Older rabbit eating more food

[MoBojangles]

Does anyone have any experience with elder rabbits? My bun is about 9 yrs old, he started eating a lot more a few months ago (I assumed he started to fatten up for winter early) he's now at the point to where he is eating almost twice the amount of food as he used to, but he is still at his normal summertime weight (usually gets a little tummy when it gets cold out but he hasn't gotten one this year yet). Other than eating more he appears to be completely healthy, has anyone experienced this with their rabbits before?

 

[JBun]

I have an 8 yr. old rabbit that has been a bit chubby her whole life, even on reduced pellets. Then this year I noticed that her usually large dewlap and bum skirt had both shrunk in size and that she was starting to feel a little boney along her back. So I've had to increase her pellets by double, something I have never had to do since I've had her. This is the first time that she has been off of a diet. She seems to be slowly putting some weight back on.

Because health problems can start showing up when they get old, you also want to keep an eye out for other signs something else might be wrong, like difficulty chewing, not eating as much food, urinary incontinence, increased thirst and urine output, etc.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

I'd take a stool sample to the vet to rule out parasites. When our buns got to be elder--had two 14 year old and now one is 15, I gave them alfalfa for the higher protein and oats as they were getting to be skinny looking. Although, at that age I consider it to be a shear miracle that they are still here with us even though most of the time they are asleep.

 

[MoBojangles]

Thanks For the advice! I'll keep an eye on him, I've heard of them eating less and loosing weight just didn't expect him to be eating more LOL.