Do you think this experiment would be safe?

[Q8bunny]

Ok. So Chewie is just shy of 2kg and has been for all his full-grown life.

He’s very active and eats lots of hay plus pellets, assorted fresh leafy greens, and the odd treat (whatever happens to come his way or be nicked from Mom).

According to his body weight, since he’s at the low end of the 4+lbs category, he should be getting 1/4cup Oxbow pellets per day. He gets 2tbsp (two thirds that quantity) instead, split over two meals.

But I’ve noticed that when we happen to run out of pellets and he gets less for a day or two, his poops are nicer in colour (more speckled with hay bits and golden brown instead of darker uniform brown). Which leads me to wonder if he’s getting too much pellet even as it is?

I’m considering gradually reducing his per-meal pellet quantity every few days until I hit that sweet spot where his poops become magical.

What I worry about is how this will affect his health – I don’t want him nutrient-deficient, especially for things like vitamin D3 while the weather is still too hot to go outside regularly.

Any thoughts, oh bunny sages?

I’d message my vet but she’s out of cell phone range on a cat sailing holiday in Thailand (lucky lump).

[Rosie and Ellie]

A couple of months ago my vet suggested gradually cutting down pellets to about a table spoon per bunny to avoid stasis. (Both of my girls weight about the same as your bun)
I didn’t notice a big difference in poops so far, but we did stop the decrease recently because Rosie lost a tiny bit of weight and because we are trying to eliminate a bunch of possibilities for her fur loss.
Personally, I freak out about every small thing so I’d definitely talk to the vet first.

[Azerane]

When Bandit was having a couple bouts of stasis my vet recommended I cut him back from 1/4 cup daily, to 1 tablespoon. Bandit weighed 3.2kg, he remained on 2 tablespoons after that. Personally for me, I don’t think it’s going to matter. 1 tablespoon will still have nutrients, and he’ll be getting nutrients from his veggies as well. If you are particularly worried about it you could discuss it with your vet, or at least invest in a digital scale that you can weigh him on. Weigh him a few times over the course of a couple days first to get his current weight, then weekly weighing after you begin the cut back should be enough to make sure he’s not losing too much weight.

There are many bunnies that don’t get fed any pellets at all and simply get a large variety of leafy greens every day along with their hay.

[Q8bunny]

That sounds sensible.

Magical poops, here we come!

[LittlePuffyTail]

Magical poops!! Lol, that made me crack up….

Bindi and Olivia, when she was with me, only got about 1 TBSP of pellets due to vet’s advice to reduce them due to repeated GI issues. My vet is pretty anti-pellets. The reduction of pellets did reduce the frequency of stasis. Although, I wish Bindi could be on much more pellets so it wouldn’t be so hard to keep his weight up.

[LBJ10]

I wouldn’t be too worried. Give it a shot and see what happens. You might find it necessary to up the veggies a bit though to make up for it.

[Q8bunny]

LPT: But you know what I’m talkin’ about…

LBJ: Started yesterday morning with breakfast. Keeping track by plopping daily in mixing bowl on digital scale (man, I gotta be quick about it – the cookie dough keeps wanting to run away lol). The Chewster usually loves big salads anyways – my bun is a little pig. Loves to eat pretty much anything and seems to have iron guts *touch wood*

[Q8bunny]

Aaand the magic quantity seems to be 2tsps twice a day. Picture perfect poos three days running now.

[LBJ10]

That’s great Q8!

[Azerane]

That’s fantastic Glad to hear it’s worked out well.

[jerseygirl]

Good to hear Q8. Im late to comment here but I definitely agree it’s safe to reduce his pellets. Also wanted to add, he’d be getting some vitamin D from his hay.

[Bam]

Kiss the little darling from me!

[Q8bunny]

Will do, Bam.
At the moment I’m stretched out on the bed reading BB and the furball is busy licking the back of my knee.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Great to hear Q8! It’s true: going easy on the pellets is better for most bunnies. Especially the ones with a tendency to get chubby. We’ve switched to mostly hay and leafy veg nowadays, with a tablespoon of pellets in the morning in a treat ball. Perfect poops ever since, and he slimmed down so much that he’s now at his optimum weight

[Q8bunny]

The Chewster’s weight is perfect and hasn’t changed. Just the beauty of his poos Either way, I’m happy and he’ll be happier I think in terms of continued long-term tum wellness

[Author]

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