weight loss--- normal or not?

[JessicaR]

My 2 flemish giants are loosing weight.
Background info:
FG1, doe, Butterscotch- 6 months old, weight- 11 pounds, previous weight at 5 months old was 13 pounds.
FG2, buck, E.B.- 5 months on the 25th, weight- 8 pounds, previous weight at 3.5 months old was 10 pounds.

They have both lost 2 pounds each! They are free fed 16% protien pellets (normally they eat around 2 cups). Recently i have started to let them free range in the yard, so they are not only eating their pellets but they are also grazing on plants, mostly plantain and grass. They are healthy looking, active, and poop is normal. Could the weightloss be from them being more active? Before they were just sitting around in their cages now they are digging, hopping around the yard and occasionally chasing the chickens. :bunnyhop:

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

exercise WILL trigger weight loss. Also, the calories in fresh food are not as dense, so they need a LOT more, volume-wise, to compensate.Not sure what you can do to encourage more calories going in to regain the weight-- nut do keep an eye on overall health-- check for any internal parasites they may have picked up as a result of grazing..

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

Yup. Nothing to worry about. But in the fall i would deworm them as they are on the ground

 

[JessicaR]

Thanks! I will try deworming them this fall unless I see signs of worms then I will do it earlier.

I was hoping it was just all the extra running around that was causing the weight loss even though they are now eating more with the extra fresh food, they are little piggies :lol: I just hope this doesnt cause any problems with breeding them.

 

[AnnClaire]

Jessica,

When I have my babies in the runout pen, I also provide a bowl of pellets and oats as they are still on free-feed at 10 weeks old. They will eat some fresh greens, then munch on the pellets, then munch on the oats and around they go again.

Their weight gain is slower than the winter babies that are on pellets/oats/hay only, but they are all solid little babies.

For my adults, they are on their rationed feed in their cages, but in the runout pen, they get the fresh greens too. Since I got the runout pen up last month, my brood does are in much better shape and good milkers. I only have one doe with a dewlap and she is just now at senior weight and her first breeding, so I expect her to lose a little of the dewlap as she settles into the breeding schedule here