As some may know I adopted Nellie in May. She was rescued from living in a single hutch with 4 other female rabbits (all unspayed!) in rather unsanitary conditions… Poor thing. She is about 5/6 years old so has had many years to develop all kinds of possible issues that come from poor care, she also likely got little to no hay.
I’ve always known shes a little overweight but thought with a good diet she would improve… Upon closer inspection she bigger than I actually thought, her massive coat makes it hard to tell but when she floops she looks huge…. She also breaths quite rapidly, initially thought to be anxiety related when we are around but now we can get close to her while shes resting its become obvious that the fast breathing is all the time… Perhaps this is related to her weight. She generally fine otherwise always seems super comfy and eats lots of hay, no apparent ailments or illness. Shes not really active although runs around fine when its food time or occasionally to explore the lounge. The only thing I need to double check is the presence of sore hocks, she appears fine but I’ve recently read that they can actually be hidden underneath fur.
Shes about 2.3 kilos, which is large for a lion head. Glenn on the big side for a lion head in both, length and weight, he’s super healthy and trim hes just muscley from a life time of running up and down stairs ect and just a large lionhead… But even he is only 1.9kg . I also did a body condition test on both and I can’t feel Nellies spine easily at all!
So basically are there anyways I can help her excercise? Or tricks that can be done to help overweight rabbits? Can rabbuts use treadmills like dogs or something similar? Honestly I’m not sure if anything diet related would help as she is already restricted to 8 science selective pellets a day and a teaspoon of natures touch pellet forage mix in the evening.
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