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juice in water bottles?

kimd6200

Banned
hya all,just a query really.my friend puts a teeny drop of juice in her rabbits water bottle.is this bad for them bun?says she buys sugar free but i cant see the point realy.wat do you think?x
 
I didn't think my bunnies drank enough yesterday so I added a bit of grated/pureed apple to a bowl of water, it soon disappeared. I wouldn't use normal juice though. I then pureed the rest of the apple added a bit of water and froze it in ice cube trays so that I can do it again.
 
Mine have pure pineapple juice sometimes - they love that. I sometimes give them a bit of smoothie as well.
 
she uses the vimto cordial.said they love it.x


Ingredient Statement
Water, Fruit Juices from Concentrate 10% (Grape 8.5%, Blackcurrant 1.0%, Raspberry 0.5%), Citric Acid, Vimto Flavour (Including Natural Extracts of Fruits, Herbs, Barley Malt & Spices), Colour (Anthocyanins), Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Aspartame*, Sucralose, Saccharin), Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate), Vitamin C

contains a source of phenylalanine

I wouldn't give that to my bunnies and I know people who won't give it to their kids
 
getting bunnies to drink is important as it helps them flush out excess calcium and keeps their gut contents moist enough to pass through, so if it's very dilute I can't see a bit of juice will hurt as the extra water will be a benefit. I give mine a splash of boiling water in their cold water at the moment and they love their morning 'cuppa' :)
 
Getting them to drink is important but using a cordial can't be good for them, surely? I know people use fresh pineapple and apple but thats more pure.
 
i sometimes put a tiny bit of fresh pure juice in for a treat. not too much obviously because of the sugar content.

i would be wary about using cordial but EXTRA wary about using sugar free cordial - they replace the sugar with foul things like aspartame, i dont know about you but i'd rather my rabbits/kids had sugar, which is a natural plant product than some horrible chemical which quite possible exacerbates asthma in humans.
 
I would say fine for specific situations e.g. a sick rabbit but I wouldn't as a routine thing. Bad for teeth, sugars bad for gut, less hygienic (particularly when its hot in summer)...
 
I was going to add, fresh juice doesn't really last outside of the fridge so you would have to be careful as to how fresh the drink was! In this weather when it is fridge temperatures outside might not be too bad, but in summer it would go off very quickly! I'm not a bit apple juice drinker but I think it tends to ferment quite readily :shock:

Hannah
 
I pureed a single apple with a bit of water and its filled a whole ice cube tray, thats a lot of bunny apple juice if you only pop a couple of cubes in a bowl full of water. I wouldn't even give them that every day just as often as I would a small piece of carrot or apple maybe 2-3 times a week.

I wouldn't leave it out all day, it was only out for an hour or two and it was all gone anyway :lol:
 
I cant drink saccharin as it gives me migraines so no way would I give it to my rabbits, especially when its totally unnecessary.

I would only add pineapple or apple juice to water if I had a rabbit on constant dilute baytril as it makes it more paleatable....and then only if they were refusing to drink otherwise.
 
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