How to make Lizzie lose weight?

[Deleted User]

Ok, so Lizzie is very large.  I haven’t weighed her yet because we’re letting her settle for a few days first, but you can see in her pictures that she is quite overweight.  When she lays down her belly smooshes all around her.

When we got her from the humane society ALL of the buns had huge bowls full of pellets.  None of them had veggies.

Part of the problem with her being overweight is that she can’t reach her cecals, so now there are a bunch smooshed all over her bum.  She won’t let me clean them off so I’ll have to wait until hubby gets home so he can hold her while I do it.

I know she’s already getting more exercise than she was in the shelter, I could hear making noise this morning and when I got up to look at her she was running laps in her part of the room.  Her cage at the shelter she could barely move in it.

But what should I do now to help her lose weight.  I mean I’m already giving her way less pellets than they did at the shelter, and unlimited hay, but I’m worried about giving her too many veggies too fast since I don’t think she got any while she was there.  Do you think it’s ok to start by giving her a handful of lettuce a day?

And as far as pellets go, I’ve been giving Martin pellets, but since she’s overweight and 6 years old, and Bunny is also 6 years old I was thinking I should switch to the Martin Older and Less Active pellets.  What do you think?

[Moonlight_Wolf]

I think that what you are doing so far is good, Are the Martin pellets Timothy based? If not then you should get her a timothy based pellet.

I think that a handful of lettuce a day is a good start, then just slowly increase them as she gets used to them. I think that she will lose weight in no time, she is getting more exercize and she is getting way less pellets.

Just make sure she has unlimited hay.

It seems like everything you are doing so far is good! Maybe you could spread her pellets around the cage so that she gets even more exercise.

[Sarita]

I think you are definitely on the right track. The activity is good.

With rabbits you want to make sure the weight loss is not rapid anyway because that could cause liver problems. So take it slow and easy and don’t get discouraged if you don’t see what you consider a weight loss quickly. Also rabbits at her age have a totally different build than younger rabbits so you may want to weigh her weekly (not daily) to help you gauge her weight. Of course having a vet scale or a baby scale is going to be much more accurate than what we use since it gives pounds and ounces.

It is good to start slowly with the veggies since as is typical with humane societies they just cannot do veggies.

[RabbitPam]

You might want to try one kind of veggie that’s gentle, just one of the dark leafy lettuces, and stick with that rather than a variety for several weeks.
Timmy pellets are the best, though I am not familiar with the Martin’s you mention (sound like they may be good for her.) The hay will definitely help.

Remember too that a pound in a very small animal is significant. For example, a 5 lb. rabbit that loses one pound loses 20% of its total weight. That’s a lot!
So let her get used to the healthy lifestyle and new options, and slim down slowly.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Martin less active is a good idea

Lots of hay and exercise and veggies-bet she’ll trim right down.

Notice that they run around more when you change things around in their pen or enclosure? Do that more often and rotate toys-that will keep her more stimulated and active

[Deleted User]

I checked on the pellets, and apparently the regular Martin pellets are alfalfa based, and the Less Active Martin pellets are timothy based, so I am going to switch all 3 buns to the Less Active ones (I bought a bag and am mixing the 2 kinds until the bag of the regular stuff is gone). Geez, I wish I would have looked at that before!

I have been putting Lizzie in the hallway/living room area that belongs to the other 2 buns for several hours in the evenings (and keeping Bunny and Alistair in their room during this time). Lizzie seems to love it, she runs up and down the hall and binkies. For such a chubby bun she runs pretty fast. I think she’ll start losing weight quickly without me having to do too much.

I just wish I knew what to do about the cecals that keep sticking to her bum and getting smooshed in her fur since she can’t reach them. She doesn’t like me to touch her butt so I’m not totally sure how to clean them off, and I wish I knew if there was a way to stop it from happening in the first place.

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