# I have trouble keeping my rabbits in condition



## Kati's Holland Lops (Jan 20, 2014)

Help I want to enter them I'm the state fair
And I have trouble keepin them in condition ( weight wise) how can I improve their weight???


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## **SRonchi1 (Jan 21, 2014)

I use a sprinkle of oats and a sprinkle of lucerne chaff mixed with meadow chaff for my disabled bunny as a little extra besides her pellets to keep her weight & nutrition up. Depending on the age and circumstance of you buns I would maybe just add some whole grain oats- un-refined to there diet for abit of conditioning and not worry about Lucerne if over 9months. How come you find it hard to keep condition on them?


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## Azerane (Jan 21, 2014)

What food and how much of it do they get fed on a daily basis?


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## JBun (Jan 21, 2014)

I'm assuming you mean in condition for showing, and not just being a healthy weight for a pet. I'm going to go ahead and move this to the rabbitry and showroom as that will more likely get you some responses from breeders/showers that have experience with this.


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## woahlookitsme (Jan 21, 2014)

I second azeranes question. What is the protein, fat, and fiber content of their food? Timothy or alfalfa based? and how much/how often do they get fed.


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## Kati's Holland Lops (Jan 22, 2014)

woahlookitsme said:


> I second azeranes question. What is the protein, fat, and fiber content of their food? Timothy or alfalfa based? and how much/how often do they get fed.




All I remember is that it had 16% protein, and u feed them 2 cups a day


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## Kati's Holland Lops (Jan 22, 2014)

Kati's Holland Lops said:


> All I remember is that it had 16% protein, and u feed them 2 cups a day




*i feed


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## Azerane (Jan 22, 2014)

You need to know the fibre content since that's very important, do they also get hay?


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## Kati's Holland Lops (Jan 22, 2014)

Azerane said:


> You need to know the fibre content since that's very important, do they also get hay?




Yes lots it is hay that we get shipped in a big box ( high quality) timathy


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## **SRonchi1 (Jan 22, 2014)

This is a tricky one as most of the time you are trying to get fat off a pet bun. 

Do you guys have a problem with worms over there? Here is Nz we don't but that maybe why they arnt putting on condition otherwise you just need to feed them more & maybe add some oats or anything else someone can recommend! 

Oats work wonders for me & don't disturb my bunnies sensitive digestive tract although don't feed to many as they can get excess cecotropes.


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## Bville (Jan 22, 2014)

Kati's Holland Lops said:


> Help I want to enter them I'm the state fair
> And I have trouble keepin them in condition ( weight wise) how can I improve their weight???



Are you talking about putting weight on or taking weight off? Two cups of pellets sounds like a lot.


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## Kati's Holland Lops (Jan 22, 2014)

Loosing weight and it is more like 1 1/2 cups


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## Bville (Jan 22, 2014)

1-1/2 still sounds like a lot. I give my 3 lb rabbits 1/3 cup and my almost 6 lb rabbit a little more than 1/2 cup and I have read that some people only give 1/4 cup per day.

How old are the rabbits? I think if they are young you can free feed pellets, but once they stop growing you should really limit them (and since yours are overweight you need to do that now).

Do you feed them anything else like greens or treats? Are they getting unlimited hay?


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## Kati's Holland Lops (Jan 22, 2014)

Bville said:


> 1-1/2 still sounds like a lot. I give my 3 lb rabbits 1/3 cup and my almost 6 lb rabbit a little more than 1/2 cup and I have read that some people only give 1/4 cup per day.
> 
> How old are the rabbits? I think if they are young you can free feed pellets, but once they stop growing you should really limit them (and since yours are overweight you need to do that now).
> 
> Do you feed them anything else like greens or treats? Are they getting unlimited hay?




Iidk what I was thinking I only feed them 1/2 a cup every day, I'm bad at measurements , I added the oats like some one else suggested an. Btw they are underweight


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## Bville (Jan 22, 2014)

Kati's Holland Lops said:


> Iidk what I was thinking I only feed them 1/2 a cup every day, I'm bad at measurements , I added the oats like some one else suggested an. Btw they are underweight



Sorry I misunderstood. I thought you meant they were overweight.


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## **SRonchi1 (Jan 22, 2014)

I would add the oats, like a sprinkle, but in a separate bowl as mine tend to dig out the pellets to get to the oats. I would also maybe up the amount of pellets you feed to 1 cup? Are your rabbits a little stressed? That can be a reason for not eating.


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## woahlookitsme (Jan 22, 2014)

If you're going to give oats for weight gain I highly recommend using rolled oats (we buy the Quaker oat can found at the grocery store). This kind of oat is the most readily digestible. We give whole oats to rabbits who need to loose weight. Increasing their food is always an option. Do they readily eat their food or are they just picky? If they readily eat it then definitely increase the amount they get fed. If they are picky adding things like rolled oats and Cheerios may entice them to eat


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## RabbitGirl101 (Jan 22, 2014)

Kati's Holland Lops said:


> Loosing weight and it is more like 1 1/2 cups





Kati's Holland Lops said:


> Iidk what I was thinking I only feed them 1/2 a cup every day, I'm bad at measurements , I added the oats like some one else suggested an. Btw they are underweight


I'm confused in one post you said you are trying to get them to lose weight and in another post you said they are underweight???:dunno
For overweight rabbits:
I believe you have holland lops. For show hollands 1/2 a cup is plenty. I feed just the 1/2 cup of plain pellets and timothy hay daily to my rabbits. You can also give them minerals in their water and supplements on the side to help improve condition, you should be able to purchase this from your local rabbit vendor at an ARBA show.

