Feeling like a bad Bunny Mum

[angelicvampyre]

Ok so i have been talking to alot of people about what to feed my Bunnies and finally my vet said to go down to the rabbit clinic and talk to them as he said I had my guys on the wrong mix.

First I have to find the place ARGHHHHH then I find them and take in pictures of my Bunnies and we are talking and basically a complete change in diet is needed .  So over $100 later (and the lady did tell me where to buy stuff cheaper but I decided it was going to cost more in petrol and time to find cheaper places) i left with a new diet for Both Bunnies.  However due to the age gap they have to have different mixes so then I had to find some place to buy boxes to store the mixes in and then had to come home and mix the mixes and the only bag of oaten chaff I could find stands ABOVE my waist and I am 5’3″ so it’s HUGE and i am going to be using this stuff for the next 100 years!

Anyone in Victoria Australia that wants to small amount of oaten chaff?  You can come pick some up for a few bucks!

So yeah new diet (which i have to wean them onto over 12 weeks) and then I found out that they have to get booster of their vaccines 4 weeks after the original and then every 10 months which is going to be more money (not that I mind spending it but hey) so I just bit the bullet and booked them in down there in two weeks time to ge the boosters and that way i don’t have to take Anya down twice before her desexing.

Also the vet and the vet nurse looked at my photos of bugz and do not believe that he is a netherland dwarf!  But they are not sure what he is so guess they will have a guess when i am next down there with them!

[Monkeybun]

he’s got a nethie look to him, with a bit bigger ears, so probably a mix.

[angelicvampyre]

really at he end of the day does not matter what he is he is my baby but still it was like “oh but i was told he was a dwarf”

[feeona]

sometimes these things come as a shock hey , i know how it feels to get fired at money wise , i recently just went through all that it was very frustraiting. sit down with your buns and all will be forgotten

[angelicvampyre]

I jsut feel like all my money is being spent at the vets at the moment! In the past 2 months i spent $5000 on my birds and my three most important ones passed away through no fault of my own (one from PBFD, One from Old Age and one from a stroke) but because of the PBFD I had to get all my other birds tested and at that stage I had close to 200! but least I know now i am doing the right things by my bunnies

[Beka27]

The vet consulted with you about your rabbits thru pictures? Is this a common practice where you live?

[angelicvampyre]

Beka27 nope it is not. They said to bring down pictures, weight and age so that they could make sure that I had the breed right (which i did not as it seems) to make recommendation on feeding. They get alot of people who say they have breed X and it weighs X and that is in the normal weight range an example of this is a Netherland Dwarf should weigh around 1kg, Bugz weighs in at 1.7kgs so he is either a really fat ND or he is not an ND by taking a picture down they can make sure we are infact talking about the right breed. They had one lady who brought in pictures of her mini lop only to find out that he was as standard rex and she had been starving him because due to what she read on websites he was over weight. it was not a vet consultat the vet nurse does feed recommendations for free (granted they then sell you the feed) they just ask you bring in certain details and i understand now why.

[jerseygirl]

They charged $100 for the consultation or was that for the food etc?
Is the booster for Calici virus? My vaccination info reads “ Rabbits should be vaccinated against calici virus at 10-12 weeks of age. If they need to be done before 10 weeks of age due to possible exposure in the risk period between 6-10 wks of age then they need to be done again 1 month later.
After the initial course of vaccinations, Annual Booster vacc will provide the best protection for your rabbit”

So isn’t it just Anya that will need the booster in 4 weeks? You can get them done more frequently that once a year too as adults. Up to you. I did this once with Jersey as they’d be an outbreak and mutated version of the virus had been released. Grrrr!!!
Little tip: Sometimes social rabbit club shows offer calici shots cheap this time of year. I discovered this recently but missed out as it had just been. They had a qualified vet there and you could take you rabbit in and have them done for $15. Too bad for me – I’ll have to go to vet next month and fork out the $$’s

[angelicvampyre]

Nope that was for the food, i got pellets and a HUGE bag of hay (which my guys eat!) and a bag to keep it in which is water proof as Bugz peed all over the last lot i got! Due to Anya age they want to do her twice, also as bugz came from a backyard breeder the vet feels we are better off to do him as well to be on the safe side and i agree (it’s only an extra $12). The vaccinations only cost $12. The first time you go there it cost $70 new client fee which i will have to pay next time but after that they are not that bad. They are a little on the pricey side to desex a rabbit however they are one of the few clincs that send you home with pain meds (not that it would have helped Bugz as he is allergic to pain meds as it seem!)

