Rabbits or Oryctolagus cuniculus are among the small mammals most prone to fattening, so it’s no surprise that a domestic rabbit ends up obese.
In fact, many people with pets often show their affection for excesses that often manifest themselves in the form of food, but it should be noted that excess food is never healthy, let alone if it is a different type of food than the staple food.
- If you have a rabbit or are thinking of adopting a rabbit.
- Find out about rabbit obesity.
- Its symptoms and its diet that we must offer you to improve your health.
Obesity is an excess weight in the form of fat in the body that occurs in animals that are genetically and/or by their way of life.
In addition to being a problem in itself, it aggravates or accelerates other possible diseases over time.Other more direct effects of obesity include loss of agility, joint wear, fatigue and increased sleep, among others.
As mentioned above, rabbits are pets that tend to be obese, especially if they spend most of the day in the cage sleeping, eating and with little room to run.An unhealthy diet and lack of exercise cause you to gain a lot of weight.
Some problems arising from obesity in rabbits are poor hygiene, as the animal will not be able to reach all areas of the body to be properly cleaned and the reduction or inability to perform the coprophagia it needs to obtain all the vitamins from food., a fungus, which occurs in the region, occurs, among other infections that may appear as dermatitis, which occurs on the skin by the folds of it produced by excess weight.Early arthritis and foot pododermatitis are more diseases derived from being overweight.That is why it is advisable to know how to prevent and detect this problem as soon as possible in our small hairs.
When we see that our companion is very tired with little effort, eats and sleeps more than usual, its volume is greater and touching its back we find it difficult to feel the ribs, we can start to suspect obesity or, at the very least, overweight It is recommended that on each visit to the veterinarian specialized in small mammals our rabbit is weighed and its evolution is tracked , the specialist will tell us if this is overweight, an easier problem to solve, or if we are already facing an obesity that we must start fighting for the health of our animal.
As with any other living being, the best way to prevent and combat obesity in rabbits is through healthy eating and exercise.
The feeding of rabbits should be based on abundant hay available at all times, as they need large amounts of fiber. To complete a proper diet, we must offer them special foods of the best possible quality and in daily amounts adapted to their weight.Here’s a general guidance chart of recommended amounts of food based on rabbit weight:
In addition to the most basic foods, we can give you other foods rich in fiber, but we must have them as sweets that we offer you from time to time, never as the basis of your diet, for example, some of these natural ones, The sweets rich in fiber are the leafy greens and alfalfa. We must think that roots like carrots contain high levels of sugar, so that we can give our rabbit sugar when and when we allow enough exercise to use up the energy supply and not accumulate it. The same thing happens with the fruits that with the roots, due to its high sugar content, this should be an occasional price.
Finally, we have the treats that are already sold in stores, but contain much more sugar than the natural products mentioned above, so if we choose to buy one of these treats, we must give them a lot of time and in small portions… Finally, we must not forget that there must always be plenty of fresh water at your disposal.
If you have detected your puppy with overweight or obesity, we must gradually start reducing the amount of food and eliminate the treats, in addition, we must increase your hours of exercise as much as possible.
In addition to proper and healthy eating, we should add daily exercise to prevent or treat obesity in rabbits. We must take into account that they are living beings and need to move and communicate with others of their kind, so we must let them out, run, jump and play, thus ensuring their good health, because in this way the rabbit will strengthen their muscles, the rabbit, their skeleton and burn calories, in this way we can help you lose excess weight and then maintain the optimal weight of each sample.
If our partner lives in semi-freedom and has a large free space to run and jump, but he is still obese, it is clear that the problem is food.
We have to play with him to make sure he does the daily exercise he needs. Most domestic rabbits are usually in cages where they have food and water, but keep in mind that it’s not enough to get them out of the cage for a few minutes.a day to run to a room in the house.
For this reason, we recommend that you take the rabbit out of the cage as long as possible and play with it so that it moves and does not keep quiet in any corner.In addition, there are ways to make these tours of the house more fun, for example, you can build a track and hide things there so you can look for them.
By following these tips you will see that your rabbit stays healthy and if it is obese will reduce its weight in a very healthy way in a short time, in this way you will regain the vitality, agility, desire to play and, above all, the health of your friend with long ears and legs, which will allow us to enjoy even more years of your business.
This article is for informational purposes only, in Animal Expert.com.br we cannot prescribe veterinary treatments or make any type of diagnosis, we suggest taking your pet to the veterinarian in case of any type of condition or discomfort.
If you would like to read articles similar to, we recommend that you visit our Other Health Problems section.