Best Way To Slim Down A Chunky Monkey?

[Bad Habit]

Star, one of my new does, is heavier than I'd like to see her. You can't feel her back or ribs, but she's not visibly fat.

What would be good rations to help slim her down a bit? I don't want to leave her hungry, but I'd also like to see her slim down before things get out of hand.

 

[Dood]

Give her more timothy or grass hay, cut back her pellets and no treats. The hay will help make her feel full but not give as many calories. You can also let her roam more and scatter her pellets around a room so she must exercise to get food rather than sitting at a bowl.

 

[Bad Habit]

Well, I'm already on my way then

I wasn't sure how she was with her bathroom habits, and I had to put her in one of the NIC cages I'd made, it's not enclosed at all. So I put 3 pans in the cage, and she has to jump over about 4" to move around. She has spots where she can walk and lay down, but the place she likes sitting most is the 5" plastic dish tub.

She is a lionhead, so shouldn't be very big anyway. I haven't had her on the scale yet, but I'd estimate her to be around 4lbs.

I'll try to get her out more often. She's not that comfortable yet, so can be a bit hard to catch once she's out.

 

[AnnClaire]

BH, is she "hard to catch" or is she playing games with you LOL

I have my does in a runout pen during the nice days here and several does just don't want to go back to their cage at the end of the day. I just "run" them around the pen until they are ready to be caught I also moved their feed time to afternoon so that they have their treats after being in the pen all day, hoping they make the connection and are a bit more willing to be picked up and put back in the cage this summer. My does I bred are just fine about being put up at night, but I now have 3 does that were not raised here and they can be a bit shy about being picked up still.

 

[Bad Habit]

Lol at this point, I think it's just hard to catch. I don't know how often she got free roam at her old owners, and since she's just been here a few days, I don't wanna be chasing her around and giving her the wrong idea!