Thank you for adopting this bunny! It seems like he really needs you =)
When switching a bun over to a healthier diet, it’s important to take it slow. Rabbits can otherwise refuse to eat the new food or eat so little of it that they go into gastro-intestinal stasis. A slow transition is especially important when a bunny is over-weight. Even though the colorful seed mix is rather abhorrent to a true bunny lover, it’s what his gut is used to – so you should taper it out by gradually mixing in more and more of the good Oxbow pellets. Keep a close eye on his poop – amount, size, consitency and also color of poop are all important clues to a bunny’s wellbeing. If he eats too little he could get “peppercorn poop” and that means there’s not enough food in his tummy.
Has he eaten any hay since you got him? I won’t bore you with the importance of hay since you have a chinchilla, just want to mention that a bun that has never had hay before can have difficulty extracting nourishment from hay. Rabbits make starch and sugar from hay just like horses do, but for that, their cecum needs to have the right microorganisms in the right proportions. This microflora needs a little time to establish. This is the reason why a bun that’s never had hay before and is put on a hay-only diet can actually starve, even if it eats the hay.
As for vegs and fruit – it’s perfectly normal for a bun to be suspicious of new food. You often have to present new food items many times before the bunny ventures to have a nibble. Once that has happened, there’s often no stopping them. Raspberries are good treats for a chubby bun, they are low in sugar, but banana is very high in calories and should be fed in very small amounts, if at all while he’s trying to lose a bit of weight.
It’s good if you can weigh him weekly and keep notes of his weight. I have weighed my buns in a bowl on normal kitchen digital scales. It’s very difficult to visually assess a bun’s weightloss or -gain, because there’s so much fluff. With a lion head there’s really a lot of fluff, and that makes it extra difficult.
We’d love to hear more about your new bun and your life together!
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