Half Dwarf Rabbit Questions?

Question

1. I have a half dwarf rabbit and he weights 12.6 pounds. I am working on dieting him now but I need to know the ideal weight of a half dwarf rabbit so that he doesnt lose to much weight. I want to know what a normal half dwarf rabbit should weigh.


2. Whenever I let him outside for exercise, all he does is sit and eat! I try to get him to run around but it doesnt work. I think it may be because he is overweight but how do i make him active again. I want him to run and hop around but he doesn't. I really care about my rabbits health!


3. He has what many people call "poopy butt syndrome". I need to know what to do about it. How do i clean it off? I thought maybe a bath but I will probobly get wetter than my rabbit will. Thank you for any help!!

Also, I have been feeding my rabbit Romaine Lettuce, is that okay??

Answer 1

He may be "half-dwarf", but what's the other half? Could be a bigger breed... and that side of his genetics may be more evident. But if he has "poopy butt", he's so overweight, he can not clean himself.
Eliminate all his treats, increase his roughage with timothy hay and grass hay. (No alfalfa.) Look for a low protein, high roughage pelleted feed. (When you buy feed, there are two numbers on the bag.. like 15/20 or 17/17... the first number is the protein %, the second number is the roughage %. so a 15/20 would be good for your bunny. No pellets with seeds, treats, puffs, or "vege bits". Most of these are sugar (very bad for the bunny). I would eliminate all greens until you get the "poopy butt" under control. Then you can gradually re-introduce them in small quantities. Make sure he has all the clean water he wants.
As he starts to feel better, he might be more willing to play. Give him cardboard rolls (from paper towels or toilet paper, cut into 4-6 inch lengths). Give him hard plastic cat ball toys. Give him something interesting to do. He may be bored. (Rabbits need interaction to stimulate them. Play with him!)

Answer 2

I bred with dwarf rabbits a few years ago. I agree that ur rabbit is probably not a full dwarf rabbit or not one at all. The way you can check is to see if its ears are more than 3inches (7.5cm) long, if it is, then the chances are good that its is not a dwarf.

For the exercise problem: rabbits do not usually hop around and run that much if they are on their own. Because the plants they eat do not give as much energy their main activity is eating. BUT, i have seen that if a rabbit has a companion with it, they play and so they are more active. (if u do decide to get a companion,make sure u know how to introduce them and whether to get male or female)

For the "poopy butt syndrome": my rabbits also got that from time to time. What it is, is that they ate a little bit to much grass (the grass was to rich for them) If i saw one that had this, i closed it in its hutch for only a day or so, and fed it only rabbit pellets (from my local pet shop)and vegetables, basically any rabbit food other than grass, and made sure it had enough water. It was usually back to normal after a day or so.

The way u can clean it up is by using cotton wool or paper tissue. Wet it using warm water and just wipe ur rabbit clean until all the poo has been cleaned off. Remember to wash ur hands after u have finished.

(in general, you should not really give your rabbit a bath, to keep its fur clean, u can brush and comb it, this should be enough. And u r right, ull probably end up wetter than the rabbit)

hope this helps!

Answer 3

If he weighs 12 pounds, he is not a half dwarf. Dwarf rabbits are generally under 4 pounds.

The key to diet change and weight loss is to do it GRADUALLY. Any fast weight loss will risk doing major, sometimes fatal, damage to the liver as it becomes clogged with fat. Slowly wean your rabbit off pellets, reduce starchy vegetables like carrots but always make sure your bunny has plenty of timothy hay. grass hay is the most important thing in a rabbit's diet. Alfalfa is too high in calories, so you must feed him grass hays. Provide your bunny with lots of exercise time and toys. As he starts to lose weight, he will become more active.

He has poopy butt for two reasons. His diet is too rich in carbohydrates and sugars,which poses serious health risks. It is VERY important for a rabbit to re-injest cecal poops - and with his obesity he can not reach them. Rabbits should not be given baths - but you can put several inches of warm water in a tub to soak him for just a few minutes and take a towel to work out the poop in his fur.

You need to get him into a vet to get checked out and to help you develop a plan on how to safely take off the weight. Please, if you care about your rabbit at all - get him into a rabbit savvy vet - below is a list. Most regular vets are not knowledgeable enough to give rabbits proper care.

List of Rabbit Vets by state: http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

Learn more about proper house rabbit diet: http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

Answer 4

1. I imagine that you got your rabbit off of a pet store or somebody who normally raises rabbits just as pets. There is no breed in the United States called a Half Dwarf. Your rabbit could be a mixed breed or it could be a recognized breed. I couldn't really say without seeing a picture. Normally when rabbit breeders refer to Dwarfs they are either talking about Netherland Dwarfs or Dwarf Hotots. Both of those breeds don't weigh over about 3-4 pounds, so I doubt your rabbit is mixed with either of those breeds. Either send a link to a picture of the rabbit or get with a local rabbit breeder that shows rabbits to determine the breed.

