Obesity is one of the most common problems seen in pet rabbits. This condition usually results when rabbits are being fed too many pellets. Rabbit pellets are high in calories and low in fiber. Obesity can also result when rabbits are kept in cages for most of their life and are not allowed much time outside of their cages to exercise.

Obesity can lead to many other health problems. Lack of physical activity can contribute to gastrointestinal and urinary tract disease as well as pododermatitis (foot problems) because there is more weight resting on the feet than there should be.

Aside from making your rabbit unhealthy in these ways, any underlying respiratory or heart problems can be made much worse by obesity. They become less fit to handle stress, and are more at risk of complications during anesthesia should it be necessary.

An obese rabbit also has difficulty grooming itself. You may have to clean your rabbit's rear end frequently to prevent conditions called urine scald (where urine that is in contact with skin for too long causes irriaion and infection) or fly strike (where feces matted in the fur attracts flies, which lay their eggs that become maggots).

To prevent your rabbit from becoming obese, he or she will need time out of the cage to exercise. Wild rabbits have a home range of about 2 acres and cover this range at least once every day foraging for food. A big difference when compared to our rabbits where an average rabbit cage size is about 2ft by 2 ft.

It is not always easy to tell if your rabbit is obese. Besides assessing their body shape, if the dewlap is large enough that it touches your rabbit's elbows when it is sitting up, it is obese. If you see extra skin that touches the ground around the back end of your rabbit, it is obese. You should also be able to feel your rabbit's ribs without seeing them. Rex rabbits as a breed are particularly prone to becoming overweight.

Your veterinarian can help you in assessing your rabbit for obesity.

Pododermatitis is unfortunately a very common problem. This is an infection of the feet sometimes known as sore hocks. This is very commonly seen in overweight rabbits, but can also be seen in rabbits that are on wire bottom cages with nothing to sit on to get off the wire, or in rabbits in a cage with a completely solid bottom that is not cleaned often enough.

Urine is very irritating to skin and will burn. If your rabbit can't, or won't, get out of the urine (eg. if the most comfortable place to sit in the cage is the litter box) the urine can burn the bottom of their feet. This condition can range from very mild, where changing the cage bottom and bedding may be enough to let the areas heal, to extremely severe where the bones in the feet have been affected and may require surgical amputation.

Prevent pododermatitis by making sure that your rabbit doesn't get overweight, that the cage is cleaned often and has something besides wire on the bottom that can be cleaned or changed regularly. Remember, wood absorbs urine but does not dry quickly, so it isn't a good thing for your rabbit to sit on. Cardboard is a better option that can be easily changed daily when it becomes soiled. A mat made of t-shirt material, towels, or a pillowcase works well too, and you can change it every day and clean it in the washing machine.

If you've had rabbits for a while you may have heard of Pasteurella or rabbit "Snuffles". This is a bacterium that can cause many problems in rabbits. Unfortunately, most rabbits are exposed to Pasteurella when they are babies, so there is no way to keep your rabbit from being exposed. Pasteurella usually rears its head in two ways:

Firstly, it can be seen as respiratory disease which may range from so mild that there is a little discharge from the nose and eyes and occasionally sneezing, to so severe that your rabbit develops pneumonia or middle ear infections which may be fatal.

Secondly, we can see Pasteurella in the form of abscesses (a collection of pus). These often form in the jaw and neck area, but can develop anywhere. They can be very difficult to get rid of and many rabbits with jaw abscesses will need extensive surgery to treat them.

To help keep your rabbit from developing a clinical Pasteurella infection, try to keep him or her as healthy in all other ways as possible. Often they develop signs of disease at times of stress, meaning times when they are too hot or too cold, times when they are transported, times when they don't feel well for other reasons, or when they are overweight.

If you notice a runny nose or a lump anywhere on your rabbit, it is best to take him to a veterinarian. Sometimes the small lump that you can see is even larger under the skin. The best chance for successful treatment involves removing the infected material and placing your rabbit on a long course of antibiotics.

Gastrointestinal disease (Gl disease) is a general term that includes any problems with the stomach, intestines, colon, or cecum. This can include anything from intermittent soft stools to diarrhea. Believe it or not, most Gl disease is again the result of obesity, lack of exercise and high pellet diets.

Your rabbit is designed to eat a large amount of high fiber, low calorie food every day. Their

Gl tract needs the fiber in grasses to push the food through at a normal rate. Pellets are too "easy" to digest, they don't have to chew them much, and they don't have the fiber to keep the Gl tract running normally.

A condition called Ileus can result when the Gl tract slows or stops moving. They may feel bloated, have a tummy ache and without things moving through at the right rate, there will be overgrowth of the bad bacteria. The production of feces may slow or stop. This condition can be life threatening if not treated immediately. One of the easiest ways to prevent this is to feed your rabbit lots of high quality grass hay, very few, if any pellets, and make sure they have time and room to exercise.

Urinary tract disease is also linked to a diet high in pellets, obesity and lack of exercise. The urinary tract includes everything from the kidneys to the urine that you see on the cage floor. A common problem is excessive calcium in the urine. If there is too much calcium in the urine there is often a milky colour due to crystal formation. Foods that are higher in calcium should be avoided as unlike most mammals, in rabbits the extra calcium the body does not need is eliminated in the urine which can cause sediment or "sand" to form in the kidneys and the bladder. This sediment can stay for a prolonged period of time and eventually lead to urinary stones. Alfalfa hay and certain greens such as spinach contribute to more sand formation and should be limited

Just like with the Gl tract, obesity and lack of exercise can cause the urinary system to slow down and become lazy too. The bladder won't contract as hard during urination so it is going to force less of that calcium sand out of the bladder and make it more likely that they will get a bladder stone .

In female rabbits, the sand can come out pretty easily if the bladder is contracting well. In male rabbits however, since the urethral opening is smaller, the sand can actually get stuck on the way out. This blocks the rabbit's ability to urinate and is an emergency as they can die in about 3 hours if they can't urinate.

You can limit the majority of these health conditions by following the practices presented below:

• Feed diets that are as close as possible to what a wild rabbit would eat: free-choice high fiber Timothy hay, about 1 cup of mixed greens (non treated green grass, dandelion greens, or exotic greens ) for each two pounds of rabbit daily

• Access to fresh water all the time, in both water bowls and bottles

• Room and time to run around and get some exercise

• Appropriate cage size and set-up with a separate litter area

• Do not feed dried fruits, crackers, bread or seeds to your rabbit.

There are always things that, regardless of how well you take care of your rabbit, may show up at some time. However, these steps will help increase the chances that your rabbit will grow to be the healthiest that it can be and live a long and happy life!