Hi there, welcome!

Hay should be unlimited, no need to worry about overeating hay! They really should eat tons of hay constantly, so it’s great you’ve got a good hay eater. Half a handful does not sound like enough at all! Buns should basically eat their body size in hay each day, and should always have it available. I’m honestly pretty confused by that recommendation from your vet.

That kibble amount sounds ok, but maybe a bit light for a 5 lb bun. You can track her weight and see if she’s gaining or losing, and scale it accordingly.

Does she get any greens?

4-5 pounds for a dwarf might be overweight and maybe that is why the vet wants you to cut back. Hay is so good for rabbits, though, I think restricting it is a mistake. In particular rabbit tummies need almost constant food and so they should always have something to graze on. If overweight is the issue I think other approaches like cutting the kibble or encouraging activity with space, toys or play would be better. Does she get a lot of treats?

If she isn’t overweight, I dunno. Like to the other posters, that seems like a recommendation from the Twilight Zone.

Honestly, if you want a bun to lose weight, restricting pellets is far more effective than cutting back on hay. I completely agree with the others, a bun should have unlimited hay and ideally eat a pile the size of himself every day. Hay is not only important for the tummy function, it is also vital for keeping the teeth in good shape.

I had a bun that was fat, not just overweight, and my rabbit savvy vet “prescribed” unlimited hay and/or fresh grass, plus just a tablespoon of pellets per day. He was a dwarf lop. The prescribed diet made him lose all excess weight in a few months. Then I just added in more pellets when he’d reached his target weight.

Buns should preferably lose weight slowly. Rapid weight loss can cause their liver to fail. This is not a big risk if your bun is a good hay eater- it’s far worse for buns that aren’t used to eating hay, because the bunny gut needs time to get used to extracting nutrients from hay, and meanwhile the bun starves even though it’s eating.

It is a bit odd that a vet should tell you to cut back on hay, tbh. Most rabbit vets are adamant that a bun should eat hay, hay, hay and more hay plus a small portion of pellets and veg. 80-90% of the bun’s caloric need should come from grass hay. That it a lot of hay, hay is low in nutrients – but the nutritional profile of grass hay is ideal for rabbits.

ETA: If my math is correct, I said “hay” 14 times in the above text. That pretty much describes how important hay really is for buns ? You’re very lucky to have a good hay eater!

I think you can give her as many handfuls she will eat, but a pile the size of herself per day is a good measurement. You will have to measure that up in handfuls yourself, because it rather depends on the size of your hands If you cut back to one table spoon of pellets, she will lose weight anyway, but her tummy will have food in it at all times, which is how it should be. Horses are actually the same way.

It can be difficult to make a bun take more exercise than she wants to. My little fat bun was very prone to lounging. I served him his daily pellets in a treat ball or hid the pellets around his area so he had to look for them, that gave him a reason to move around more.

If a bun is overweight, moving around is not so much fun, so you’ll probably see her get more active as she loses weight.

She may not be a true dwarf, so 4 or 5 lbs might not be bad for her. She looks pretty big in that photo. Did the vet actually tell you she needed to lose weight? The best way to gauge is how their spine feels. You should be able to feel the knobs of the vertebrae, but not the boxy edges of them. It’s also not great to restrict the pellets too much too quickly, as was already mentiones. 1/8th of a cup is about 2 tablespoons, so I would go with that first and track her weight.

She should always have hay available, so I would set her up with a rack that is always topped up, or put a large enough pile in her litter box that she isn’t running out between feedings. You can even use a cardboard box zip tied to the side of her pen, with a hole cut out, as a hay hopper.

From your first post, it sounds like maybe you were concerned about the cost of hay, so are trying to minimize waste? (forgive me if I interpreted that wrong). Buying small bags is not the way to go, because bunnies consume a ton, and waste a lot (unfortunately). Buying a larger amount is cheaper, or if you can find a place that sells hay for horses, buying a bale is super economical (but then you have to store a whole bale!). Many rescues sell hay for very low prices, so you might look for a house rabbit rescue in your area.

I know this has already been emphasized (you can add my “hay” count to bam’s!), but hay is really the last thing to try to skimp on with bunnies.

I honestly would be looking for a new vet in the meantime….

As a rule of thumb, rabbits should eat a pile of hay their size every day. It is impossible to overfeed hay (as long as its not alfalfa hay, which adult rabbits should not have anyway). If you want to get hay cheaper, try getting horse feed hay. Its the same stuff that comes in the overpriced bags at pet stores, but much cheaper and in a huge bail.

Slowly cutting the pellets down will prob be easier on her emotionally. If she’s used to getting them twice a day, then you can split it into two meals (mostly so she won’t be pestering you relentlessly at dinnertime). :p

Oh, one thing I forgot to ask, is her pellet timothy based?

Young bunnies get alfalfa based pellets, but once they are over a year old they should switch to timothy based. The pellet also shouldn’t have any seeds, grains, or cereal type bits. This might be part of her weight gain if that’s the case with her pellet!

For adult rabbits, almost any hay (except alfalfa) is fine.

Yep, those hays are great.