Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum DIET & CARE Weight gain diet

Viewing 6 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • Limit
      Participant
      189 posts Send Private Message

        Haven’t posted in a while and have been reading up on all the recent posts, I do this a lot
        Anyway, down to why I started this thread!

        I’m struggling to adjust and find what diet and how much works best for my two, it’s either too much or too little – If Binky has too many pellets her hay eating becomes terrible – Monte is a stress bunny, his snuffles flare with stress but it’s mostly there all the time. He’s been with me for a month (approx) now so still settling in and getting used to this routine but his weight easily drops with stress too.

        This is what they’re having at the moment:

        7am – Binky has one tablespoon of pellets and hay is topped up or replaced if soiled on, redigrass mixed in.
        – Monte has three tablespoons of pellets and a large amount of hay with redigrass (the same as above except he eats a lot more)

        11-2pm – Dried plantain, dandelion, camomile and blackhurrant leaves are given to both. About a small bowls worth.

        4-5 pm – Binky has another tablespoon of pellets and a mix of veggies (will list the variation), usually won’t have to top up hay as she doesn’t eat much still.
        – Monte has one tablespoon of pellets and a large plates worth of veggies, hay topped up again.

        Veggies/fruit (about 4 different ones a day):
        Romaine lettuce
        Dill
        Kale
        Baby corn
        Basil leaves
        Mint leaves
        Parsley (two types)
        Carrot (two inches, only for Monte)
        Apple slices (every two weeks)
        Watercress
        Broccoli (two stems and heads)
        Cabbage
        Celery
        Cucumber (rarely as Binky has had upsets with this)
        Rocket
        Spinach

        Despite all this, Monte still struggles to keep his weight on (he lost 200g in the space of two weeks!) I was going to try oats sparingly or pea flakes just to add extra but I’m being cautious with adding new things as he’s already been in the wars with his snuffles and leg problem! Not too concerned with Binky as she’s always been funny with eating hay but will go through stages of eating loads to hardly anything and I’m constantly trying to encourage her to eat more (suggestions welcome) .

        Any advice on keeping weight on or anything I can change to their diets? I always love seeing what others feed and I’m always trying to find new things for them !! Please note that these two are not housed together so different diets work fine, don’t hold back on advice !!


      • vanessa
        Participant
        2212 posts Send Private Message

          I’d get Monte to a vet and find out what is causing the weight loss. Bunnies shouldn’t just be losing weight. I’m also struggling to keep weight on one of my bunnies. If there is an underlying health problem, you won’t be able to keep the weight on.


        • Limit
          Participant
          189 posts Send Private Message

            Posted By vanessa on 4/08/2017 10:13 PM
            I’d get Monte to a vet and find out what is causing the weight loss. Bunnies shouldn’t just be losing weight. I’m also struggling to keep weight on one of my bunnies. If there is an underlying health problem, you won’t be able to keep the weight on.

            So far he’s already been to the vet twice, a third time coming up soon as his metacam course will be over. We’ve talked to both the vet and rspca (where we adopted him from) and they both believe it to be due to the stress of being neutered, having his vacs, moving from terrible conditions to the rspca and then after only a week coming home with me. A lot of moving about and he’s not settling yet, just hoping to get some weight on him before he goes back again for a check up. Really don’t want to have to keep bringing him to the vets but I’ll see what they say and see if they think it’s worth investigating. If he’s lost more when we go back in then we’ll ask for some tests to be run, like you said it’s definitely not normal and really worrying! Do you give any added supplements to your bun? x


          • Azerane
            Moderator
            4688 posts Send Private Message

              I suspect like mentioned that with being ill and the stress of moving etc that it could be why he is losing weight. How big is he? He looks like a fairly big bun so perhaps he may need a little more pellets still. My other thought is there the chance he was overweight when you adopted him? Both of my pair were overweight when I adopted them and quite quickly shed the weight once I had them on a correct diet.


            • Limit
              Participant
              189 posts Send Private Message

                Posted By Azerane on 4/08/2017 11:31 PM
                I suspect like mentioned that with being ill and the stress of moving etc that it could be why he is losing weight. How big is he? He looks like a fairly big bun so perhaps he may need a little more pellets still. My other thought is there the chance he was overweight when you adopted him? Both of my pair were overweight when I adopted them and quite quickly shed the weight once I had them on a correct diet.

                His ideal weight is about 6 – 6.2 kg, he came to me at 6kg and his last weigh in he was 5.8kg. He is large, I was thinking that I should increase the pellets too as so far he still eats plenty of hay with the amount he gets. Unfortunately, he was definitely not overweight when I adopted him which would’ve helped in a way! I’ll check the vet records they gave me as it had his weigh ins on there somewhere and he could’ve been overweight when they rescued him, can’t remember for the life of me .


              • vanessa
                Participant
                2212 posts Send Private Message

                  Your diet sounds good. Like u said, too many pelkets makes for poor hay eating. It really depends on how skinny the bunny is. I would pick only the highest calorie beggies and skip the lettuce. Currently i am syringe feeding lancelot. He dropped from 5.5lbs 2 years ago to 3.8 last week. Very scary. So i dont limit his pellets since he doesnt eat hay anyway. At this point imfeding him as much of whatever he will eat (but no fruit or carrots). I also feed him his cecotropes. Is your bunny eating his cecotropes? I wouldnt want to stress him either with more vet visits. Thats why i decided no xrays or blood work for lancelot at the moment. But we do have find a balance. Syringe feeding can be stressful, but itmight. E sonething you need to try. I would first see if he will eat a slurry of critical care from a dish. Them try stringe feeding while he is sitting. Sometimes lancelot will accept a syringe that way. I squeeze a little but out so he knows its food (he is deaf snd blind so he doesnt see the syringe). Then he lets me put it in his mouth. Sometimes i have hold him to do it. He is familiar with the process so i just hold him like a baby and he eats it really well. Go slow to control the spit-back. U also give him a break every 35mm to empty his bladder. I use critical care and sherwood forest sarc snd sherwood forest sarx with weight gain. Weight loss is a problem when it gets to the point of muscleloss. It puts extra strain on the joints.


                • Azerane
                  Moderator
                  4688 posts Send Private Message

                    At 6 kg he may very well need additional pellets to help maintain weight, 3 tablespoons isn’t much for a bun his size. My 3kg Apollo gets 2 tablespoons. I think increasing to 5 tablespoons would be fine, just don’t increase the amount all in one day. Do it over a couple of days

                Viewing 6 reply threads
                • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                Forum DIET & CARE Weight gain diet