Rusty needs to go on a diet.

[Rusty]

So as some of you probably already know that Rusty and Akira are bonded and live together. Akira is only about 7-8 months old while Rusty is about 3 years old. Theyboth get vegetables and unlimited timothy hay. Their pellets are alfalfa based (I kept them on that for Akira) but now Rusty is eating more of the pellets than he should and is a little fat/pleasantly plump. How do I go about dieting Rusty without hurting Akira's diet, and somehow keep them together, since they get really upset if one can't groom or lounge on the other? Any ideas on what I could do would be awesome. I was going to wait for Akira to reach a year old to switch to Oxbow and timothy based, but Rusty has gained quite a bit of weight.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Can you separte them for a short period of time while they eat?

In my situation, Pebbles and Bebe have bonded, but I only allow them together in the play pen for about 8 hours a day. The rest of the time they have their own cages to eat and sleep in. This way I am able to monitor the amount of pellets I give them and how much pellets they eat, and they can't steal each others food.

In the play pen,there isa whole box of hay for them to eat, and they can have as much as they want. If I bring treats for them, I hand fed it, so I know how mucheach gets.

 

[Rusty]

I want to do that but they get so upset if they are not together in the cage either. There is 2 levels in the cage I have and one gets upset if the other goes on a different level. And besides when they are separated I get this:

I find that pretty scary!!!:shock:lol.

 

[Rusty]

Would it be bad to just wait until Akira is 1 year old? What is the best age to transition from alfalfa based pellets to timothy based pellets?

 

[JadeIcing]

At 7mnyhs you can start switching to tim pellets.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

How often do you feed them? I find the feeding them pellets twice a day and in seperate bowls helps. You can put the bowls in differnt parts of the cage for feeding time. With smaller amounts at a feeding, they eat it faster and can't eat each others food. Even 6 inches apart can work to have them eat their own food.

7 months is a good age to switch to timothy pellets. I am not sure what area of the city you live in, but Oxbow can be gotten at Chewsy Pets (on Queesland Drive SE) for about $22 per 10lbs bag. You can also get an 8% discount card.

 

[Rusty]

Korr_and_Sophie wrote:

How often do you feed them? I find the feeding them pellets twice a day and in seperate bowls helps. You can put the bowls in differnt parts of the cage for feeding time. With smaller amounts at a feeding, they eat it faster and can't eat each others food. Even 6 inches apart can work to have them eat their own food.

7 months is a good age to switch to timothy pellets. I am not sure what area of the city you live in, but Oxbow can be gotten at Chewsy Pets (on Queesland Drive SE) for about $22 per 10lbs bag. You can also get an 8% discount card.

Thanks I will try that. I can actually get the bag of Oxbow from the vet down at due south in Mckenzie towne.