Pellets and weight

[sarahthegemini]

H guys, As you may know both of my rabbits are currently pellet free due to Buttercup’s recent stasis episode. I’m not sure if I’ll ever put them back on pellets, I suppose it depends on how they get along w/o them. They’re also veggie free although that’s only temporary. I’m going to reintroduce veggies verrry slowly in about a months time. Anyway I suddenly started thinking – will they lose weight being off pellets? They only got 1 and a half tablespoons each anyway so not a huge amount but is this likely to be an issue? I’ll start weighing them every week but if they fluctuate, how will I know if they’ve lost too much? 

[vanessa]

Weigh them now – count it as their baseline. You don’t want them to lose 10% of their current “normal” weight. If “normal is obese, then count “normal as a number 3 on the rabbit weight chart. Yours look just fine judging by your pic. If they have only been getting 1.5Tbsp a day each, I doubt they will have a problem. What brand were you using?
When you do start adding veggies, look up the calories of the veggies, and use that in helping to determine which veggies you want to feed them – if their weight becomes a concern. Rabbits on a hay-only diet that eat plenty of hay – should be fine weight-wise. I would only really worry if your rabbits weren’t eating enough hay.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By vanessa on 5/19/2017 12:01 PM
Weigh them now – count it as their baseline. You don’t want them to lose 10% of their current “normal” weight. If “normal is obese, then count “normal as a number 3 on the rabbit weight chart. Yours look just fine judging by your pic. If they have only been getting 1.5Tbsp a day each, I doubt they will have a problem. What brand were you using?
When you do start adding veggies, look up the calories of the veggies, and use that in helping to determine which veggies you want to feed them – if their weight becomes a concern. Rabbits on a hay-only diet that eat plenty of hay – should be fine weight-wise. I would only really worry if your rabbits weren’t eating enough hay.

Thanks Vanessa, I’ll weigh them when I get home this evening. At Buttercup’s most recent vet visit she was 2.18kg, Peanut hasn’t been weighed since about March time at his routine vet check but he was 1.76kg then. He should be a bit bigger now.

I was using Oxbow natural science pellets. I’m sure they’re both fully grown now, as they’re 9 months old so hopefully there’ll be no issues. They are hay monsters at the moment!

I’ll definitely pay attention to calories and whatnot when I bring veggies back – I can’t wait to be honest, they look so sad at their usual veggie time lol.

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