Just a bundle of questions I've been storming up...

[Spring]

Hi everyone! Good afternoon! :biggrin

I just have a few questions I've been wondering about.

Alright, firstone. I'm 90% sure Pebbles is female. Her fur is pretty long on her belly, but I can easily feel her teats.They aren't hard, but are a bit on the firm side. Do males have noticable teats? I felt on Pepsi, and couldn't feel much of anything (I am 100% she's female, although a bit on the chubs side).

Also, Pebbles isn't eating her pellets much anymore. She still eats hard carrotsand chews wicker things, so I'm pretty sure it's not her teeth.Somedays she doesn't even touch her pellets and she is quite thin (underweight maybe). I'm not sure if she just doesn't like them any more(she used to like them, and Pepsi still devours them). I'm wondering if along with not eating her pellets, too much exercise could be that she's a bit under weight? She has a large pen to run in, and gets atleast an hour or so every other day to run around the house. I'm wondering if I should change her pellets. Should I give her some alfalfa hay to help her put some weight on? She's always been on the thin side even when she was a baby.

Now for Pepsi. I recently was cutting her nails through the wire (hold a treat, praise her and baby talk just long enough so I can cut a few nails, because she gets so stressed if I get her out to do it). Will it be uncomfortable for her to have her nails different lengths (Have balance problems?) only one or two on her front feet are long, the others are pretty much the same length (just a tad above her fur line on her paws- so that's great!).

Thanks in advance from the girls! :bunny2

 

[HoneyPot]

Hey - ok so here is what I think...

I've read on here that males also have teats and you can feel them - so don't know if that's a great indication although how old is Pebbles?? If she were male I would imagine the testicles would have descended by now - Charlie's showed up at 3 months. Have you tried sexing her? I could pretty much figure it out on Charlie at 2 months with the help of pictures I found on the internet - and I'm an amature.

About the pellets - is she eating lots of hay and veggies otherwise? How much pellets will she eat in a day? What kind do you use? Maybe try switching pellets? Misty was also underweight for no reason - she was just really active and wouldn't seem to gain weight, so I upped the pellets (which I guess isn't really an option seeing that Pebbles isn't eating the pellets...) and added a tablespoon or so of oats to her bowl every couple days until she got to a healthier weight, then I cut back on the oats.

And regading Pepsi's nails - I don't think it's a problem. It's hard to get all the nails at once - I do the same thing. Will cut all the front feet, give them a break then the back feet the following week. So far I haven't noticed any problems...

__________
Nadia

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

You can also feel the teats on males so it's not a good indicator to go by. If you are still unsure, I would suggest asking someone who has experience sexng rabbits or take them to the vet. Since rabbits should go for a check up anyway, the sexing is not an additional cost.

As for pellets, I've had the same issue with Zoey, that was until I switched pellets and now she can't get enough! She's still very slim but my vet reassured me that it is because Zoey is probably burning off as many calories as she is consuming because she is so hyper but advised me to stick on the Timothy diet completely. If she is eating other thigns fine I would not be overly concerned but if I've heard of molar spurs causing rabbits to stop eating or cut back on how much they eat.

I would not think nails be slightly different lengths should be an issue since it's never perfectly even but I would think it would be uncomfortable for a rabbit to have 2 shorter and 2 really long nails so I would avoid that but if the difference in length is not very mucg, I'm sure it's fine.

 

[Bassetluv]

Spring, Raph has always been slightly underweight too. He eats his pellets pretty heartily most of the time (tho I've noticed he cuts back on those in the summer...not surprising, as he grazes in the backyard every day when he's out), but his weight has always been on the low side. So I resorted to giving him a handful of oat groats with every meal, mixed in with his pellets, and he did finally put on a bit of weight. (His coat got more of a sheen to it as well.) I give Raph lots for his meals, and he downs almost all of it every evening, but I suspect he will always be a tad on the thin side.

