poof has lost alot of weight

[Samus]

for about 6 months poof has been on owbow’s bunny food aswell as kayette hay. within the last months i got another rabbit i mentioned

 

 

but now poof has lost alot of weight, hes pretty boney and im sure hes below three pounds, (hes usually 3.2 pounds)  i dont have a scale to weight him though. apfel is fine, hes always had a boney butt.

 

just recently though oxbow has been causeing problems with some of my rats (their regal rat formula) they dropped weight and within a few hours lost her life. and now my rabbits are dropping weight? i really couldnt picture my life without poof… he is really my baby and the first pet i had on my ‘own’ that wasnt in a fishtank.  im trying to switch them slowly onto Smallworld rabbit food. its really not the best i know, but right now i am finically beat. what would you guys suggest to get poof on track? a good food even.. anyone try manapro? how is that?

 

my vets always seem to not know much at all and put me through samples and tests and nothing ever comes up. he usually gets spinach carrots and some mint, but even that is running low right now.

 

really this rabbit is my boyfriend :C anything fatting will help too

[Tate]

Is he on the alfalfa based Oxbow or timothy? And how old is poof?
I’m having a similar problem. Velvateen was 1.9 lbs in March and is now 1.1 lbs… EEk!
You could try adding in an alfalfa based pellet, if that’s not what he’s eating right now or switch brands altogether and stick with timothy. I like Zupreem a lot, which is timothy based. Also, Kaytee Rainbow Exact has been getting some “buzz” because of a rabbit nutrition book that just came out. It is alfalfa based. There’s some support for it and some against it, mainly because it has artificial coloring. But you could keep it in mind.
Does Poof eat well? Do you see him eating hay and pellets often? It could be a dental issue if he doesn’t seem to eat much. You would have to take him to the vet for them to check out his molars.

[Samus]

well i kinda have something agaisnt kaytee :c they use a chemical perservitve that gives cancer to humans and rodents. even though buns arent rodents i just bleh. couldnt do it. when i first got poof i had him on zupreem i just for somereason thought it was cool to switch to oxbow, the timothy based one. poofers is around 3 years old, i got him when he was estimated to be 2 years old. he eats well, he enjoys eating and inhales veggies, when i brought him to the vet for loseing a smidge of weight last year he mentioned poof had a minor point to one of his molars and if he ever slows down in eating to bring him back, but since then that vet left practice and poof still eats normaly.  he really isnt into hay that much, i mean he eats it daily but apfel seems to clear out a shoebox full in a day. apfel is also a bigger rabbit though so- but yeah the only reason i asked about manapro is because it was the same price for a ten pound oxbow bag, just for 50 pounds.

[Tate]

If he’s had a molar spur already, even a tiny one, I’d take him back to the vet. From what I understand, rabbits don’t necessarily stop eating altogether when they get a spur, they just pick their favorite foods and don’t bother with ones (like hay) they don’t like too much because it hurts.
Kaytee is an…. odd brand. :\ I don’t blame you for not wanting to give it to Poof. I haven’t seen Manna Pro, but their website looks like it’s really geared towards breeding and show rabbits. They often have different needs, nutrition-wise, and they don’t live as long as pet house rabbits. I’d stay away from foods that are targeted for this audience.
It seems like more and more brand name pellets are including odd ingredients. Oxbow added lignin sulfonate recently which is used on roads as a dust control agent and soil stabilization… yikes! It’s ingredient #7 too. I *think* Kaytee has taken out the carcinogen but I don’t remember where I saw that.

[Samus]

oh wow i dont like that at all, well i checked on them a little awhile ago and they were loungeing around and barley touched their new food, then i discoverd they were both pretty swollen but doughy, they both have pretty bad gas so they got some simethicone and massages, im done with smallworld, i also was an awesome pet mom and bought alfla and not timothy.

 

im def gonna go for supream

[Sarita]

Definitely have his molars rechecked. I believe anyway that KT rainbow pellet is being discontinued – the KT Timothy does not contain the preservative you mention any longer, but it’s not the best pellet anyway on the market.

It’s entirely possible that the weight is not related to the pellets and whatever the cause is coincidence. Only a necropsy on your rats could show a possible cause of their deaths.

[LoveChaCha]

the kaytee timothy isn’t bad at all. i use that one for my rabbit and from what i read someplace in bb, the cancerous additive is not in that formula. there is always american pet diner pellets too.

[Samus]

i trust the hay its just the pellets, blech. but yeah i just need something that wont cause problems really, now even more so that they are both gas ballons and all.

 

so zuupreem is on my list. mazuri is alalfa based. i just cant seem to think of anything now. even l&m has no timothy. this sucks. even bulk food is appericated. cause my big boy snorts bags in under a week.

[jerseygirl]

cause my big boy snorts bags in under a week.

Are the boys together? Could he be eating Poofs share?

[Tate]

You could try Oxbow BeneTerra. I think I’m going to attempt to switch to that. It is extremely limited in ingredients. The only thing I’m cautious of in sunflower meal and canola meal, although I *think* this is really just fat… not totally harmful if you’re limiting pellets.

[KatnipCrzy]

Pellets in an adult rabbits diet should not impact the weight as greatly as not eating hay or veggies I would think. My bunnies get such a small amt that even if I were to discontinue pellets- I think they would maintain the weight they are at. Sounds like time for a vet visit. It is possible to have a bunny that needs pellets to keep on weight- but the reverse is so much more likely- pellets causing
overweight. Switching pellets to lesser quality might mask any problem rather than cure it.

[Author]

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