Bottle or bowl...

Hi everyone.

Im just wondering if anyone can help me...I bought a rabbit almost 2 months ago, however she was not bottle trained at this point and only drank out of a bowl. Iv had rabbits all my life, and all the rabbits iv had have been bottle trained from before i got them, so iv never had this problem before,

Im really wanting to change my new rabbit onto a bottle now that shes settled in, as she keeps getting sawdust/food in the bowl, and i personally feel a bottle is more hygenic (although i know some people believe bowls are more natural).

So has anyone get any tips? Iv had the bottle attached to the cage, even rubbed a bit of her favourite veg onto it, but no repsonse. I am getting another rabbit, to bond with her, in around 2 weeks when its turned 8 weeks old. This rabbit should be bottled trained, so do you think i should wait until iv bonded them, to see if my current rabbit picks it up from the new one?

Any tips would be great!

Can I ask why you want your rabbits to drink from a bottle?

I personally prefer bowls and don't normally use bottles.

Rabbits natural drinking position would be from beneath them, a bottle is unnatural.

I can understand that space is sometimes an issue, or bunnies running through bowls, but bottles are a pain, are difficult to clean properly, don't always run (in winter they can freeze), they go green very easily and can drip, which can in itself cause problems.

I'd stick to a bowl if I were you.

Your so lucky to have a bun that drinks from a bowl....i wish mine would as ive had to replace so many bottles from dropping them its unreal :? I would rather them drink from a bowl but they just wont :roll:

You should just use the bowl and give a bottle and let the bunny decide

I had absolutely no idea that rabbits needed to be trained to drink from bottles:shock: I thought it was something they instinctively knew how to do, for some reason, I dont know why I thought that!!

I have two free range buns that drink from bowls because as they have the run of such a large space, water bowls are more practical than bottles. I have two that are in a run set up and they have a bottle but when its their turn to have a run in the garden they will also drink from the bowls.

Why not have a bottle but also still use the bowl and see which one your rabbits favour most.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Well as i stated, iv had rabbits all my life, and theyve always been on bottles. Everyone i know who has rabbits has them all on bottles, and when they go to the vets (i have an older rabbit with dental problems due to misalinged back teeth) they provide bottles rather than bowls. Aswell as this, as i also stated, food and sawdust keeps getting knocked into the bowl, which i dont believe is very hygenic, and by using a bottle, this wont happen. Bottles can also hold more water, meaning i wont have to constantly worry if they have enough water while im out for the day.

The rabbit with the teeth problems also has a very large dewlap, and the vet actually said specifcally not to use a bowl with her as some rabbits shes seen get problems with the dewlap getting into the bowl, staying wet, and causing skin problems.

Iv never had problems with bottles before, the rabbits are kept in a summer house (like a shed, but concrete floor, more windows to let light in, and air vents to allow air circulation without letting drafts and rain in), so we've never had problems with bottles freezing, or even going green from sunlight. We have a bottle cleaner also, so this stops any build up of any mold etc. The bottles we have have never dripped, nor stopped working, and i test the nozzles everyday. I also have many spare bottles incase of any problems, so thats not an issue.

My other rabbits have had no problems with using bottles whatsoever, and one of them drinks a lot (about 1 1/2- 2 times more compared to other rabbits iv had/have) and hasnt found it difficult.

So for me personally, id like to stick with bottles, mainly due to experience of them. I have just ordered a coop cup (it attatches onto the wire part of the cage to hold it a bit higher off the ground) so if worst comes to worst and i cant train her to use a bottle, the fact the coop cup will be kep off the ground should hopefully help minimise waste getting in.

I do know other people use and will stick by bowls for many reasons, and i stated the naturallness as one of the reasons in my post. I dont want to sound arrogant so please dont take this the wrong way, but im not new to keeping rabbits, and do know the benefits and downfalls of various things, for example selective food vs pellets, and i know for me at least, bottle is best, but i am accomodating the fact she might stick to bowls (by waiting until shes fully settled in before changing over, and by buying the coop cup incase).

