is my bunny eating too much?

Question
He is not eating pellet food. I read it wasn't good for him. Should I be concerned over the increase in urination? Or is this in response to him eating more? That was my real concern. Or could this be normal amt of urine for him and what we were initially seeing was less to due to an adjustment period. thank you
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Followup To
Question -
We have an approximately 16wk lop.Over the last few weeks he has become more friendly and has a personality that is so cute! My question is that I can't seem to keep up with his food consumption. In the morning I give him his greens-bagged baby spinach, celery leaves,parsly,ect. about 1-1 1/2 cups. He weighs about 6-8 pds.I also supply him with plenty of timothy hay.How much is too much to give him? The vet said unlimited amt. of hay, but can you feed too much? I seem to be replacing the hay about 4 times a day. He also seems to be urinating more. His litter box in the cage is very wet in a days time. He seems to be acting fine. playful, running, jumping .Thanks
Answer -
Dear Terri,

A baby rabbit is growing quickly, and needs pretty much unlimited food.  The only thing on your list that I would *not* give him is spinach, which is very high in oxalates and not great for the kidneys over the long term.  

You can't feed him too much timothy.  He needs to have a full digestive tract at all times (this is normal for a ruminant herbivore, such as a rabbit), and he really can't become overweight from eating too much hay, as it's very high in fiber and low in calories.  Bring it on!  :)

Is he eating any pelleted food?  It's possible he's eating so much because he's not getting enough calories from the vegetables and hay.  But be sure to get a *healthy* type of pellet.  For complete information on healthy diet, please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

and

www.rabbit.org

Hope that helps!  Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana

Answer
Dear Teri,

It's not true that a good quality pelleted food is bad for your bunny.  There are some people who do not feed pellets, but that is really an extreme position, *especially* for a young rabbit who needs vital trace nutrients that he is unlikely to get from just fresh vegetables and hay.  An adult rabbit can be on a pellet-free diet, but the caregiver must be *extremely* vigilant to be sure that all essential nutrients are provided.

Where did you read that pellets were bad?  The only kind of pelleted food that's truly bad for rabbits is the type with seeds, nuts, dried fruits, and other "treats" mixed in.  A good quality alfalfa- or timothy-based pellet is *very* important for a growing bunny.  I hope you will reconsider this before he suffers developmental problems you might not foresee.  Please read:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

Herbivores generally urinate more than carnivores do.  However, excessive drinking and urination can be a sign of renal disease.

This would be very unusual in such a young bunny.  If the urine is very dilute (clear and not very yellow) and copious, then you might ask the vet about doing bloodwork to check his B.U.N. and creatinine levels, as well as other indicators of kidney function.  

Though renal disease is more common in older rabbits, if your bunny ate something toxic, his kidneys could be damaged.  If there's any chance that he was exposed to pesticides or other household poison--even in small amounts--or heavy metals, or any type of unusual plant, please have him checked right away.  If renal damage is due to such chemical insult and treated promptly, the bunny can be saved.  But kidneys damaged and left untreated are not very good at healing themselves.

You can find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

if you don't already have one.

I hope this helps.

Dana