Skinny Bunny!

[indianavex]

Hey guys!

So, I have a question! When I got Cassie from the breeder (she was a breeding doe, not a baby) she was a bit pudgy. They had her on oat pellets, so I don't suppose that and trying to keep weight on her for the sake of breeding makes it surprising at all!

Since I got her, I've switched her (slowly) over to timothy pellets. I feed her around 1/3c of pellets once a day. I keep timothy hay in there for her aplenty so she can graze throughout the day. She's lost a good amount of weight though! I haven't weighed her or had her weighed at a vet or anything, but I just wanted to know what everyone thought. When I first took her in she was 3.5lbs. It's in the sidebar thingy, but I'll reiterate that she's a 2yo holland lop.

Thank you!

 

[ldoerr]

If she is skinny give her more food. Simple as that. Those guidlines are just that guidlines. They are not a rule as to what to feed/how much to feed. If your rabbit is loosing weight with the ammount of food that you are feeding it, then up the quantity. If the rabbit is fat, decrease the ammount. If the rabbit is maintaning weight keep doing what you are doing. Feeding animals is a balancing act. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to it.

Something that I have found is great for getting rabbits to eat if they have gone off food is to give them a raisen or two. You can also give old fashoned uncooked oatmeal or rolled oats. Yet another thing you could give them is 5-8 black oil sunflower seeds. All of these things rabbits LOVE, will help them get to eating, and will improove their flesh condition.

 

[LakeCondo]

You need to check out how she feels. That's a great way to judge the weight.

 

[lauratunes12]

3.5 lbs. isn't huge for a holland, normal is usually 2-3 lbs, and they are supposed to look a bit stocky. But if she looks healthy, keep doing whatever you're doing.

Edit: you should be able to easily feel her bones, but they shouldn't be sticking out or really noticeable.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

3.5 lbs. is a very average weight for an adult Holland Lop. In fact, a lot of show Hollands these days are pushing toward 4 lbs. Unless they are physically/structurally a smaller Holland than the norm, that's a healthy weight. So if your rabbit is dropping weight quickly, she either needs more food or a richer pellet.

 

[indianavex]

Well, when I noticed she'd lost more weight than I thought she should (I can feel her bones but you can't see them sticking out or anything, but she also has a thick coat), I upped her to 1/2c. I've not really been following hard fast rules or anything on how much I feed her.

Anyhow, I'm not saying exactly that 3.5lbs is fat for a holland, what I meant was that at that weight she was "pudgy." Here are pictures to compare with:

 

[whitelop]

If you got her from a breeder and she was a breeding doe, chances are she wasn't out of her cage much. So with her being with you and getting a lot of exercise, she may have lost a little weight because she's moving around more.
But the factors are different, from when you first got her to today.

 

[JBun]

Wow!!! She lost a lot of weight! She was a little chubber Just feel along her backbone and you shouldn't feel her spine portruding at all. It should feel nice and rounded and filled in.

 

[indianavex]

Lol, yes, she's lost a good amount! I didn't really realize it til I sat down one day and went through some pictures of her from the evening I first brought her home and now. And feeling the backbone is a good marker! I can feel a bit of her backbone and hips, so I'll just have to put some weight back on her. I'll see how much/if she gains weight on just by upping her pellets to 1/2.

Does anyone have any other ideas on ways to keep weight on her without necessarily feeding her *more* pellets? I want to make sure she doesn't eat mostly them but still eats a lot of hay. She tends to focus on pellets when I give them to her and ignore her hay.

 

[Imbrium]

you can try splitting the pellets up into two or more feedings a day so that she'll graze more on hay in between the pellets. I usually give mine pellets first thing when I wake up and then right before I go to bed. they'll eat their pellets by halfway through the day and be forced to munch on hay.

 

[JBun]

Wow!!! She lost a lot of weight! She was a little chubber Just feel along her backbone and you shouldn't feel her spine portruding at all. It should feel nice and rounded and filled in.

 

[JBun]

Wow!!! She lost a lot of weight! She was a little chubber Just feel along her backbone and you shouldn't feel her spine portruding at all. It should feel nice and rounded and filled in.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

She looks a bit better (from pictures) in the first picture. Though condition is hard to judge without actually feeling them, of course.

With her having more exercise now, she will definitely need a bump on the pellets. Hollands are a very active breed (which I'm sure you've discovered) so I would expect to be feeding at least 1/2 cup of timothy pellets, for sure, on a regular basis. Maybe even more. I feed that amount in alfalfa pellets, and a couple of mine actually need about 3/4 cup daily to keep weight on. They are more of the energizer bunny type personalities! But alfalfa is a little richer, so if you find that even with feeding more timothy pellets, she's seeming slim, you could try switching to an alfalfa pellet.

 

[JBun]

Sorry about the triple post. I had bunnies hopping on my keyboard this morning

You could add a little alfalfa hay to the diet if splitting up the pellets into different feedings doesn't work.

 

[indianavex]

By feel, I've been worried she's too thin. Aside from the visible weight loss, I've been a bit concerned. Hence posting!

She's actually not very prone to moving about. She tends to like lying around and eating, but she'll poke around if she thinks I'm not paying attention. It's why the weight loss was most confusing, but she did go from a full time oat pellet diet to a once-a-day timothy pellet feeding schedule. I've upped the pellets and if one more upping (she's been at 1/2c I'll move her up to 3/4c) doesn't fix the problem, I'll work timothy pellets into her diet too!

Thank you all, hopefully we can work on this! Cassie has had little muscle mass for a rabbit (since she spent all her time in a cage in her breeding barn), so I'm hoping maybe we can put a bit more weight on her and hopefully get her out and exercising a bit more! She's just a lazy butt.