Thanks for your reply anyway.

:wave: susiemai.

I have both a bottle and bowl for her at the moment, but shes paid no intrest in the bottle other than a quick bite of the metal nozzle (shes into biting EVERYTHING, except her wooden toys/chews strangely).

I also didnt know they had to be trained, as iv had many rabbits over the years who have always been on bottles. I THINK they learn however their mum drinks, just by seeing and doing, so i presume her mum drank from a bowl.

I got her from a pet shop so i dont know, she was the last of the litter there, which is why im still waiting for a rabbit to bond her with, i wanted the same size rabbit, shes a mini lop, as although i know sizewise a netherland dwarf and french lop could get on fine, i just wanted similar sizes. Iv been to the new breeders and hers are all on bottles, the babies werent drinking when i first went so i dont know if theyll be on bottles or a bowl, but hopefully a bottle from my poitn of view.

I did try using a bowl with my two older rabbits, theyre both 7 now, a few years ago when i was first old enough to really look into rabbits other than what my parents said, and considered bowls, but they never took to it so since then i didnt bother. Now i have a rabbit on a bowl, i realise it isnt best for me at least, due to her ruining the water with food/sawdust.

Id consider using a bowl while theyre in the run like you do however, as theres much more space to seperate food and no sawdust to get into it, but whilst theyre inside its a bit of a pain for me.

Sorry fudgemallow, i didnt see your post there.

Like iv just said in my last post, i did want to change my older rabbits over, 2 would have been about 2 at the time, and one 5, but none of them paid any intrest. I did think it would be better at the time, due to ease of drinking and it being natural, but now i have one drinking from a bowl, its turning into a pain, having to change water very frequently.

Shes in the house at the moment in a rabbit pen, until shes bonded, we were redoing the summerhouse just after we got her, so shes just kindas stayed upstairs since. She may end up being a house bun at this rate though The only sawdust she has at the moment is in a large cat litter, which is the opposite side of the pen to her food and drink, but somehow she still manages to get it in it!

Everyone seems to be suggesting bowls at the moment...as iv said i am willing to accpet she may stay on bowls, so maybe has anyone got any tips about stopping sawdust and food getting into the bowls? Does anyone else have that problem or not?


As for the breaking bottles, iv never actually done that other than standing on the top by accident, i use the ones called "classic, crystal delux" with a red top, and have dropped them many times but theyve been ok for me, and are reasonably cheap too.

Thanks for all your response, it is helpful too see others opinions, but at the moment, i still ideally want a bottle.

HCB said:

Sorry fudgemallow, i didnt see your post there.

Like iv just said in my last post, i did want to change my older rabbits over, 2 would have been about 2 at the time, and one 5, but none of them paid any intrest. I did think it would be better at the time, due to ease of drinking and it being natural, but now i have one drinking from a bowl, its turning into a pain, having to change water very frequently.

Shes in the house at the moment in a rabbit pen, until shes bonded, we were redoing the summerhouse just after we got her, so shes just kindas stayed upstairs since. She may end up being a house bun at this rate though The only sawdust she has at the moment is in a large cat litter, which is the opposite side of the pen to her food and drink, but somehow she still manages to get it in it!

Everyone seems to be suggesting bowls at the moment...as iv said i am willing to accpet she may stay on bowls, so maybe has anyone got any tips about stopping sawdust and food getting into the bowls? Does anyone else have that problem or not?


As for the breaking bottles, iv never actually done that other than standing on the top by accident, i use the ones called "classic, crystal delux" with a red top, and have dropped them many times but theyve been ok for me, and are reasonably cheap too.

Thanks for all your response, it is helpful too see others opinions, but at the moment, i still ideally want a bottle.

