Helping Remus lose weight

[SpeedyTomato]

Remus is a big bunny in length and height, but he’s also getting fat.  So far I’ve cut down his pellets (Purina brand) to half a cup a day and I remove what he didn’t eat when I go to bed. Honestly?  He’s not that interested in the pellets unless it’s dumping them over LOL   I’ve cut the veggies down to half of what I was giving him (it’s mostly kale with some romaine lettuce, a few berries of whatever variety I have, a half a carrot and half a banana) a day. Unlimited hay, of course, in both hay form and timothy cubes.  

The issue, I think, is he doesn’t exercise.  Since I got him he hasn’t.  All he knows is a cage.  he was about a year old when I got him.  While he does some running around and binking, chasing the cat, whatever, mostly he just lays around.  I make sure he’s out of the cage a minimum of 6 hours a day even when I have a tight, tight schedule because of work.  I’ve tried all I can think of to get him to do whatever and bought plenty of toys.  Rearranging the room he plays in is done often because he explores more  and runs around when I do.

Any other advice would be most helpful.  Can I cut the pellets completely or does he have to have those?

Thanks

Below is a picture of him and monster sized cat (20+ lbs of old man)

!

[tobyluv]

You could cut back on the pellets, but it would also be good to cut back on the fruit. Rabbits do get certain vitamins and minerals from the pellets. If you were to totally eliminate them, you are supposed to feed a variety of 15 different greens a day.

A half of a banana and a half of a carrot, in addition to some berries every day, is a lot of sugar. Some people recommend that rabbits don’t get any fruit, but you could cut back on the portions and let him have a little bit of fruit each day – either a small piece of carrot or a small piece of banana, plus a berry or two. It would also be good to give him more of a variety of greens. That way, Remus might not miss the fruit so much, plus he would be getting extra nutrients.

Here is a good article on greens, veggies and fruit with lists of ones to try. Go slow, don’t try a lot of new things at once. One new veggie a week would be good. http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

I’m not sure how to get him to exercise more, but that would be helpful.

[SpeedyTomato]

Thanks! Will cut back on the fruit. Will try to add some more greens, but he’s pick in that department and doesn’t like most. He just shoves them out of the way. Let me see what I can find for him. Gone through plenty, like peppers, parsley and several others. Lets see what I can find.

I have no clue how to get him to quit being couch potato bunny. It’s all he knew until I got him and I’ve tried plenty. Just doesn’t work

Thanks!

[Bam]

My couch potato Bam can be made to exercise with a treat ball. So I give him his pellets in the treat ball (when I don’t just hand feed him his pellets as treats). He too needs to get very little pellets and very little fruit. Carrot is to be regarded as a fruit. Berries are lower in sugar than fruit (grapes don’t count as berries though).

Leafy greens like fex romaine, red and green leaf lettuce, dandelion or spinach, and fragrant herbs are very low cal, so there’s no need to cut back on those. When I had to diet my Bam he got lots of fresh low cal veg so he’d not be so hungry. The amount should be increased gradually-all dietary changes for a bun need to be done gradually to not cause tummy trouble.

[SpeedyTomato]

Thanks! Tried the treat ball bit and it was ignored the same with homemade things like stuffing the food in papertowel tubes and such.

Cutting down on the amount for him. And will give him more greens.

Thanks for the advice!

[Bam]

You don’t necessarily need to give up on the treat ball yet -it took my Bam 1,5 YEARS to figure out how to work it

(I kind of wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not.)

[SpeedyTomato]

will keep trying the same with other things I have and hope LOL

[Author]

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