Underweight 4 & 1/2 month old mini lop

[bizziel]

Hi everyone

This is my first time post on the forum and i was hoping to get some advice about my girl house-bunny Coco.

Coco is a 4 and a half month old Mini lop (unneutered). She currently weighs just 900g (that’s about 2 lbs in old money) and when you hold her she feels a lot thinner, more delicate and less muscular than my other bunny Harvey (who is a Netherland dwarf cross something or other and 7 months old). You can feel her spine when you hold her. She is energetic and happy and very cute and friendly. However, I am concerned that she is so small and wondered:

a) is she very small for her age and breed?

b) how can I help her to gain weight?

I currently feed her on as much hay as she will eat, an egg cup of pellets (Burgess excel junior) and about 2 cups of fresh veg (varies day to day but a mix of spring greens, brocolli, carrot tops, green beans, about an inch or carrot at most, baby corn, sugar snap peas)

Coco loves pellets, she goes mad and scoffs them eally quickly, but when i feed her lots of them (say 2 egg cups full), she stops eating hay and she stops eating her soft poos. She is not a great hay eater at the best of times and when i took her to the vet he said to try to encourage her to eat hay as her teeth are fine at the moment but are getting a build up and could lead to spurs and dental problems if she doesn’t eat lots of hay. Also, i know the soft poos are important for tummy health so i don’t want her to stop eating them.

I want to get Coco neutered so I can bond her with Harvey (neutered male). The smaller she is the more danger from having the operation and the vet says she needs to be at least 1kg before he will do it. I would rather keep them separate than have a risk of her dying in surgery.

The vet said an egg cup of pellets is plenty, and thats what i give Harvey too. The vet recommended trying the burgess cubes, but Coco just tore them to pieces and ate the pellet bits, leaving the hay.

So basically, I want to feed her up to make sure she is growing properly and getting the nutrition she needs. Can anyone recommend a good food to help her gain weight?

Thanks

Liz 

 

 

[Beka27]

Her diet sounds pretty good. She’s still young, so she may “fill out” within the next couple months, or she may just be a smaller lop.

I’m guessing you are in the UK. Over there, the “mini lop” is comparable to the “holland lop” over here.

The US mini lop averages about 6 pounds (2.72 kg). The UK mini lop is tiny and will average about 3 pounds (1.4 kg) full-grown!

An experienced vet will have no issue spay/neutering a smaller rabbit. If your current vet isn’t comfortable doing the procedure, I would seek out a second opinion.

[bizziel]

Thanks Beka, thats really put my mind at rest. Hopefully she will pick up a bit more weigh in the next few weeks. I’ve heard there’s a very good rabbit vet about 20 miles away so maybe i’ll check with her if Coco doesn’t fill out much more.

Yes, i’m in the UK. I didn’t realise there was a difference in the breeds, but sounds like they are really different. That helps explain why i’ve found so much contradicting when i looked into this online.

[Beka27]

Yeah, the difference in breeds can be really confusing! Try doing a Google image search for “mini lop UK” and “mini lop US”… BIG DIFFERENCE!!!

Rabbits will usually reach their full “frame” size at about 6 months, but continue to add a bit of weight until about a year old. Vets won’t usually spay females until 6 months anyways, so you have time. Keep her on her healthy diet.

[bizziel]

Wow, just googled images, that is a big difference!

Thanks for your help. think i’ll wait a couple of months and see how she gets on :0)

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