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JessicaK

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How can you tell if a rabbit is overweight?
Like with dogs, you want to be able to feel their ribs and see a defined waist line.

My main source of worry with the bunnies is that I'm either over feeding or starving them.
 
I (hate to admit it) but I did once accedently starve some of my bunnies. When you picked them up you could feel their ribs. Once I noticed that I put them on more food right away. (I had just started with rabbits and did not know anything).

As for the overweight rabbits, try to pose them like a judge would do. At a show I was at there was this Mini Rex that must have weighed 8lbs. It could not pose at all. I would also weigh your rabbit and compair it to the breed standard by ARBA.

If you can feel the ribs very well then your rabbit is under weight. If they look chunky they are over weight. You also have to feel the animal. Sorry that I do not have a better way of describing it.
 
They're mix breed shelter bunnies, so unfortunately I can't look up their breed standard.
 
You want to feel them. If their ribs feel sharp, then they are under weight. If their ribs feel more like pencils in a pencil case, that is good. If there's a thick pad of fat and it's hard to feel the ribs it is too fat. If they are fat they will also have trouble keeping the under side well cleaned.

There are some breeds that have large dewlaps and/or a little skirt around the bum, so that is not a good marker of being over weight. Sophie was just declared a great weight by the vet and she has both because of her mix of breeds.

Rabbits are great fakers when it comes to food. You would swear mine are constantly starving if you went by behavior at meal times. I know they are not because they are all good weights, but more importantly, they ALWAYS have lots of hay. If they were that hungry they would eat hay rather than starve. You want them to consistantly munch the hay rather than scarfing pellets all day.
 
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