Diabetes in buns

[Juzi26]

Hey there...
**** I just wrote a huge long story and **** computer crashed!
I am in serious need of advice if anyone could help
I am looking after my neighbours rabbit Nunu and am need of advice.
Nunu is overweight and on monday when I let her out for a run I saw a huge clump of cecotropes around her bum area so I wet the are and cut it away and as I did this I noticed that it was covering her whole anal area and the cecotropes were backed up into her system so managed to cut it away and noticed a horrid smell coming from there so I took NuNu to the vets
turns out she had more problems than that.
NuNu was diagnosed with glaucoma in one eye, blind in both eyes and also Diabetes.
I had just done a meal plan for NuNu to help bring her weight down and am now needing advice on how to deal with the diabetes and a different meal plan in regards to her weight and diabetes.
The vet weighed Nunu and she is a whopping 3.8kgs (She is a rex x I think) Vet said to me I need to get her down at least a kg.
Was wondering has anyone dealt with a rabbit with Diabetes?
I need to know...what to feed her, what not to feed her and all the inbetweens
Any help would be appreciated
Thanking you in advance.

 

[NZminilops]

Glad to see you joined the forum! I am a31cefiro at the other place .

Bumping this so NuNu can get some help!

 

[pamnock]

Story of diabetic rabbit:

http://www.petdiabetes.org/personal_technique/Jessica_Rabbit.htm

Mention of additional need of protein in diabetic rabbits (see "sick rabbits")

http://www.magpage.com/~laurat/petbunny/diet/talk2.txt

Herbs:

http://www.singleherbs.org/products/gurmar.htm

 

[naturestee]

I've never dealt with a diabetic bun, but what is she eating now? Are her current pellets plain or do they have junk mixed in? "Rabbit mixes" are unfortunately popular but are very unhealthy because of all the sugars and complex carbs in the seeds. Rabbit pellets should not have anything extra mixed in. She should be given a limited amount of high-fiber pellets (not too limited at first if she's used to being free-fed) and lots of grass/timothy hay. Even human diabetics benefit from increased fiber because it slows the rate at which sugars enter the blood stream.

Exercise is also very important both for weight loss and diabetes management. She needs more time to play and she needs to be encouraged to move around by being given more toys. Boxes to play in, newspaper to shred, things to chew and throw around. Sometimes even moving her old stuff around will encourage her to practice racing around them.

Be careful not to change her diet too quickly. Slow changes and more exercise will help a lot. Here's a link to some articles on rabbit diets to loose weight:
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabcare.html#dieting

And the Bunny 101 thread Feeding Your Rabbit

 

[Juzi26]

Hey there,
Thanks for your replies. *waves at minilops*
NuNu is on plain pellets same with the rest of my buns...her owners brought over the mix one and I haven't fed it to her due to the fact that I know it is unhealthy.
Veges are a bit of a mission at the moment due to her owners never really feeding her them so am trying my best to get them into her...have started putting them on top of her pellets and she is starting to eat them.
because of her being blind I am trying to keep everything in the same place in her hutch and seems to be working alright so far.
And I have been hand feeding her veges as well.
I try to give her as much exercise as I can, I actually have to walk around the yard with her and pick her up to get her moving again.
I have had NuNu in my care for just over 2 weeks and I have managed to cut her pellets down to 4 out of 7 days a week at 1/4 of a cup at a time.
and hay all the time and I pick huge handfuls of grass 2 times a day but she never seems to eat it I am always picking out grass that is left over in her hutch.