2. Rabbits don't really need to excercise. Most domesticated rabbits lay in their rabbit cage pretty much all day and are plenty healthy. The best way to make sure your rabbit stays healthy is to watch what you feed it. Feed it a good quality rabbit feed and keep fresh clean water for your rabbit and keep the cage clean.

3. What you call "poopy butt syndrome" is called diahrrea by most rabbit breeders. I noticed that you mentioned that you feed your rabbit romaine lettuce. My advice, stop feeding your rabbit the lettuce it's probably giving your rabbit the poopy butt. Anytime you feed your rabbit greens, vegetables, lettuce, green grass, or fruits what you are doing is increasing the energy in their diet. You also reduce the amount of fiber the rabbit gets by doing that. Because the rabbit fills up on the greens instead of its rabbit pellets that have the fiber they need. Increasing the energy in a rabbit's diet increases its susceptibility to diahrrea. The increased energy also helps to produce more fat, making your rabbit fatter. The increased energy also can increase the metabolism of your rabbit's fur follicles making your rabbit more prone to shedding. Also, lowering the fiber/roughage in a rabbit's diet also increases the susceptibility to diahrrea. Rabbit's also get most of their protein which is used to build muscle from the soybean meal in their rabbit pellets. When you give greens or vegetables, etc they don't have as much protein and you actually reduce the amount of protein your rabbit gets to build muscle. All of this can basically result in your rabbit gaining fat, getting diahrrea, shedding more, losing muscle, and losing body fluid. So your rabbit might lose weight due to losing muscle and body fluid, but it's losing weight in all the areas you DON'T want it to lose weight and gaining FAT that you DON'T want it to gain.

Here's why I recommend to stop the diahrrea. First, stop feeding the lettuce. Just feed rabbit pellets and water. If the diahrrea is really bad. Pull the rabbit off it's rabbit pellets for 24 hours and give it plenty of water. After 24 feed it about half of what it normally eats in rabbit pellets. After 48-72 hours it should probably be able to go back on full feed.

If the diahrrea isn't too bad, give your rabbit some timothy hay to eat in addition to it's rabbit pellets. Make sure it is a grass/stemmy type hay like timothy, orchard grass, or straw. Don't give your rabbit something like alfalfa or clover. The timothy hay or straw will help add fiber to your rabbit's diet and it will also add some roughage that will help stop the diahrrea.

To clean the rear end use a moist towel then dry it off. If you want to remove any stains, use a towel moistened with white vinegar. The white vinegar will help get the stains out.

Answer 5

As a rabbit breeder, I can tell you that he is more than likely not half dwarf. As was said, dwarves are typically under 4 lbs. If he is half dward then he has to be crossed with a standard or giant breed and let me tell you, not many breeders typically try a cross like that as they don't turn out too well. To solve his obesity problem, cut him slowly back from sweet foods such as fruits and refined sugars. Also slowly wean him from any complex carbs such as bread or waffle cones, things of that sort. Switch him to a pellet and hay diet. You may not like that, but pellets are formulated to give your rabbit a balanced diet along with all the hay he could want to eat. You can give him fruits (in moderation) every once in awhile, but just like humans, once they start getting sweets they will crave them and want little else. To tell if he's at the right weight, look to his chest and midsection. If he's too skinny, you'll see the skin on his chest rather tight to his chest and his mid section won't be too buldgey. An obese rabbit has folds of skin over their chest and quite a large midsection.

To help get him exercising again, place a cat jingle ball in his cage for him to play with. You can also get a harness that's for rabbits and encourage him to walk around. Have him play where there is little to no grass as he then won't be tempted to eat.

For the poopy butt syndrome, again, this is most likely linked to his diet. The romaine lettuce is probbably not helping if he's getting too much of it as it will give him the runs. Again, if he's getting lots of fruits and greens, cut him back gradually to pellets and hay. Rabbits have a high fiber/high protein diet that's met by pellets and hay. If the change in diet doesn't help then it could be something with his GI tract and you shold take him to a qualified vet. Also, to help keep him clean, you should have him in an all wire (or at least wire bottom) cage. This allows droppings to fall through and not accumulate on his fur. Some people will say that wire bottom cages are not good for their feet as it will give them sores, but all breeds of rabbits except rexes (they're the ones with velvet like fur) have enough fur on their hocks to keep their feet from getting sore. If you still think that he'll get too sore from wire bottom cages, still use one but put a resting board in there for him to sit on. And don't give him a bath, rabbits are just like cats in that they keep themselves as clean as possible.

Answer 6

i heard it around like umm........
8-10 pounds
lata,
J.Love