Underweight rabbits: I always have a measuring cup when I feed my rabbits. Are you 100% sure you are giving them 1/2 cup a day? You can increase the food amount if needed. Have these rabbits been heavier or ever in good condition? I know some rabbits genetically have bad condition where you can feel more spine, pin bones, and ribs. I have one rabbit that genetically has bad condition, she is used as only a showmanship rabbit. Condition is how to flesh is on the rabbit (thats how I take it at least) You want to make sure the diet is consistent and they are being fed at similar times. You can add supplements to their feed and to the water. This should help them. You can feed Calf manna (purchase at local feed store) and feed a teaspoon to them to help them gain some more weight. You can also used rolled oats to help aid in gaining weight. For pellets make sure you pellet has at least 16% protein, around 18% fiber, less than 3% fat and under .5% calcium. Because your rabbits are show rabbits and they are unaltered they have different feeding requirements so they need to be fed a diet to suit their needs. If the rabbits don't seem to be gaining condition but they are gaining weight it may be better to pet them out and look into getting rabbits with good condition. This happened to me with my lionheads.


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## Kati's Holland Lops (Jan 23, 2014)

RabbitGirl101 said:


> I'm confused in one post you said you are trying to get them to lose weight and in another post you said they are underweight???:dunno
> 
> For overweight rabbits:
> 
> ...



I know that they are capable of maintaining a good weight because when we got then they were of excellent weight but after a month or so of us having them they dropped some weight and now their boney I have added the oats, what do you mean by rolled oats and they can eat Cheerios?


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## **SRonchi1 (Jan 23, 2014)

Take them to the vet for a check up. If your feeding them enough then there has to be another reason for weight loss- Do they get any veggies? Have any had runny poo? Are the healthy otherwise? Clean eyes, nose etc. My personal preference is the whole grain unrefined Organic oats that are rolled. Natural fibre & no nasties.


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## majorv (Jan 25, 2014)

What brand feed are you giving them? Is it a show feed? It might not hurt to get them checked for parasites. Yes, you can give plain Cheerios, in moderation. During the show season we'll add a little Cheerios or plain rolled oats (we use the old fashioned kind from the grocery store) or black oil sunflower seeds to help with condition. We sometimes use a sprinkle of calf manna. I usually only give one at a times, alternating the above.


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## Rustic Roots Rabbitry (Feb 16, 2014)

Sounds like possible parasites or the stress of a new environment. Some rabbits will go off feed when not comfortable with environmental changes. 

Are you feeding the same feed it was on when you got it? Have you tried another feed?


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## Kati's Holland Lops (Mar 3, 2014)

:UPDATE: just gave them gave them a dewormer, my breeder told me to buy this dewormer that is for horses and then I only give them a serving size of a limabean.


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## Revverress (Mar 3, 2014)

Kati's Holland Lops said:


> :UPDATE: just gave them gave them a dewormer, my breeder told me to buy this dewormer that is for horses and then I only give them a serving size of a limabean.



For anyone reading, this is an extremely outdated and potentially dangerous method of deworming, and I wish breeders would stop recommending "horse paste" to each other.

1) A "lima bean" (or "pea sized", as most breeders recommend) amount is not a method of dosing. You have no idea if you're under or overdosing your animals. The horse dewormer is designed to give to a 1,000+ lb animal, and even just giving a small amount of the paste could easily overdose and kill your rabbit.

2) The horse paste is designed to be given to a horse all at once; the medication is not mixed evenly throughout the paste. This means that even if you were to do the math and determine how much of the paste would be needed to worm a rabbit, you can never come up with the correct amount.

3) Parasitic resistance is a huge issue in livestock, and when breeders are not responsible with their worming medications and dosage procedures, it adds to the resistance problem. If you want to dose with Ivermectin (what I'm assuming is the active medication in your horse dewormer), you need to purchase a bottle of the 1% Ivomec injection for livestock and give 0.018 ml/lb orally or subcutaneously. This means you need to actually weigh each rabbit and do the correct math for each animal to determine the correct dosage.

4) While Ivermectin is helpful in treating external parasites (mites), it doesn't treat many internal parasites in rabbits, including pin worms. If you think you are having a problem with internal parasites, you need to gather fresh fecal samples and have your veterinarian do a fecal flotation. It's important to identify the species BEFORE you treat, so that you can choose the correct treatment.

5) My rabbits go to shows, play in the grass in backyard, use litter boxes, and eat herbs unwashed out of the garden. Never have I had a positive fecal test show up among any of my rabbits, and the condition on my show animals is usually a non-issue. Intestinal parasites are simply not common in rabbits, especially in ones that are kept in wire-bottom cages as opposed to outside on the ground, and if you're experiencing a problem with flesh condition, it's likely there are other factors at play. Feed, weather conditions, underlying illnesses, and genetics (HUGE factor that most people don't pay attention to!) are more likely to be the culprit.

I'll go ahead and step off my soap box now, but please keep in mind that as breeders it's our responsibility to be educated on rabbit husbandry and proper animal care. Giving out medications without a proper diagnosis or dosage is is absolutely a recipe for disaster, and a primary reason there are so many issues with antibiotic and parasitic resistance in livestock.

:rant:


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