Question:
I’m writing to you about my four cute mice. I have one that is extremely overweight. She refuses to do any exercise but loves her food. What can I do about it? Amanda, via e-mail.
Answer:
What you may need to do is supervise her feeding or separate her only at mealtimes, because she may be scoffing everyone else’s food as well.
Also, deliver a diet in which all the pellets are the same, otherwise she’ll pick out the bits she likes the most and that could be all the oily seeds and high-fat items.
You can train her to like exercise more. Use a wheel or mouse ball and give her food treats when she uses it for a period, or hide her food so she needs to move around and forage for it. The rewards may motivate her.
There may be a metabolic or medical reason for her obesity, but cutting down her food and getting her off her backside might be a good starting point.
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