Fat or bloated?

[Deleted User]

Sorry that this is long, but I want to give as much background info as possible to determine whether one of my rabbits is fat and lazy or actually suffering from bloat.

Just over a year ago I brought home my first bunnies, Hermione & Matilda. They were from a local store but luckily they appear to be healthy and happy. I think they are lion head crosses, and they are both spayed. I feed them a selection of kale, black kale, spinach, carrot, broccoli (very occasionally if left over from cooking), strawberry tops (again occasional). I also have a subscription to the Happy Bunny Club (a UK based monthly box delivery) which provides a selection of dried herbs, veg and fruit which they have every so often as a treat or as a small meal if the veg has run out. 

Hermione is very active. She loves being out of the hutch and chewing anything she can get her little teeth on! She binkies and runs and flops on the floor. She eats anything, except for one time when cabbage gave her diarrhoea, so now no cabbage! She lets me pick her up for a cuddle but isn’t interested in lying with me, she’s much to busy for that. 

Matilda on the other hand is less active. She eats with gusto, especially pellets (I feed them Burgess adult) and hay. With veggies she tends to be a bit slower to start eating than Hermione, sometimes turning her nose up at things like Spinach. Matilda doesn’t appreciate being handled as much. She’ll allow it but when you initially pick her up she holds her back legs stiff and they shake with the effort, it’s quite odd, and after as soon as you’ve settled you can tell she wants to get down. They both love a good petting session though, and will indicate they want it but sitting nose to nose if I’m nearby, and such attention can go on for up to 30 minutes until my arms get tired!  They appear to get along well and both groom the other, though sometimes one rushes at the other and they sit on separate levels of the hutch – it’s usually Matilda who rushes at Hermione. Matilda sometimes humps Hermione as well, but there’s no clumps of fur or fighting so I’m not concerned. I assumed I just had two wonderful if different bunnies.

A couple of months ago I began to feel Matilda was larger than Hermione, around her tummy and rump especially. Like she was more pear shaped. I joked about her being lazy as when Hermione is out of the hutch Matilda will often stay inside, she does crazy runs around the hutch sometimes so it’s not like she never binkies but it is much rarer. She will venture out of the hutch but she’s very slow to jump over the small bars under the door onto their bridge to the floor. She’ll look out for a while and size it up before attempting it. When she is out she doesn’t run, but hops slowly as if she doesn’t like the floor – it’s laminate though I have rugs down – so I assume she doesn’t feel sure on her feet. Sometimes she’ll go a bit nuts and run from the hutch onto an arm chair next to it onto the floor and straight back again, but this is rare. Most of the day she’s laid in the same spot of the hutch, stretched out fully either favouring her right side or fully on her front with her back feet straight out behind her. Very occasionally if Hermione is lying with her she flops onto her back. So she appears lazy but not unhappy.

I took them to the vets a few weeks ago for their vaccinations and my vet picked her up and said “oooh fat bunny!” When she saw the worried look on my face she smiled and said don’t worry, and when weighed she was heavier than Hermione (I can’t remember the weights) but within normal range. Now since then I have been feeling Matilda’s stomach and it always feels quite firm to the touch, like a little balloon. I’m really worried she may actually be bloated. I do sometimes hear gurgling in the hutch, not often, but I couldn’t say which rabbit it is. There’s lots of poops with both of them so it’s impossible to tell which is which, but they are both good with the letter box and I see them both going into it, or leaving some behind where they’ve been sat, and though sometimes they can be a bit small and dark or attached together by fur, on the whole they are healthy in appearance. I picked up Matilda this morning, which I don’t normally do because I know she’s not keen on it, and think her belly was a bit bloated. I tried to rub it for her but she was not having it. Her tummy definitely isn’t flabby, it’s firm and rounded. She didn’t chatter her teeth or give indications of being pain, but clearly didn’t like it, but I can’t say if that was because she was uncomfortable or was unhappy that I was prodding her!

Any advice would be appreciated! Sorry for the long post but I thought the detail would help.