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I dont have any tips on how to train them to use a bottle, my buns came to me using a bottle and millies babies learned from her

Just give her the bowl and the bottle right next to it.....or if you are going to bond her she will pick up the habbit from her partner! Thats all i can think of sorry

Its the classic ones i use and i usually drop them when full of water and the nozzel breaks off all the time :roll: Maybe its just my luck :lol:

Hope you get something sorted :wave:

Gosh, do you know it never occurred to me that they need to learn to drink from a bottle either!
I have two groups of 4 buns who have bottles of water and a bowl, some seem to prefer one to the other but all seem to be able to use both.
I use a ceramic dog bowl for my groups.
They are pretty large, with higher sides than small animal bowls and dont seem to get too dirty but I try to put the water away from the litter trays and hay etc so they dont get too contaminated and they get clean water in them morning and evening.
Because they are large size dog bowls I dont have to worry about them running out of water throughout the day either.
I dont know if that's any help?
I can't come up with any ideas on how to teach them to drink from a bottle though if they seem not to know how! :?

My bun won't drink from a bottle either, I've had to give him a bowl. You said you were having problems with sawdust getting in, I use carefresh bedding and it much easier, doesn't get in the water as easily.

HCB said:

Everyone seems to be suggesting bowls at the moment...as iv said i am willing to accpet she may stay on bowls, so maybe has anyone got any tips about stopping sawdust and food getting into the bowls? Does anyone else have that problem or not?

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I would suggest not using sawdust. It's not great for them anyway. I give mine a bottle and a bowl and if the bowl is changed every day it's fine. There is sometime the odd stary bit of hay in it or sometimes a poo but I figure as they eat their poos (and each others) that shouldn't really matter.

Hello! :wave:

I would agree switching from sawdust to something a bit better for them. I mean to only give you well-intended advice here and not offend you as I appreciate you are not by any means new to bunnykeeping, but sometimes the things we start using X years ago are no longer the most appropriate supplies due to better products coming along and/or studies taking place showing long term problems with such products. I certainly can’t talk as I used sawdust for 11 years right up until last month when I realised I was still buying it purely out of habit and hadn’t kept up to date with current recommendations Helen has just posted a writeup on the matter here, you might find it useful information regardless of any debate about bottles or bowls:- http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=178252

And now back to the subject at hand Unfortunately some bunnies will simply not learn to drink from a bottle and will always drink from a bowl (and vice versa some will always drink from a bottle) but they will simply choose for themselves which they prefer, you would be lucky to have a say in the matter :lol: You should be prepared to change the sawdust to something else if your bunny decides that drinking from a bowl is the only way for her as I agree sawdust in the water bowl is not hygenic.

Hi everyone. Thanks for all the replies.

I know things change...like the debate over selective or pellet food. I DID prefer to use a selective one (i use mr johnsons supreme rabbit mix with my older rabbits, i know its by no means the best, but we've used that on our rabbits since before i can remember, my parents choice, and theyve all lived to 8 1/2+, one was 13, so we just stuck with it), but then i tried to swap them over to excel pellets as the current two older ones do leave bits so i dont think they are getting a balanced diet (my previous ones ate the lot, so i knew got all the nutrients they needed). However, the bunnies had different ideas, and left the pellets, i tried over 2 weeks to slowly change the diet, and they just ate around the pellets. Maybe i should have persurviered but by the end of the two weeks they werent eating anything, and i didnt want their guts shutting down (i know from experiance how bad and how much of a pain it is!). So they're still on a selective feed.

However my new rabbit LOVES the pellets, she was on the exact same brand that mine were on when we got her, which was convinent, but one she settled in, i tried her with the baby and dwarf excel, and she ate those pellets first, so it was much easier switching her over.

As for the sawdust, again the main reason i use it is because iv always used it, and because everyone i know uses it. But also as its the only thing the pet shops around me use, nowhere sells carefresh for example, and other than carefresh, i dont know of any other product. I get special dust free sawdust, i have in the past bought sawdust thats got either dust or very fine particles everywhere, and this stuff made me sneeze, let alone my rabbits in their lungs, but i dont have this problem with the one i get now.

