Weight gain and weight loss in recently bonded pair

[Megan143]

About 6 weeks ago we adopted our second bunny Aurelia, she’s just 5 months old this week and she’s so delightful. Before getting her, we have a 1.5 yo male dwarf lop Augustus, he was happy and healthy but I can see clearly how much happier he is now with the new friend.

They bonded after the lop boy claimed dominance. They are very happy together except for feeding time, it gets competitive. Details of their eating dynamic is 3 paragraphs down. And 1 time out of 10, he would try to hump her but since she’s physically more fit, he usually couldn’t catch her, so he just tries to pull hair off her back when he wants to dominate

Our lop was on a healthy diet, when he was the only bunny, he had unlimited normal hay, normal amount of vegies, gets a little bit of alfalfa (half a cup) for treat, his weight was very ideal and he poops beautifully.

The new bunny, I don’t know her breed but I think she’s a rex/tan cross. She’s very athletic and very excited about the world so she runs and jumps a lot. She moved into his condo where she can access all his food, plus I give them 2-3 times (2 is my intention, but sometimes me and fiance double fed them accidentally) amount of alfalfa since she’s still young. I noticed that at the rescue centre she was given those mixed food with lots of seeds and dried fruit, and she felt very dense and heavy when she hops on things when we first got her, so when she had her vet visit after 4 weeks for a bladder infection, she weighed 300 grams less and we thought it made sense since she went on our mainly hay diet.

Now I start to realise her weight loss is not purely from changed diet since he put on so much weight! 

The problem is: Our lop is not a big food sharer, and rex/tan is not that eager about food. She has a smaller mouth, eats more elegantly, slower, and she just generally has less strength than the lop. So when they get 1 big piece of veggie, he would pull it away from her mouth and runs away, she chased him but he chews super fast so she doesn’t get much before the whole thing is gone. When they get their shredded alfalfa, he would stick to it until the bowl’s empty, while she eats half way through then hops away to just be content. Recently I found she’s getting lighter, she stops making big bang when she hops on wooden platforms, although being a lean breed, I can feel her bones easily when I held her. He, on the other hand, got rounder and heavier. So I’m suspecting it’s because the alfalfa mostly consumed by him!

If numbers make it more clear:

mini rex/tan: 1.9kg —(4 weeks)—> 1.6kg —(2 weeks)—> 1.3kg

dwarf lop:     1.3kg —(4 weeks)—>1.6kg —(2 weeks) –> didn’t measure but definitely heavier

I started giving her some alone time to eat alfalfa 3 days ago, but it doesn’t seem going that well. My approach is taking him to another room and close the door for ~20 mins, but I found both of them got a bit upset. He seemed to have little interest in exploring other rooms when shut out, he just sat in front of the door, waiting, scratch a bit, then wait again, it really made me sad. Similarly, she barely ate any alfalfa alone, she just sat next to the bowl, then when he’s back in the cage, they will eat together.

I think what I would do is having them in the cage room but he outside the cage when she eats rich food. I expect him to get mad and will do all his best to get in. I can try to hold him or distract him but I hope witnessing her having a privilege won’t provoke him and bring the humping and hair pulling behaviours back!

If any of you have experience or suggestions on feeding a bonded pair of adult and young bunnies, please share your insight!

Thank you! 

Megan

[tanlover14]

Do you feed pellets at all? If she was on pellets previously and is no longer on them, that could really be the biggest factor in her weightloss.

However, with the weight gain/loss issue… if you are looking for ways to help your one gain weight, I would suggest Critical Care or pellets alone in random spurts throughout the day. One of my bunnies has a HORRIBLE time keeping on weight. He’s perfectly healthy but anything less than a cup of a pellets a day and he drastically loses wieght really quickly. (He’s only three lbs so a cup of pellets is INSANE.) Anywho, I have been supplementing his diet with Critical Care twice a day. Two tablespoons of the Apple Banana flavored Critical Care mixed with 2 tablespoons of pumpkin, a splash of pineapple juice, & some water to get it to the consistency I want. He LOVES it and he eats it soooo much quicker than he does pellets. Like yours, he would munch on his slowly throughout the day. When he became bonded to the others, they would gobble up his extra portion before he was even done with his “normal” sized portion. The Critical Care has been an awesome help — it is a tad expensive though. $25ish for a bag. The bag lasts me close to a month though so that’s not TOO Bad!

[Megan143]

I only use pellets as agility training rewards but they don’t get much at all, half a cup (whatever my one fist can grab) a day between two buns (she gets more because she’s better at agility, lol). I will add pellets into her alfalfa for a week to see if there’s any improvement.

Your Critical Care recipe sounds like a wonderful smoothie ;p I don’t know if they sell Critical Care here in Australia, I will have a search around online over next week. If my first approach doesn’t work, $25/month is affordable for something necessary!

Thank you for your suggestions!

(btw from looking at your username, I assume you know a bit about Tan rabbits? I’m not completely sure if our girl bunny is a mini rex or tan, and I couldn’t find so much information on this breed on internet. Maybe I should show you a photo and you can tell me?

edit: in my profile picture she looks like a mini-rex, her belly, eyelines and chin is white, but behind her ears on her back, there’s chocolate colored pattern. I don’t really mind if she’s a regular or fancier breed, I just hope to read about how to care for her if I know the correct breed)

[tanlover14]

Add a picture — I have 3 of them and have read up (on the little info available) about them. They are quite hyper buns. They are gorgeous though! I could definitely tell you if it’s a Tan. There are a few breeds that look similar but it’s quite easy to tell the difference if you know what you’re looking for!

[Megan143]

Thank you so much! Please let me know if you want me to take photos of specific area

I didn’t quite capture her tail in the photos, it’s flat, wide and curly

BTW, the last 3 photos were taken today, do you agree she’s underweight? My fiance kept trying to convince me she’s just a lean breed, but I think her bottom muscle is too defined

Personality wise, she is very hyper, she loves jump and parkour, so far the tallest she’s managed to jump is 60cm (to compare, her arch is 20cm tall) and parkour 1m, she can run really fast, do quick stop and turns, her running stance is almost like a horse and you can hear her feet landing even on thin rugs. She is super curious, doesn’t seem to learn lessons from failed attempts, but maybe it’s just young age rather than breed >_<

[Roberta]

She looks a bit like my Pascal but without the cobby front legs that help define the Silver Fox a similar breed to the Tans. Beautiful bun though.

[Megan143]

Thank you for identifying her. She is a gorgeous girl, sometimes she can look real silly though

[Roberta]

Oh I think she could well be a Tan, she has the same athletic build, dainty front paws and mischievious glint in her eyes. Silver Foxes do come in a tan colouring but they have short chubby front paws and are a largish mid size bunny. Pascal was quite a big boy but since the scholiosis has partially paralyzed his hind legs he has lost a lot of muscle mass. Silver Martens like my Pepper are a similar colouring but smaller and similar in build to the Dutch with dainty front paws.

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