Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Incredible Shrinking Rabbit

Robert took Leo to the vet this morning, and they came home with all kinds of stuff - antibiotics for his infected eye, something for his immune system, and a painkiller for his arthritis (it's hell getting old, isn't it).

The most surprising thing was hearing about Leo's weight. In December 2007 (17 months ago), Leo weighed 4 lb, 9 oz. In December 2008 (5 months ago), at the time of his head-tilt problem, Leo weighed 4 lb, 4 oz. Today, Leo weighed 4 lb, 0 oz. That's a loss of 9 oz., or over 12%, of his body weight. Robert had noticed that Leo was skinnier a while back, and I agreed but didn't think it was very much. Wrong. We're supposed to try feeding him more and see if he gains any of it back. It feels quite strange to be saying all this about Leo, who historically has acted like a stomach with legs in the way of all Rex rabbits.

He is also shedding at an even more insane rate than usual right now. I just vacuumed his room this morning (which given the heaviness of the vacuum cleaner and the nap of the rugs in there is really hard and my wrist is sore right now from doing it), and with one very short pet / shed session a few minutes ago, huge drifts of white fur are already piling up.

7 comments:

mom said...

I need to ask Leo how he did it - lose the weight that is. I'm sure he would say "eat less".

Sally said...

Mom, think how thin we would be if we lived on "cereal" for breakfast, ate no lunch, then had a mix of leafy greens, fresh herbs, and carrots for dinner (no salad dressing!). Oh, and a piece of fruit for a pre-bedtme dessert.

Yep, I think it has been an "eat less" sort of thing, but I would love to see Leo on Oprah with "The Rabbit Diet Secrets Revealed."

rvman said...

I think the 'someone else picks what you eat' diet generally works, when the person picking your food is sufficiently strict and your access to black-market food is sufficiently limited. This is how 'fat farms' work, isn't it?

Sally said...

RVMan, good point - this is how we have historically kept Leo from eating (and weighing) like a Flemish giant.

(Un-?) Fortunately, most of us have quite a bit more latitude in what we eat than Leo does, which most of us abuse fairly badly on a regular basis.

Perhaps as "responsibility without power" is a bad combination in the world of work, "latitude without control" is a bad combination in the world of diet.

Tam said...

Unfortunately, I think it's already well-known that a diet of "rabbit food" will aid in weight loss.

Sally said...

Tam, you're right, but I think the key to promoting a best-selling diet book/plan is not necessarily having something original to say, but in the compelling nature of the spokesperson and positioning. I mean, sure we all know we should eat more vegetables and "rabbit food," but has anybody ever been told this by an *actual rabbit* who has a compelling "I lost over 12% of my body weight without even trying" story to tell on TV?

Although I must admit that the follow-up "Recipes from the Rabbit Diet" book is going to be pretty slim, but hey, dieting is all about slim, who really wants to cook anything difficult, and anyway, it can be cross-promoted as a raw foods cookbook.

Tam said...

See, this is why you're the marketing person and not me.