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Bunny doesnt drink much

S

SiDHEaD

Warren Scout
A little worried that Fitzhenry only really drinks an absolutely tiny amount of water per day. The bottle is definately working ok, he just doesn't bother with it. He has the medium size bottle whereas Hyuna has the Large bottle and her level goes down 10x faster despite the bottle being much larger diameter. He also only seems to do 1 or maybe 2 wees per day. He's eating fine and seems happy.

Does this need some investigation or do some buns just not drink much? Maybe Hyuna just drinks so much she's distorting my view of it (her cage next to his for initial bonding)?
 
I'm not sure if it would be health related, but sometimes bottles can take a while to get a decent amount of water out, does he have a bowl too? Any bowl will do, I use heavy ceramic dog bowls for mine :)
 
Aly&Poppy<3 said:
I'm not sure if it would be health related, but sometimes bottles can take a while to get a decent amount of water out, does he have a bowl too? Any bowl will do, I use heavy ceramic dog bowls for mine :)
Click to expand...

I might get him one of the large ones they seem to blast the water out cos of the weight pushing down on it I guess. I did buy one of those spout ones that doesnt use a ball system but it just creates puddles in the cage despite claiming to not leak!

He doesnt have a bowl as with all the toys and tubes and stuff in his cage I didn't want to use up the floor space - he has to be locked in during the day because he finds it amusing to pull tufts out of the carpet :shock: We're building a big (huge) daytime cage with the mesh cubes once they are ready to be fully bonded so that will certainly allow more floor space.
 
You can get bowls that attach to the side of the cage and so don't take up floor space. I use this for one of my buns who always tips his bowl over deliberately as soon as it is put in :roll: :roll: :roll:
 
Is he indoors or outdoors?

It makes a huge difference I found...when Ludo lived in the cabin which wasn't warm he only drank a bit but now he's in my room which is heated he drinks nearly a bottle a day.

Also when you give him veg do you leave the veg covered in water because it may be that he's getting enough that way! Some animals just don't drink much. We had a guinea pig that never in her whole life touched the water bottle. We used to change it anyway but she never used it, she got her water from her veg.
 
Hesperus said:
Is he indoors or outdoors?

It makes a huge difference I found...when Ludo lived in the cabin which wasn't warm he only drank a bit but now he's in my room which is heated he drinks nearly a bottle a day.

Also when you give him veg do you leave the veg covered in water because it may be that he's getting enough that way! Some animals just don't drink much. We had a guinea pig that never in her whole life touched the water bottle. We used to change it anyway but she never used it, she got her water from her veg.
Click to expand...

He's indoors, and the one end of his 1.2m cage is fairly near a radiator that comes on for an hour in the morning and evening. He has some veggies in the eve which are usually just left washed so maybe that's what it is!
 
I agree completely that some buns prefer bowls.
I good way to see if they're drinking enough is to check the urine. If it's very white like single cream & coating the poops, they aren't drinking enough.
I also find that it's often associated with a slightly slow gut. Encouraging to excercise can be a big help here.
 
thumps_ said:
I agree completely that some buns prefer bowls.
I good way to see if they're drinking enough is to check the urine. If it's very white like single cream & coating the poops, they aren't drinking enough.
I also find that it's often associated with a slightly slow gut. Encouraging to excercise can be a big help here.
Click to expand...

His toilet litter looks fine, no whiteness. Harvey sometimes has that in his so I know what it looks like but Fitz doesn't seem to have it. He is usually quite a lazy bunny but because we are currently trying to bond him with Hyuna they are spending hours just running round and round together playing kiss chase.
 
Over the years I've met bunnies who hardly ever seemed to drink water, but they were perfectly fit and well. They managed to get sufficient fluids through their vegetables, herbs and fresh grass.


Fingers crossed your bunny is much like the above. :thumb:
 
Mrs. Bunnykins said:
Over the years I've met bunnies who hardly ever seemed to drink water, but they were perfectly fit and well. They managed to get sufficient fluids through their vegetables, herbs and fresh grass.


Fingers crossed your bunny is much like the above. :thumb:
Click to expand...

Yep, sometimes you can worry too much. Sometimes it's a sign something's wrong. Sometimes, an animal just isn't a big drinker.

Try him with a bowl perhaps, most buns prefer them it seems.

Ludo thinks they're for washing ears though! :lol:
 
Hesperus said:
Yep, sometimes you can worry too much. Sometimes it's a sign something's wrong. Sometimes, an animal just isn't a big drinker.

Try him with a bowl perhaps, most buns prefer them it seems.

Ludo thinks they're for washing ears though! :lol:
Click to expand...

We always used to use bowls, but Harvey came used to a bottle so we kept him on that - then we we got the last 2 we stuck with that as it seemed tidier. I'll see what he thinks!
 
SiDHEaD said:
His toilet litter looks fine, no whiteness. Harvey sometimes has that in his so I know what it looks like but Fitz doesn't seem to have it. He is usually quite a lazy bunny but because we are currently trying to bond him with Hyuna they are spending hours just running round and round together playing kiss chase.
Click to expand...

Sounds fine to me. :)
I've nothing against bottles. They work fine for the majority of buns, & are economical of space. :)
All buns have a lot of chalk in their urine. As long as it isn't coating the poops they're fine.
I think we often forget that wild rabbits don't drink at all apart from dew. They get all the fluids they need from fresh plants/grass.
Of course our buns mainly eat hay need a fluid top up. There seems to be a lot of variability in how much our buns drink.
 
Thanks all for input :)

He's just gone 8 months. Will keep an eye on him as it gets a bit warmer, although he will be outside snacking on grass all day lol.
 
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