[bunnytowne]

OH wow I love that little gray bunny.   HE is the same color as my pet rabbit Mister I had when I was young

[jerseygirl]

So what is it you now give them? You know, I had look at online site of the clinic (I think it’s the one) and their info promotes hay/veg diet. Yet they do diet recommendations & sell pellets? Is it only for younger rabbits perhaps?

[angelicvampyre]

My guys mix is as follows
Unlimited Hay (and they eat this stuff)
Veggies approx 2 cups per rabbit per day
Anya 1/4 a cup of pellets, Bugz 1/8 a cup of pellets
1 cup oaten chaff
1/2 cup crap petshop mix (that they both where on when i got them)

I have to then reduce the petshop mix to 1/4 a cup after 12 weeks and then 1/8 a cup and then nothing, at that time they would also reccommend that I reduce the amount of pellets that they get till they are off them as well. At the moment both my rabbits search the mix and eat all the pellets first so this is why we are doing this so not to shock their system

[MooBunnay]

That sounds like a very good diet that they recommend, other than I don’t know what Oaten chaff is…there is also a diet section on this site you can refer too, it has a lot of good information on what veggies to feed or not feed. Your bunny looks very netherland dwarf-ish to me with those short little ears, but I agree that there is probably a little something else mixed in there if he is bigger than a regular netherland dwarf. Regardless, you can’t really rely too much on weight to determine if your bunny is healthy, but more their shape and their behavior, so I don’t think it is too important that you know the exact breed.

[angelicvampyre]

Oaten Chaff is just Oaten Hay cut up into little chunks, for some reason they like it but you have to make sure that they still chew as if is sort of the same thing but they don’t need to chew it as well. For some reasons the Bunnies think it is great

[jerseygirl]

I know you’ve been trying to find the “right” diet for them and I’m sorry if this confuses things but I do have to question the recommendations for Anya. How old is she? 5-6weeks? I’d be concerned about 2 cups of veg for her…………How has she been going on them?. Also the limiting of pellets although if she’s good with eating hay this might not be to much of a prob. This sites recommendations are based on House Rabbit Society guidelines so I’ll quote them here:

What quantities of food should I feed babies and “teenagers”?
Birth to 3 weeks–mother’s milk
3 to 4 weeks–mother’s milk, nibbles of alfalfa and pellets
4 to 7 weeks–mother’s milk, access to alfalfa and pellets
7 weeks to 7 months–unlimited pellets, unlimited hay (plus see 12 weeks below)
12 weeks–introduce vegetables (one at a time, quantities under 1/2 oz.)

Of course it is just guidelines. I know it can get confusing with the different information “out there”. The veggies are the thing to watch though – not too much too fast. That’s info I’ve come across alot.

[angelicvampyre]

Hey we think she is around 6 weeks. She is a great veggie eater and she will go for them over anything else so that is why they said to keep them up to her

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I must be missing something? The bunny is only six weeks old? Or you’ve had her for six weeks? They should be with mom until eight weeks at least… I must be missing something or reading that wrong.

As moobunny said-it’s more shape and size-not wieght. Because even if your bunny is a purebreed, he may very well not fit in those categories anyways You should be able to see a ‘tuck’ around the ‘waist’ from above. Ribs should not be seen. Extra fat is easy to notice around the belly. etc.

[angelicvampyre]

yes we believe that she is only 6 weeks old. In another thread I explained, the vet did try and put her back on milk but she is not intrested she is a rescue when her mother hid her and got sold byt he pet shop and they did not know she was still in the cage

[Author]

Messages