Is my rabbit at a healthy weight?

[cottontaillover]

So I just weighed my female cottontail rabbit and she was 5.1 pounds. I can see her shoulders and hips. I can feel but cannot see her Ilium bones. A female wild cottontail weighs about 2.5 – 4.4 pounds. I feed her unlimited hay, 1 treat per day, 1/4th cup of pellet every other day, and on the days she does not have pellets she gets lettuce. Should she be skinnier, fatter, or is she at a perfect weight?

[Mocha]

How old is she? 5 pounds sounds good to me. Rabbits in the wild exercise a lot and mainly only eat grass. If she is older than 6 months, I would feed her more vegetebales other than lettuce. Parsley, cilantro, watercress etc. are all good.

[MoveDiagonally]

Are you sure she’s a wild rabbit/cottontail? Keeping cottontails as pets is illegal in most places. But a lot of domestic rabbits can have the coloring and look of a cottontail.

Healthy weights often vary from bunny to bunny. What’s healthy for one rabbit of a breed might not be whats healthy for another. If you haven’t had a physical done with a vet then I would do that as it will give you a much better idea of what’s healthy for your rabbit.

[cottontaillover]

I rescued her from a man who kept her outside with no pertection and he beat her daily. I am about 99% sure she is a cottontail. I think she is 5 years old.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I would go with a vet opinion on how well your rabbits weight is.

It’s not like there are set weights per breed; There are weight ideals per breed-for showing standards. Obviously a cottontail won’t have a show standard weight; and a show standard weight is not really an indication of health anyways. As a large sized rabbit could measure within the ideal showing weight but be underweight for his frame as he’s larger than ideal (if that illustrates properly!)

Ideally your vet should advise you based on a body score measurement, and tell you if your rabbit is doing ok or needs to gain or lose weight.

[Sarita]

Well that sounds too large for a real cottontail rabbit – do you have a photo of her?

[LongEaredLions]

Yes-the cottontail rabbits at my house are smaller than my guinea pigs. 5 pounds is much too large.
I believe there is a rabbit weight calculator that tells you the weight your bun should be- let me see if I can find it.

[Megabunny]

How much more would you cut her back on food? Certainly doesn’t sound obese and I wouldn’t give any less. I’d vary the diet with more than just lettuce on the off days. I think most people here give pellets daily if they give pellets at all. I no doubt give too many pellets, unless there is a stomach issue, but mine haven’t had weight issues and if you have to question if she’s overweight I doubt she is. Would love to see a pic

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