[Bam]

Bloat is an extremely painful condition with a very high fatality rate. A bunny with bloat will scream with pain. It’s a veterinary emergency if the worst kind.
Your bunny might have gas. It’s not as innocent as it sounds, the gas needs to get out. Tummy massages and baby gas drops (simethicone) are generally recommended and most often very helpful.
It seems like you have two buns with different personalities and as would be expected, the more sedentary one is the chubbier one. That’s not uncommon.
A healthy bunny tummy should feel like good bread dough. I got this from our member Redbunbun who’s had to plunge deep into the subject of bunny tummies due to her bun Sukka having a hereditary condition called megacolon. I think it’s a great description of how a healthy bunny tummy should feel.
Ultimately gas is a symptom of an underlying problem. Too little dietary fiber or difficulty chewing tough food properly due to dental issues (molar spurs) are two common reasons for recurring gas.

[Deleted User]

Thank you Bam Would you have any recommendations for giving a rather aloof bun who doesn’t like being held a tummy massage? There’s no way I could put her on her back, she just wouldn’t let me.

[Bam]

Don’t put your bun on its back, that’s very scary for them. I can’t link from my phone, but if you google “massage pet bunny” you’ll find a very nice little YouTube video called “How To Massage Your Pet Rabbit”. You will of course have to adapt the method to suit your bunny, all buns are individuals

[redbunbun]

Our rabbit Sukka, mentioned earlier on by bam, also has issues with gas. True bloat is pretty much guaranteed to be easily distinguishable from a case of gas – if the bunny is really, truly bloated, you will notice. They will distinctly be in agony, and will refuse food and their behavior will be radically different. Their stomach will also be protruding and feel like there’s a big balloon stuck in there. Gas is much more mild, even though it can also cause discomfort and is still a serious condition, which can of course develop into bloat if not caught early. Gas causes the gurgles you’ve been hearing, and it can also cause a distended belly that’s not quite as dramatic as true bloat, but still feels a bit “funny”, harder than it should and not as pliable, but not quite a balloon. It can also cause lumps in the rabbits sides and it can make the rabbit look fat, to the extent that sometimes a gassy rabbit’s stomach will be almost flabby, like (returning to the dough metaphor!) dough that is too loose. That has happened with our Sukka, for instance.

Recently, I have actually stopped doing tummy massages on rabbits with intestinal gas after hearing some horror stories from someone far more experienced with megacolon rabbits than I. In mild cases of gas, the massage will certainly help speed things along, if done properly. However, the rabbit intestine is extremely delicate, and if there’s even a tad too much gas in there or the masseuse isn’t very experienced, a massage can actually lead to gut perforation, which is invariably fatal.

There is anecdotal evidence of simethicone working on gassy rabbits, though not much in the way of veterinary studies. However, we’ve asked our very rabbit-savvy vet, and she agrees that the chance of it helping is worth giving it to the rabbit, as it will not do any harm. The best treatment for gas is always exercise, though! Even if the rabbit doesn’t really feel like it, gently coaxing it to move about will get the gas moving far better than any other remedy could.

The most important thing in gas treatment is prevention, though. Usually, gas is caused by dietary factors – actually, Burgess Excel is what was causing our Sukka to have gas. While it is an excellent food, it doesn’t suit everyone. We switched to Supreme Science Selective and Sukka has felt better ever since! In your shoes, I would record what Matilda eats every day and what times she eats it, and when she has episodes of gassy tummy. That way, you can maybe start to notice a pattern and you can isolate what is causing her gas and remove it from her diet.

[Deleted User]

Thanks so much!

I’ve been keeping an eye on them and also just rubbing Matilda’s tummy a little bit, on the sides, when I pet her – like a sneaky feel haha! This way I just get her used to the contact as part of some affection and it seems to be working She’s definitely not displaying any signs of unease or pain, but through doing this I’ve noticed the feel of her tummy changing, sometimes the bloated tummy I felt before, but sometimes more normal and doughy. I’ve also reduced their pellets, and am taking her out to force her to hop around a bit more.

I think there’s a bit of improvement and I’ll just keep an eye on it from now on. Thanks so much for your input – I’ve just bought a big new bag of Burgess how annoying, haha! 

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