I have just read the post, thankyou for posting the link, and there seems to be a long list of alternatives, but iv never heard/seen them before, iv only seen carefresh on online shops, but after typing in megazorb, the first one on the list, some online shops do have that in. It seems quite cheap too, so looks like a good alternative. I will consider switching over, but it does mean ill have to keep ordering it online rather than just popping in to the shop as/when i need it, so ill see how it works out.

Im sorry if i sounded unappreciative of any advice, that wasnt how i meant to come across. I just didnt want people dictating what i should do, rather than offering adivice. Like you said, i am mainly doing it from experience of what iv known, but i do TRY to keep up to date with issues, which is why i joined this forum, theres a lot of good advice and help on here, even for experianced rabbit owners.

It is just my opinion that i want to use bottles, im not saying theyre best, but theyve been best for me so far, and although i try new things (such as the pelleted food) and they work great, id rather use the other methods for others (such as bottle over bowl) as they dont work as well for me. So please dont think i dont take any advice you give me on board, i will seriously consider using an alternative to sawdust, even if it doesnt work out, and i do appreciate your opinions, even if you just state what you do and why you do it rather than offering help, its still helpful to see others views on it, and it might make me change my mind.

hello

i read this thread with interest as i had my rabbit on a bottle for the first yearor so but i would watch her for ages licking and biting at the bottle. i thought she wasnt getting enough out of it so i got one of the big heavy dog bowls. She was kept on sawdust back then and although she would get the odd bit of sawdust in it i changed it every day and imeadiatly when i noticed any poos in it. if it was full she never ran out. I left the bottle in the cage for the first few weeks but once the bowl was in there she never touched the bottle.

I got a rescue rabbit who had been on bottle and when i put them together he took to the bowl straight away which i think was a result of learning from her, much in the same way i think she 'learnt' to eat excel pellets which she wouldnt touch before.

I now keep them in a crate with what i think is what people call a coop cup, its a metal bowl that hooks on the side so its just off the floor. they have litter trays and sheets on the floor so dont get the water dirty apart from hay which doesnt bother them and even with two rabbits they dont drink half of the water in it.

I think that if you bond her to another that uses bottles she will pick it up much quicker but then if the rabbit has the choice of bottle or bowl and it prefers bowl then why force the issue.

You say you prefer bottle over bowl because it works well for you but maybe you should go for what works well for the rabbit and not yourself

you dont have to "bottle train" buns!!!:lol: take the bowl away and they will drink from the bottle.or if your that worried put the bottle on the cage above the bowl so he can smell it.the rouble with bowls is they get dirty very quick and big buns can throw them!!lol

I haven't any advice, but I use both bottles and and bowl.
And I do agree, bowls are a massive pain, mine knock them over, poo in them, get hay in it etc.
I have two giant wate bottles and I think they're easy to clean and they don't drip.
Also you can get snuggles for them in winter, whereas all my bowls were frozen solid.
As for summer, you can freeze them half way and then fill it up and the water will be lovely and cold for them.

hiya
i am by no means an experienced rabbit owner. but we use both! we have the bowl because if it has water in it she prefers it to the bottle. but she does as someone mentioned previously pick it up and throw it across the cage if she feels we're not paying enough attention to her, so we like to have the bottle there as a back up! there are problems with carefresh getting in the bowl and the occasional poo/bit of hay/ her ears as she lays down. we change it and clean it (usually just a wipe out with toilet roll) at least twice a day and shes fine!

I've had to start using a bowl for my newest two rescues. They came from someone who used bottles so I figured that would be ok but they weren't using it properly and whenever I let them have some playtime on the floor they both went straight to the dogs water bowl to drink loads.

I dont really know how you train them to use a bottle, I'd be very interested in knowing though! Maybe if you slightly raised the bowl or put it on another level, with no sawdust, it would help stop that. You can buy wooden platforms fairly cheap from most pet shops.

My bunny has both! He's had a bottle for about a year but we noticed he kept knocking it off the cage so now he has a bowl too. Its a bit messy (particularly when he stands in it ) but he seems to like it.