cause death in them.

I have gotten them down and looked at them to figure out what they are and I think the black one is a Lionhead/Woolie mix (not a clean face) at about a year old. The orange I am pretty sure is just a nasty English Angora maybe about a 1 year to a 1 1/2 yr. old. The other complete guess is maybe a Giant Angora Mix, I am basing this off of wool, over all size and her ears (they look just like a colored pair of my giants' ears) and is less then a year old.

I got a special shampoo I am going to bathe them in, as they are just NASTY and smell sooooo bad. After I bathe them I will brush them out as much as I can and get some pictures of them to post. They seem to be sweet girls but are very unsocial with people.

 

[Yurusumaji]

When I tried putting Punk on a mainly veggie diet he lost a lot of weight so I just upped his pellets and he put it all back on in a flash.

Good luck with these new babies!