Ha ha ha… I shouldn’t laugh, but how cute, being a fatty – I’d love to cuddle a big fat bunny! (I paid a fortune for my hubby to cuddle a tiger – not me, give me a fat cuddly bunny any day!). On a serious note – you have my support! And yes I agree it’s hard not to love your bun with food! (GUILTY!)Thinking of you….

One of my bunnies, Dexter, is prone to being overweight…. I feed him the low end of the recommended amount of pellets. He’s just super lazy. He seems to be more active with the other bunnies now so hopefully that will help him loose some chubs. My husband calls him a “bowling ball”. >.<

Bunnies get most of their calories from pellets and non-leafy greens/fruit. Regular ole leafy greens shouldn’t be causing too much of an issue because they are all very low in calories. When I was looking into natural ways to make Monty gain weight I did find out that mint and kale are a bit higher than some of the others though.

Best of luck to you and Starsky!

My bunny Bam was fat, I didn’t realize but the vet told me. The verdict was that he needed to lose 3-400 g (0,66 -0,88 Lbs).

I immediately cut down on his pellets, a healthy brand but I’d given him too much. I also stopped all carrots and apple-slices, raisins etc. And because it was spring I started picking huge amounts of leaves and lettuce and herbs for him. This would not have been possible during the winter.

And this worked excellently. He lost about 100 g/month för 4 months and became much less lazy and more agile probably because that much extra fat had made it bothersome for him to move about.

He had unlimited organic hay all the time, and he really ate loads of leaves and herbs, like 2 3-litre plastic bags per day. So he didn’t have to go hungry, he could eat rather like a wild bunny and still lose his excess fat.

After he landed on his target weight I increased the pellets a little + added a little apple-peel or cabbage or thin slice of carrot now and then. Now winter is emerging and he’ll have to eat more bought veggies and greens, I don’t know how it will work out. But he’s in excellent shape now + his tummy is in the best order ever, he had sticky butt and bouts of gas quite often when he was fat.

Oh yes, prepare yourself for major episodes of Stink Eye. For example if you try to eat peanuts or chocolate yourself. The poor, poor bunny will definitely remind you how deeply improper it is to munch away at such goodies when there are starving bunnies nearby.

Thanks for the link to here, Roberta.
Sadly, pellets tend to make our bunnies fat. The only time I’ve seen them as beneficial is while I’ve been trying to keep weight ON Mimzy after his headtilt incident almost two years ago now. While I feed him a variety of hays, when he is eating oat he tends to leave the pellets. I am guessing he’s regulating his own caloric intake.
Pellets tend to give bunnies poopy butt too, at least some of them. I’m hoping you can find Starsky a different treat. Is he a one much for herbs of any kind? Mint, Basil, Sage, Rosemary? Any of these, or the occasional carrot tops or kale could be substituted for the ‘bunny candy’.

It drives me crazy when they do have room to run and they don’t, and then you confine them and all they do is bomb around like they were running free. Pip is like this, I’ll set her in the xpen and she’s a lump in the corner…then she goes back to her night habitat and it’s popcorn binkies and litterbox tossing. Perhaps some new toys to get him interested in running about? Or scattering his food so he has to work for it?

Yeah, he might give you stinkeye, but it really is for his greater good. The alternative is he gets bigger and rounder and he can’t fit through the door.

Sending slimming vibes for the Starman.

If he’s a lop mix that can make them look a bit tubby also.

Is he desexed now? (Theyll put on weight more easily after desexed).

He could definitely learn to love other things besides pellets. Then you won’t fell so bad.
I swear there’s something addictive in pellets from the way rabbits react.

I really don’t think he looks fat. Obviously if you are photographing him from above laying down in a ball form he’s going to look like a ball :~)

My rabbit Bogie who has the same markings looks a bit tubby too but the vet has never said he is overweight.

I’m going to lock this per Roberta’s request… the new thread is located here: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/127761/Default.aspx#351622