Rabbit is one of the most interesting and one of the most popular pets to take care of. Rabbit, unlike other pet such as cats or dogs are quite differences in care, feeding, behaviour, and generally different way to take care of it. Rabbit is a Leporidae a small mammals from the order of Lagomorpha similar with hare and pika. Rabbit is different from rodents or squirrel, as they have different body and generally comes from different species. Domestic rabbit is commonly comes from the species of European rabbit. There are also species of cottontail rabbit that many people sought after it. Rabbits have become quite a commodity, and many people are sought after this small mammal. Rabbit is popular for its home pet, however many people are actually breed rabbits as a livestock. They breed rabbits for it prized fur and the example of rabbit breed that is good for livestock is an angora rabbit.
When taking care of rabbit, the one thing you should understand and keep close watch on it is how you should feed your rabbit. You need to make sure that your rabbit is well fed and generally happy with its food. Keeping a close watch on how you should feed your rabbit is the key on monitoring your rabbit’s health. This way, you can keep your rabbit healthy, fluffy and chubby. Even if you keep close watch on your rabbits feeding habit, sometimes your rabbit can lose some weight drastically. There are many reasons why your rabbit suddenly lose some weight, as therefore many reasons for it. Losing some weight in rabbit might not be a good sign, since it can be caused by many bad things such as infection, disease and eating disorder. If you want to be a better owner for your rabbit, then you absolutely need to know more about what might causing rabbit drastically lose some weight. Here are 5 Causes of Loose Weight Drastically on Rabbit and how you should treat it.
What causing weight lose in rabbits and how to treat them properly
When taking care of rabbit, a balanced diet is needed to make sure that your rabbit isn’t underweight or overweight. Healthy rabbits aren’t too fat, yet not too skinny either. Sometimes, you already giving you rabbits enough foods and nutrition, but sometime your rabbit suddenly get a weight loss. There are many case of rabbit’s weight loss, not just the problem of eating habits, but a slight problems like stress and infections could result in weight loss. Sometimes, weight loss is just a first symptoms of much complicated disease and problems. When rabbit lose more than 10% of their normal body weight, this is the time when we can consider they are suffering from weight lost. You also need to distinguish between weight loss and just mere liquid loss, and then there is muscle weight loss. To understand more about rabbit’s losing weight, here are what might causing them at the first place then. So, what might causing rabbit to lose weight and how to take care of them properly?
- Dietary problems causes for weight loss
One main things that could lead to rabbit weight loss is a dietary problems. To describe about what is dietary problem, it is a problem with their food and their digestive system. Well, it is all logical to see if your rabbit is losing some weight, then definitely there is something wrong with their dietary and foods. Many dietary problems are caused by inappropriate rabbit foods such as onions, garlic and chocolate that could lead to food poisoning on rabbit. Seek more clue about food poisoning in our other article here if you are curious about it.
Dietary problems such as food poisoning, diarrhea and inappropriate feeding behaviour is a cause that can normally cause weight loss in rabbit. Make sure to always feed your rabbit properly and safely. Know which food is good for your rabbit, which food is not meant for your rabbit. This way, you can always keep your rabbit digestive system healthy, and always have proper and ideal weight for your rabbit, not too skinny and not too fat.
- Gastrointestinal disorders
Just like the name suggest, gastrointestinal disorders are problems that comes from the gastrointestinal system of rabbits. For those who doesn’t know about it, gastrointestinal is basically an internal digestive system of rabbits such as their ulcers, throats and stomach. When rabbit suffer from gastrointestinal disorders, the nutrition they take from foods won’t be much ideal and not absorbed properly. This make rabbit grow weaker and then they can lose weight. If this continue and rabbit keep losing weight more than 15% of their normal body mass, it could endanger them and should be treated fast.
- Dental and throat diseases
Dental and throat problems can also lead to loss of weight. Basically, when rabbit have problems in their dental or throat, it will make them lose their appetite, in addition, it will make them hard to chew and eat anything you give to them. Lose appetite means they won’t get proper and enough food. That is common cause for weight loss for not just rabbit, but also every other creature as well.
Spinal problems, like back or neck pain is actually quite common for rabbits as they jump around and sometimes strain their spinal. Spinal problems need to be taken care of properly and safely, since it can cause distress in rabbits and it will lead to weight loss for rabbit.
Distressed and traumatized rabbits of course can result in weight loss for a rabbit. Stress on rabbit need to be taken care of properly and safely. Rabbits can be quite easily startled and easily stressed if you don’t know how to treat it. Stressed rabbit won’t even touch their foods at all, and then soon your rabbit will loss it weight. Stress is always bad for every pet, so you should always keep your pet happy and healthy.
So that’s it 5 Causes of Loose Weight Drastically on Rabbit. Do you think there are more about it? So if yes, then don’t be shy to share with us here in our comment section.