Hello im really freaking out my rabbit willow is 3 1/2 yrs. old she has a fat little belly and is always eating but I can feel every bone in her back so she is a fat bunny with a boney back and hips I would like to know if anybody has any personal experience with this or know what might be wrong she acts normal eats drinks poops A LOT and moves around a lot. Any help is deeply appreciated.
Big belly boney back.
- Thread starter Madisun
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Some bunnies store their fat somewhere else.
One of my bunny the fat are centered around the bum.
While for my doe it will build up in the dewlap instead. She have a boney back and hips, but they aren’t sharped as they was before when she was underweight.
You are supposed to feel the bunny back and hips, but it shouldn’t be sharp. But a bunny can still be fat without looking like it, some have a lot of fat around their organs instead.
So for your bunny, she might be storing her fat around the stomach area or just be a normal weight. Some people think you aren’t supposed to feel the back and hip bones on bunnies, which causes them to become overweight instead.
Seen a few bunnies on instagram that are on the overweight side of the spectrum while having a lot of followers. Saying they are cute and so on.
One of my bunny the fat are centered around the bum.
While for my doe it will build up in the dewlap instead. She have a boney back and hips, but they aren’t sharped as they was before when she was underweight.
You are supposed to feel the bunny back and hips, but it shouldn’t be sharp. But a bunny can still be fat without looking like it, some have a lot of fat around their organs instead.
So for your bunny, she might be storing her fat around the stomach area or just be a normal weight. Some people think you aren’t supposed to feel the back and hip bones on bunnies, which causes them to become overweight instead.
Seen a few bunnies on instagram that are on the overweight side of the spectrum while having a lot of followers. Saying they are cute and so on.
[QUOTE="Hermelin, post: 1126986, member: 23610" what if her back is sharp i can feel the shape pf them and everything. I cant see it though if you didnt pet her back you wouldnt be able to tell she has a pretty thick coat
My new rabbit is 2 year old and is very fat, his belly is just very big, he has some fat around his bum too, bit I can feel his spine and all his ribs. I can go under his ribs I can't do it with any of my other rabbits. He looks healthy and well groomed but honestly his poos are very tiny and not a perfect shape. But he eats his food, not much but he eats vegs well and some hay too.
I didn't want to make big changes it's only day 2 but I think his food is totally wrong, it's a muesli type mix with grains and he gets lots of treats blocks and balls with dairy and grains, honestly his poos are very tiny but looks like it is normal for him as he started pooping only 2 hours after we got home there were 2 small drop shaped poos and about 15 more in a couple hours, he eats and moves around fine, he likes to be petted and handled, he was thumping last evening a lot and looked a bit stressed but then flopped and slept well. In the morning there were no fresh poos at all, I will watch him and I removed all his dairy/grainy balls from his cage, I still give him his muesli mix removed some flakes from it and added my regular nuggets instead, just a little I am going to transfer him to them gradually.
I've decided to minimise his dry food and no treats just give him more hay for a few days, but these tiny black poos just scare me but I believe it's his normal style. Here I put 3 nice poos from my 3 month old babies and they are even bigger than his. Unbelievable.
His belly is so big and heavy.
But he's quite nice and you can see people were nice to him, just maybe buy what petshops sell all pretty-looking colourful food. I fostered a little lionhead once he was also on grain sticks and dairy treats and his poos were also black and drop-shaped, but he was very underweight and didn't eat much at all, after a couple months of good diet he was all good and his appetite and his poos vere excellent, so hopefully this new rabbit will be good too.
I just can't believe he survived 2 years on this food I feel sorry for him.
Sorry for a little off-topic here I should start a new thread just got hooked
)
I think if your bun eats and poops good and a lot it's fine
In this photo you can see his poos black and irregular shape, on the right are three perfect poos of my 3 month old babies they are even bigger than some of his poos. He also had lots of cecotropes left in his toilet last evening but that probably because of new home and all, first I thought he can't reach his behind so can't eat them but later I saw him getting them and eating so that's good.
I didn't want to make big changes it's only day 2 but I think his food is totally wrong, it's a muesli type mix with grains and he gets lots of treats blocks and balls with dairy and grains, honestly his poos are very tiny but looks like it is normal for him as he started pooping only 2 hours after we got home there were 2 small drop shaped poos and about 15 more in a couple hours, he eats and moves around fine, he likes to be petted and handled, he was thumping last evening a lot and looked a bit stressed but then flopped and slept well. In the morning there were no fresh poos at all, I will watch him and I removed all his dairy/grainy balls from his cage, I still give him his muesli mix removed some flakes from it and added my regular nuggets instead, just a little I am going to transfer him to them gradually.
I've decided to minimise his dry food and no treats just give him more hay for a few days, but these tiny black poos just scare me but I believe it's his normal style. Here I put 3 nice poos from my 3 month old babies and they are even bigger than his. Unbelievable.
His belly is so big and heavy.
But he's quite nice and you can see people were nice to him, just maybe buy what petshops sell all pretty-looking colourful food. I fostered a little lionhead once he was also on grain sticks and dairy treats and his poos were also black and drop-shaped, but he was very underweight and didn't eat much at all, after a couple months of good diet he was all good and his appetite and his poos vere excellent, so hopefully this new rabbit will be good too.
I just can't believe he survived 2 years on this food I feel sorry for him.
Sorry for a little off-topic here I should start a new thread just got hooked
)I think if your bun eats and poops good and a lot it's fine
In this photo you can see his poos black and irregular shape, on the right are three perfect poos of my 3 month old babies they are even bigger than some of his poos. He also had lots of cecotropes left in his toilet last evening but that probably because of new home and all, first I thought he can't reach his behind so can't eat them but later I saw him getting them and eating so that's good.
Can you feel the rib cage sharply, when my doe was underweight the rib cage could be felt easily. The back it’s still sharp but no longer as sharp as before.
So I wouldn’t go after my bunny back, because it’s extreme hard judging on how much she weight from just how the back feels. I go after her overall look and take in the account she store fat in the dewlap instead.
My own bunny it’s up in a healthy weight and happy. So it might just be that your bunny just distribute all the fat to the tummy area, leaving her back free of fat.
I cant feel her ribs but I defenentally
feel her backbone and hips
Then you have nothing to worry about. A good tips are to weight your bunny a few times during the year to keep a track everything okay.
I weight my bunnies 2-3 times every year, just to make sure everything are okay and if they stay around their weight.
Weight will often tell when somethings wrong or give hints, because bunnies hide their sickness really well.
Myself can feel my doe spine and hip bones and could also do it on my overweight bunny before he got spoiled by my dad.
While my third bunny distribute his fat all over his body, so the spine and hip bone aren’t that easy to feel as for my doe.
They are like humans, everyone are different on how they distribute and build up fat.
A 'pot belly' with wasting along the back and hindquarters, can be an indication of hepatic coccidiosis or other parasite problems. I would suggest taking your rabbit to be seen by an experienced rabbit vet right away. The back should feel nice and rounded, not sharp protruding bones along the back and hips. So if this is what's going on, definitely get her seen by a vet and in the very least have a fecal float done, but you may also need a blood test done and possibly even xrays.
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Protozoal_diseases/Cocc_en.htm (WARNING: contains medical related photos)
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Protozoal_diseases/Cocc_en.htm (WARNING: contains medical related photos)
