Is my bunny underweight?

[dobun]

I have recently started worrying about my bunny Doki. He is approximately 8 months old, and we adopted him a few weeks ago. I’ve started wondering if he is underweight. He has a dent at the bottom of his stomach and near his leg. I can feel the bones of his legs if I touch them in the right spots, but no bones anywhere on his body are visible. His coat has also been patchy recently, as you can see in the pictures.

We feed him about 2 big handfuls of leafy greens like romaine lettuce every day, as well as about a tablespoon or two of pellets. He also gets a few small slices of carrot and sometimes a bit of fruit. He has access to unlimited hay and water.

I think the culprit might be us overgrooming him (is that a thing?). We use the hairbuster brush everyday on him, but we don’t groom out a lot of fur everyday. I think we might be grooming him too much, even though he seems to be shedding a lot and the summer months are upon us. It’s possible that he has lost so much fur that it looks like he lost weight.

He is acting normally, binkying, flopping, running around, etc. He does go quite crazy over his pellets or treats, but I think bunnies are just like that. We’re trying to avoid social interaction at the moment, so we’re reaching out online before a potential vet trip.

[pinkiemarie]

Hard to tell from the pictures and rabbits can be a little hard to tell anyway. My vet is doing parking lot drop offs and you can’t even go in with the animals so it’s pretty safe. They would be able to confirm if he’s proper weight plus check his teeth and all that jazz since he’s new. I do think maybe he could use more pellets although if he has unlimited hay then he certainly isn’t starving. I do about 1/4 cup of pellets per bun per day and I think other people do about that much, but some people do none so it’s hard to say! I do half if the pellets in the morning and half at night, with a salad both times and hay 24/7. But since he’s new please check with the vet and see if you can do the parking lot think. It’s always a good idea to get any new animal checked regardless.

[Wick & Fable]

It can definitely be just from grooming. Rabbits lose a really thick coat due to the summer weather, so that actually looks quite natural to me. As long as the fur is coming out easily and any bare skin exposed looks healthy, you’re helping your rabbit shed their coat and not eat it!

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[dobun]

Thank you guys! I’ll take him to the vet for a checkup as soon as possible. I’ll see if I need to feed a little bit more pellets.

[LBJ10]

Considering his age, he could have his adult coat coming in. The texture can change during this time. Small bunnies stop growing around 6 months of age, larger bunnies continue to grow longer than that. Even though they are done growing in size, young bunnies tend to look lean until they fill out a bit at around 9-12 months (depending on breed size). This has been my experience anyway.

[Louiethebunny]

I agree with what’s already said. My bun is 6 mo and is pretty lean but eats a healthy diet and is still growing.

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