Skinny bunny

Question
I know that a when a rabbit stops eating and pooping thats really bad. I wanted to take the time to tell you that isn't the case. I feed my rabbit timothy hay every day twice a day and occasionally he gets some treats (he always eats it all. If he does leave some its VERY little). He is a french lop, and I read that a french lop's average weight is between 8 and 10 pounds. He is a year old and I'm pretty sure that he doesn't weigh that much. He is happy and he is healthy. He's been to the vet & they said he is doing just fine, but he is very skinny. I wanted to know if there was anything I can give him to put some weight on him. He still eats, drinks, poops, and plays so I don't think there's something terribly wrong. He used to eat pellets every once in a while, but it seemed like the pellets made him swell up, he'd get HUGE. After eating pellets he would get VERY VERY lazy and just lay down for the rest of the night. Since he hasn't been eating pellets, he seems fine. He's very energetic & happy without them, but his weight has gone down. I'm not incredibly worried because he's always been a little thin, I just want to know if theres anything I should know about. I just want him to be healthy.

Thanks for your time!

Answer
Hi,

if he's really thin but healthy, that may be his body style.

If he is an active boy, and it sounds like he is, you can give some items that are higher in calories/energy without worry he will get fat.  Small or very small amounts can give him some extra calories.

You can pick up hay cubes.  This is hay that is compressed into cubes they can chew on.  This does not take the place of regular hay so don't cut regular hay.  But it's a different change of pace.  Get the Timothy hay hay cubes.  Give 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick piece to nibble.

You can give a very small amount of food pellets.  I would try the Oxbow brand of pellets, the Timothy pellets.  It only has food pellets, no extra junk in them.  Give 1/16 to 1/8 of a cup and see how he does.  I would try the 1/16 of a cup first.  If he is okay with this small amount, if you want to give more, give 1/16 in the morning, and 1/16 in the evening. Don't give the full amount all at once.

There are dried papaya pieces you can get from a number of places.  If they are very small, give a few as a treat.  If they are larger, give one piece.  When in doubt, give one.  Papaya is good for their gi tract as well as most rabbits love papaya.

You can also try a small finger pinch of oat flakes as a treat.  Get the regular quaker oats, do not feed the instant oats.

If you don't give petromalt, you can always get some and put a small dab of it on a hay cube.  Petromalt is good for their gi tract and helps lube it so hair passes through easier.

You can try 1-2 regular cheerios as a treat.

Now, I would not do all of these on the same day.  His gi tract will have to adjust, and you will need to be watching him more carefully as you adjust his diet so that you can see if he's having a problem, you will know what is causing it.  You also should not give this all at once, spread things out through the day.

Lee