Hmmm, that is curious! But some buns just hold their weight more easily. And some vets really like to see bunnies very lean (it helps with their joints later in life). Also, bunnies’ metabolisms shift at that age and they can kind of round out a little.

The only things I can see that you might reduce are the Fibafirst stick and the pellets (even though it’s barely any). Some buns do seem to gain weight from veggies, weirdly enough. Maybe you could alternate which days he gets pellets and which days he gets a Fibafirst stick? And reduce the veggies a bit?

Great! We love to hear updates on how things go!

Fibafirst is kind of rich but half a stick isn’t much. We’d be happy to hear how it goes. If you have access to fresh grass that’s pesticide free, you could substitute maybe half or even a little more of his fresh greens with grass. Grass has the optimum fiber-to-energy-ratio for buns, and this time of year it’s not super nutritious like it is in the spring.

I once had to diet an overweight mini lop. He got hay, a tiny,tiny amount of pellets, fresh grass, a small salad, a few apple twigs to gnaw on each day. Apple twigs are a very good boredome buster for rabbits, and they’re not fattening.

That’s great! I think you can just continue as you have been, losing weight gradually is healthiest for bunnies. Once he gets to his “ideal” weight you can see about adding in certain things and see if it makes a difference. 🙂

Sounds wonderful! As Dana says, rabbits should lose weight slowly. With my bun I gave a little more pellets when he reached his ideal weight and a little more greens. I kept weighing him every week though, and kept a weight diary.

I dont know about calories in different parts of bok choy. It seems like what you are doing works though 😃

Please see here for further reading on weight management: https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Weight_management

I do not think adjusting vegetables really does much for weight, outside perhaps feeling “full” from the water content and potentially not eating as a result. There can be a sort of “magical” thing about a rabbit reaching their ideal/healthy weight– it can tend to stay there due to homeostasis of just the body’s function, so once you’ve reached it, I’d do as Dana suggests and just do some adjustments and see how it goes!

Thank you for this report! Weightloss tips for rabbits are very important and useful!

Fibafirst does contain things that arent “natural” components of a rabbit’s diet, such as wheat flour, soybean flour and ground peas. Since rabbit feed producers as a rule dont declare energy content, I dont know if Fibafirst are extra energy dense. Rabbits tend to go crazy for them, which might be a “bad” sign since rabbits go crazy for food that’s energy dense. I used Fibafirst with my old and poorly bun, but he had difficulty keeping weight on, so his situation was kind of the opposite of Martini’s.

If the alternating between half a stick of Fibafirst and a few pellets seems to be working great for Martini, I’d keep that routine. Id also keep weighing him, at least once a month, preferably once a week.

Glad you figured it out! That is surprising about the sticks, but it makes sense because even if it is mostly fiber, they are much more compact and dense than strands of hay. Plus those starches that Bam mentioned!

It sounds like rotating between those and a few pellets is a good plan!