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How much water is too much?

Lobo

Mama Doe
I have two of my four buns who some days drink a lot of water during a 24 hour period. I measure their water intake twice every day by knowing how much is in their bowl and then measuring the left over. I had a bun in the past who dehydrated with severe hair blockage consequences so it has made me anxious about water consumption.

The rule of thumb is 50-100mls per Kg but my older doe who is around 3Kg has some days had as much as 720mls and other days as little as 240mls. I am at a loss to understand the huge variation. She is not on any medication but has really increased her hay intake since January / February when she had a 13 day period of stasis.

Does anyone else have buns with this level of water consumption?
 
when i first got Holly my pair was getting through 1.5 litres of water in a 24 hour period.

my vet was slightly concerned but as i was already panacuring and the weather was exceptionally hot she said to monitor Holly's drinking with a view to having blood tests done to check kidney function.

i spoke to doorkeeper and she told me the fact Holly was so bright and alert with no obvious signs of illness not to worry as she has many pairs in the rescue who are perfectly healthy and get thro approx a litre in 24hrs.

so i didnt worry and i now think it was the novelty of the bowl and possibly different tasting water. my pair now (3 months later) drink approx 500ml between them.

has your bun had a teeth check lately as i think they drink more if the teeth are hurting. my vet also said drinking loads can be a sign of EC or kidney problems. my conclusion with Holly.... she likes drinking from a bowl :D:D

eta - both my buns guzzle water after a long hay eating session and as youve already found too little water is possibly more dangerous than too much
 
Thanks donnamt, I remember your concerns earlier with Holly and Alvin and all the water. Fortunately Chloe the girl in question has perfect teeth and she is a lop. :rolleyes:

I'm relieved to hear others do consume water to the level I am seeing as I asked my vet about it a couple of months ago and he said to just monitor and we will run bloods if I think it is becoming more of a concern. At the moment she is having a massive moult so at least the extra water if flushing the fur through. She used to have very thick urine that had the colour of cafe latte :mrgreen: but now it is totally clear.
 
Thanks donnamt, I remember your concerns earlier with Holly and Alvin and all the water. Fortunately Chloe the girl in question has perfect teeth and she is a lop. :rolleyes:

I'm relieved to hear others do consume water to the level I am seeing as I asked my vet about it a couple of months ago and he said to just monitor and we will run bloods if I think it is becoming more of a concern. At the moment she is having a massive moult so at least the extra water if flushing the fur through. She used to have very thick urine that had the colour of cafe latte :mrgreen: but now it is totally clear.

looks like she knows how much water she needs to keep herself flowing :D:D:D

Lou basically told me theres too many variations to be worried if buns drink over the textbook. she did say she'd be concerned if it was an older aged bunny but Holly is only 2 and a house bunny. plus Alvin now drinks more too now his tummy seems healthier
 
I'm in agreement with donnamt here, although we have the opposite problem.
The ideal figures are calculated for temperate climes, you are in Australia.
Increasing the dry component of the diet, reduces the amount of water they get from food so they drink more.

I suspect but do not KNOW that buns with a slow gut feel "full" & concentrate on eating nutrients & fiber, reducing water intake, & therefore urine output, so they get sludge, which is difficult & painful to pass = slows down the gut more.
Water makes them feel full. (hungry buns will drink a lot)
I WONDER whether buns with a slow gut absorb more of the available calcium.

I see inceasing the hay as a good step. The clear urine is avery good sign that your bun is well hydrated & has worked out how to stop the sludge issues herself.

As it is a change in an older bun, by all means have her screened for underlying illness, but I'm hopeful she'll be OK & has solved her issues as outlined above.
Please let us know how she gets on.
 
Ours were drinking a lot (the lops) and we've come to the conclusion that it was because they were having a reduced amount of veggies and pellets because Mini kept having excess cecals and because I was putting a probiotic in the water and that was making it taste nicer. So instead of filling up on hay to replace the pellets and veg they were drinking cos it tasted nice.

They were drinking around 1.5 litres between the two of them a day. Now we're down to about 750ml between four a day. Which is about 200ml each. I expect it to be slightly more than the average as they are house rabbits.
 
please see the vet and get bloodwork done or a wee sample anyalised.

bif was drinking a lot and we lost our cat and delayed getting the dentalcheck up as niki had broken ehr foot same night.

bif went to have a dental and the propofol made her have a heart attack...vet said she already had an underlying serious condition........

she was left with tissue damage....liver damage.....anaemia.......and head tremors...weakness and wobbles.:cry:

we dont know how much was from the heart atatck and how much could have been the pre-existing condition......

please go get it checked to be sure your buns health is ok.
 
Thanks for all the input.

I have 4 buns all indoors and find now that 3, not just 2, are drinking more than I have been used to with rabbits in the past. Only one who is 9 months old and only weighs 2.1Kg drinks within the 50-100mls per day. They are all fed the same with fresh greens and Oxbow pellets twice a day and unlimited hay at all times. The other 2 have both increased their drinking as well but Chloe still drinks more.

It is winter here and for example, today's wind chill was -3.3°C. However, the indoor temperature is usually around 20-26°C which is a bit on the high side and could also be contributing. The hay is also very dry; they have a combination of meadow, oaten and western timothy. It was the daily variation that caused me the most concern but checking the records it seems that an increase or decreases occurs fairly evenly across all three.

As it is happening with 3 with ages varying from 10 months to over 5 years it doesn't seem too likely to be a medical condition, more likely the dryness of the hay and environment, but I certainly wouldn't rule out the benefit of tests on Chloe at least. When we adopted Chloe she would drink almost all of a 500ml bottle twice a day for about the first 6 months or so but I always put that down to the fact that in her previous home she was frequently left without water. It seemed to me she programmed herself to drink excessively because she didn't know when she would get her next drink.
 
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