Rabbits or Oryctolagus cuniculus are, among small mammals, the ones with the greatest tendency to gain weight. That is why it is not so strange that a domestic rabbit ends up with obesity.
In fact, many people with pets tend to show them affection with excesses that often manifest in the form of food. But we must bear in mind that excess food is never he althy and even less so if it is a type of food other than the basic one.
If you have a rabbit or are thinking of adopting one, find out about the obese rabbits, the detection and the diet that we must offer them to Improve your he alth.
What is obesity?
Obesity is the excess weight in the form of fat in the body. It occurs in animals that are prone to it genetically and/or due to their lifestyle.
Besides being a problem in itself, it aggravates or accelerates other possible illnesses over time. Other more direct effects of obesity are loss of agility, joint wear, exhaustion and increased sleep, among many others.
Detection of obesity in rabbits
As we have commented previously rabbits are pets that are prone to obesity, especially if they spend most of the day in the cage sleeping, eating and with little space to run around. An unhe althy diet and lack of exercise greatly favor weight gain.
Some problems derived from obesity in rabbits are poor hygiene, since the animal will not be able to reach all areas of the body to clean itself properly, and the reduction or impossibility of carrying out coprophagia that need to do to get all the vitamins from the food. In addition, there will be the appearance of myiasis, which is an infection that occurs in the anal area, among other infections that can appear such as dermatitis, which occurs in the skin due to the folds of it produced by excess weight. Early arthritis and pododermatitis with leg ulcers are more diseases that occur as a result of excessive weight. Therefore, it is advisable to know how to prevent and detect this problem as soon as possible in our little furry ones.
When we see that our colleague is very exhausted with little effort, eats and sleeps more than normal, his volume at first glance is greater and touching his back it is difficult for us to feel his ribs, we can begin to suspect obesity or at least overweight. It is advisable that at each visit to the veterinarian specializing in small mammals, our rabbit is weighed and its evolution is followed. The specialist will tell us if it is overweight, a problem that is easier to solve, or we are already facing obesity which we must start fighting for good of our pet.
As for any other living being, the best way to prevent and combat obesity in rabbits is a he althy diet and exercise.
Diet
Rabbits' diet should be based on abundant hay freely available at all times, as they need large amounts of fiber. To complement the proper diet, we must offer them special feed for them of the best quality we can and in the daily amounts appropriate for their weight. Below we leave a general orientation table of the recommended feed rations according to the weight of the rabbit, this case is from the Cunipic brand feed:
– Rabbits weighing less than 500 gr. 30 grams of feed per day
– Rabbits of 500 gr. to 1000 gr. 60 grams of feed per day
– Rabbits of 1000 gr. to 1500 gr. 100 grams of feed per day
– Rabbits of 1500 gr. to 2000 gr. 120 grams of feed per day– Rabbits of more than 2000 gr. 150 grams of feed per day
In addition to the most basic diet we can give them other foods rich in fiber, but we must have them as a treat that we offer them from time to time when, never as the basis of their diet. For example, some of these natural, high-fiber treats are green leaves (foliage) and alfalfa. We must think that roots such as carrots contain high levels of sugar, so we can give our rabbit some as long as we allow it enough exercise to spend the energy supply and not accumulate it in an unhe althy way. With the fruits it happens as with the roots, due to its high sugar content it should be an occasional prize.
Finally we have sweets that are sold ready-made in stores, but these have much more sugar than the natural ones mentioned above, so Therefore, if we choose to buy any of these treats, we should space them out as much as possible over time or shred them into small portions. Finally, we must not forget that they should always have plenty of fresh water at their disposal.
In case our furry little one is overweight or obese, we must begin to gradually reduce the amount of food and eliminate sweets. In addition, we must increase their hours of exercise as much as possible.
Exercise
In addition to a proper and he althy diet, we must add daily exercise to prevent or treat obesity in rabbits. We must bear in mind that they are living beings and need to move and interact with others of their species, so we must let them go out, run, jump and play, thus promoting their good he alth, because in this way the rabbit will strengthen its muscles, its skeleton and also burn calories. In this way we will help them lose excessive weight and later to maintain the optimal weight in each specimen.
If our partner lives in semi-freedom and already has a lot of free space to run and jump, but still has obesity, it is clear that the problem is in his diet.
We still have to play with him more to make sure he gets the daily exercise he needs. On the other hand, like most domestic rabbits, we usually keep them in cages where they have food and water, but we must be aware that sometimes, taking them out of the cage for a few minutes a day to run around a room in the house does not It's enough.
For this very reason we strongly recommend taking them out of the cages for as long as possible and playing with them so that they move and don't stay quiet in some corner. There are also ways to make these excursions around the house more fun, for example you can build circuits for them and hide things for them to look for.
By following these guidelines we will see how our rabbit stays he althy and if it is obese it will lose weight in a very he althy way in a short time. In this way you will recover the vitality, agility, desire to play and above all the he alth of your long-eared and long-legged friend, which will allow you to enjoy more years of each other's company.
