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How much water do your rabbits drink?

AnnieElms

Mama Doe
Apologies if this has been posted/answered elsewhere.

My question is about how much water people's rabbits drink.

I have two house rabbits of my own, and since January have been temporarily caring for a stray found near our home. I have noticed that Bella (the stray) drinks tonnes more water than my two put together, and I'm wondering if I should be worried about it?

I've always given my bunnies their water in a bowl, and this gets changed twice a day, but there is never much water gone from the bowl. Similarly, I gave Bella a bowl, and sometimes nearly all of it is gone. I've watched her, and she drinks for Britain, it's not just that she is tipping it over or something! There is a significant size difference between them as Bella is a dwarf lop, and Bunny and Poppy are small (Netherland dwarf and lionhead), so I would expect mine to drink a bit less.

Just wondered if other people had buns that don't really drink much, or whether I should be worried about this. All three's diets are all the same:

- Unlimited fresh hay
- Eggcup full of SS pellets each per day
- Selected veg (not very much of this as I have had sticky bottom problems in the past)
 
Just as an aside, as I found this v interesting...

...with Bella, as she is on the waiting list to go to a rescue for rehoming, I started giving her water in a bottle, as I was worried she would get used to a bowl and then her new owners would give her a bottle and she'd be confused (don't know if this is just me being silly :oops:)...I noticed for the two days she had only the bottle, that she was drinking a lot less. She was definitely drinking, as I saw her using the bottle, but it was far less than when she had the bowl. I panicked about this, so gave her the bowl back, and the moment the bowl was back, her head was in their slurping it up!

I take it from this that she (and maybe other buns too) prefer bowls, so I will definitely go back to bowls now!
 
I was wondering this too, Oscar drinks very little in a day. I change his water bowl and bottle every morning and usually nothing has gone from the bottle, and only a little bit (less than half) from the bowl :? He has the same diet as yours (except excel pellets rather than SS)
 
Biscuit doesn't drink very much at all either in all honesty.

Ginger is a special case, and due to kidney failure, she drinks ~800ml per day (thats ~3 'rabbit' bowls).
 
Bramble doesn't drink much water at all in a day. Sometimes you can't even tell if the water bottle has gone down at all. I might try him on a bowl for a while - it always looks like so much effort with a bottle!
 
Bramble doesn't drink much water at all in a day. Sometimes you can't even tell if the water bottle has gone down at all. I might try him on a bowl for a while - it always looks like so much effort with a bottle!

Yes, this is exactly what my OH was saying yesterday...it's like they do all that licking and only get a little drop each time...he thought they could probably slurp up a lot more from a bowl! I guess they get used to it either way, though. :)
 
Rolo NEVER drinks from either his bowl or bottle.

To make up fluid, I make sure all his veggies are soaking wet.

I know he's not dehydrated cos his litter tray is always wet. And so it the bathroom Floor:censored:

Rach x
 
Rolo NEVER drinks from either his bowl or bottle.

To make up fluid, I make sure all his veggies are soaking wet.

I know he's not dehydrated cos his litter tray is always wet. And so it the bathroom Floor:censored:

Rach x

Ooh, this is a great idea! I will sprinkle the veggies with water before giving it to them, then they will be drinking without realising! :lol:

Like you, I hadn't really worried up till now, as they are definitely 'wee-ing' fine, so something must be going in I suppose :oops:
 
Both my buns gets there pellets (all 4 a day!) soaked in water, and their veg saturated too.
Obie doesn't drink alot - about what is average for a bun his size (a VERY small mini Rex)
Pie is going through about 500-600mls a water in 24hrs - I will be having her tested int he next few days for bladder/kidney problems.

If Bella is drinking alot I would stronly suggest getting some tests done - just to rule out bladder or kidney problems.
 
Both my buns gets there pellets (all 4 a day!) soaked in water, and their veg saturated too.
Obie doesn't drink alot - about what is average for a bun his size (a VERY small mini Rex)
Pie is going through about 500-600mls a water in 24hrs - I will be having her tested int he next few days for bladder/kidney problems.

If Bella is drinking alot I would stronly suggest getting some tests done - just to rule out bladder or kidney problems.

Thanks Pie, this is really good advice, as I was more worried the other way (ie that my two weren't drinking enough), rather than perhaps Bells is drinking too much. We are off to the vets today as luck would have it (dreaded vaccinations :( ), so I will ask him about it then.

Thanks x
 
Hope Bella gets on ok at the vets. I was going to suggest asking the vet to run some tests on here too. 4 of my bunnies dont seem to drink very much water, 2 of them drink bucket loads and they both have kidney troubles so best to get it checked out.
 
Each of my pairs gets through a full litre bottle of water about every 18hrs. So that must be 700mls per rabbit per 24hrs.
They are house buns, so are warmer than outdoor buns, and they eat MASSES of hay every day, but I know it does seem like a lot.

Vet says they are all in good health though, so if it aint broke...
 
My lops can get through a dog bowl that holds 1.5 litres in one day sometimes. Usually it's more like two days. My lionheads get through a dog bowl holding a litre between 2-3 days but I normally change it before they finish.

I think like all things the 'rabbit' bowls aren't really suitable and bigger 'dog' bowls are a lot better. For a start it means they are impossible for them to move.
 
winter it has been between 500-800ml per day.. i am expecting it to increase buy another few hundred ml in the summer.

eta - two buns btw
 
I'm not sure if its relevant, but I have a girl who was a stray and has huge issues with water. My guess is that she was deprived of it, and as a result has behavioural problems surrounding it. Whenever she is anxious, she just drinks and drinks and drinks. She goes through more than any bunny I've ever known. the more stable, and less anxious she feels, the less she drinks. After about two and a half years here she settled and her drinking is now more inline with everybunny elses. In the bad days she was drinking over two pints or so a day, but now probably drinks maybe half a pint or so.

I wonder if your girlie could be similar, in that she has been deprived of it, and now feels a need to make sure she is always hydrated.

The rest of my bunnies all have bowls too (another 19 of them :lol:) and they all drink varying amounts, but none in the league of her.
 
My single bunny gets through 600-800ml a day, usually 650/700ml. This is a definate decrease since I have had him, when I first got him he went through 1000ml-1200ml a day.

The vet feels that as he seems perfectly healthy and the amount has decreased since I have had him that it is probably behavioural. I dont know what his past was like, so we could only speculate, but she said that sometimes if rabbits are kept in small hutches with no stimulation they can get obsessive habits, and she thinks this might be one, especially as it has decreased since he has a lot more space than the average rabbit now.

He is also a big bunny and indoors so bound to drink a little more.
 
:wave: My pair get through a 600ml bottle per day. Not masses, but they do have a lot of veg which will obviously help with water intake.

In the summer I give my veg wet too :)
 
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