Uneven nails wouldn't cause a rabbit to be off-balance, I don't think...but depending upon how long the longer ones are, if the nails are too long they can run a chance of getting hooked in something and possibly tear the nail out. I do have to ask how you manage to trim her nails through the wire...it must be difficult! I'd be a bit concerned that if she suddenly jerked her foot away as you were pressing on the trimmers, a toe could get broken. Have you tried the bunny burrito method in doing her nails? I've had rabbits in the past that would panic over having their feet/toes touched, and wrapping them in a blanket, while difficult and a struggle, does work...and I found the more I did it that way, the easier it got for me. I also do my cat this way, as she is a real 'panicker' when it comes to having her toesies touched...

 

[Spring]

Pebbles is around 7 months old. I got a really good lookwhen she was around 4mo and it looked like a girl to me. I try to check but she struggles so bad I can't really get that long of a look before she panics and starts with her kicking.

She is a huge pig with her hay and veggies. I give her a few large handfuls through out the day and she usually has them gone. She gets around a cup of veggies and she usually finishes those in under 5 minutes. On a good day, she'll eat maybe a tablespoon or so of pellets.

I have her on unlimited pellets because she is so thin. I use a cheap Co-op brand that looks pretty good with the fiber level, protien ect. she used to love them and would finish her bowl everynight but now she seems not to like them. I'm almsot certain it's not her teeth, because wouldn't she avoid hard things like carrots? I'll be sure to switch the pellets soon if I can find a half decent pellet- but there's not much variety at the places I've been. The best timothy based one is little martins less active, but Pebbles is super active so I didn't want her having trouble keeping on weight.

She is very active and hasfree range acess to her large NIC pen. Almost all day she is playing, running around or eating her hay. She isn't so thin that someone would think she's being neglected, just I can feel a bitof her bones (shoulder, hips, ect) and she's very trim.

Pepsi usually stays pretty still when she's on the wire wanting attention. She'll usually stay put as she's getting the attention she wants. I haven't had much of a problem with her pulling away when I'm cutting. She doesn't handle stress well, and getting her out to do the nail clippin leads to her to decrease her appetite drastically for a few days that is very stressful for both me and her.

Here's a pic of Pepsi when she goes up agaisnt the wire. She does this when I don't immediatley go over and give her a cuddle .



Thanks!

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I agree, it probably isn't her teeth if she is eating hay and veggies. But I think why she isn't eating pelltets is because she is filling up entirely on hay and veggies instead.

And although the Martins may be called Less Active, it's actually made with BOTH Timothy and Alfalfa. It oculd make a big difference if it's just the brand that she doesn't like. For instance, if she's eating2 ounces of Less Active, it's still better than a table spoon of the other stuff.

Also, the big feed stores often have crappy feed or stuff that is old. Some of that stuff sits on their shelves for months before you ever recieve it and that may be why se doesn't like it -- it may be an old bag.

 

[Spring]

Alright thanks! I'll be sure to pick up a big of less active martin food next time I'm out. I'm also wondering if I should just buya little bag of alfalfa just so she can get some calories inher with all the exercise she does?

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

As I aid, I have the same problem with Zoey being slim and not puttign on weight but my vet told me not to add alfalfa to her diet anyways and to be honest, even when Zoey was on a total Alfalfa diet, she didn't have any more fat on her bones than she does now so I don't think it's necessary.

Eating hay is great but you could try to limit her to 2 large handfuls a day instead and that SHOULD force her to eat more pellets and since it's easier to put weight on with pellets than hay, you would not be doing any harm because she is still getting hay.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Bassetluv wrote:

So I resorted to giving him a handful of oat groats with every meal, mixed in with his pellets, and he did finally put on a bit of weight.

I'm glad that worked for you but other may have to be careful with adding things like oats. I tried this with Zoey and only added about a teaspoon or a little more daily in hopes to avoid her getting picky and just picking out the oats but it didn't work. Instead of gaining weight, she lost weight because she would eat all the oats and leave the pellets so instead of eating her regular amounts of pellets and the oats, she stopped eating pellets altogether.

For the amount you have to add for them to actually gain weight it's not worth it especially in this case where she is only eating about a table spoon of pellets as is.

P.S.- Spring, I'm guessing she isn't spayed, right? Spaying helps to calm down rabbits and they often put on weight after a spay. Although this has taken 4 months, I am finally seeing a weight increase on Zoey.

 

[Spring]

Nope she isn't spayed. I'll haveto try a few things to see.