Weight Gain

[GinChinSing]

I'm still pretty new to rabbits and all of mine are pretty young. I've had them for a month and some of you may know that one of them had an abscess which I'm still working on. The rabbits are due to be spayed and snipped within the next two months as well.

After having guinea pigs and reptiles, I know that it's not a bad idea to weigh our small pets at least monthly, if not weekly. I was bad about putting this month's weights into my little weight chart on my computer and did it tonight after weighing the bunnies.

Hare, my biggest rabbit actually lost weight this month and I don't know why. She went from 1473g to 1463g. I'm not sure if I should be worried or not. Jumper went from 811g to 975g, which is pretty good. He's a solid fellow. The big surprise came from Little Bun...

Little Bun went from 798g on August 15th to 1025g today. That's 227g in a month! I knew he was a little skinny, but I never thought he would gain so much! I'm also starting to question my vet's opinion that Little Bun is a male. I don't see any boy parts. That's another story though.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

She only lost 10 grams. That is not really a lot. I would not really worry about that. However, since she is young, not gaining weight can be an issue since she is not growing. If she is around 5-6 months, she could be slowing down and reaching the adult weight. You can try feeding her a bit more pellets to help her gain some weight. Keep an eye on her weight, try to weigh her weekly if you can. If you notice that she keeps losing weight, then talk with your vet about it as there could be something wrong.

 

[GinChinSing]

Will do. I did go to the pet shop where my friend had gotten the rabbits and the rabbit cage doesn't have any hay in it, so maybe she is just losing a bit of fat from the pellets? I don't know; I'm just throwing an idea out there. I'll weigh her again mid-week to see what's going on. I did finally get everyone to try fresh veggies. The bananas were a hit (I know, that's a fruit) and so were the cucumber slices. I think the rabbits were a bit miffed that I didn't give them any strawberries and I gave the turtles some. Lol

 

[missyscove]

Strawberry tops are a huge hit with Timmy. I'll eat the fruit and give him the tops so it's a win-win for both of us.

I don't know the ages of your rabbits so it would be different if you expected them to be growing but in general, a 10 gram weight loss wouldn't be something to be concerned about. It could just be the difference between a full and empty bladder.

 

[GinChinSing]

Good on that. I'm being paranoid. Lol. They are still young. Pet shop rabbits that my friend had gotten. Hare, the one in question here, was "too old" and was on sale. So, in pet shop talk, that probably means she's six months or something. The other two are younger.

Strawberries never last long in my house, mostly because I like to make strawberry crepes and the turtles love them. The rabbits aren't as fond of them as they are of the banana, but I'm sure that will change soon.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Ours won't touch banana or strawberries. They are strange bunnies I guess. When we got Serena, she was very skinny and we were told she was full grown and an English Spot mix. Figured she was as big as she'd get and just needed feeding to fill out. Think they may have been wrong. She kept growing and I check some more and found out she's a Checkered Giant and now tips the scale at 19 pounds--the biggest rabbit I've ever seen and such a sweetheart.