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New rabbit, excessive drinking?

C

Colly

Warren Scout
Hi all, I have bonded my rabbit Obi with another boy called Elmo. Its only week 2 but so far so good, there hasn't been any fighting...Obi is a bit indifferent to him, where as Elmo loves Obi to bits....but Obi is tolerating him and all the licks he gets :love:

I have noticed that the new bunny Elmo drinks loads...and now they are both getting through a large bottle of water a day. This could be perfectly normal, as Elmo (new bunny) was outside and is now in a warm house?? Or it has been suggested it could be EC? And a course of panacur might be a good idea for both?? Any advice appreciated? thank you. :wave:
 
Doughnut is an indoor rabbit and she drinks a lot since the house is warm She drinks a bowl a day but obviously that's not helpful since you don't know the size of the bowl. Rabbits also drink more when eating hay rather than grass as there is water in grass so it also depends on what the water content is of their food.

If she is well otherwise I wouldn't suspect anything else.
 
Thank you. The new bunny (exact age unknown) is about 1.5 years...he's lionhead lop but he is a tiny dot of a bunny, also very boney so I am trying to fatten him up a bit. Its just when he's at the water bottle, he'll be there about 10 mins just drinking, I would imagine he's only getting a little bit of water at a time, he has a bowl also to drink from. They both eat a lot of hay at the moment as I'm trying to give them a less pellets as I have been known to over feed with the pellets... ( I love to treat them all the time). I'll keep an eye on them...and see how it goes. thanks for your reply. :)
 
I tend to recommend a course of panacur for any new buns that haven't been rescued through a rehoming center.
Has Elmo had a dental check since you've taken him in? Excess drinking can be caused by dental pain as well as EC so worth keeping this in mind.

If Elmo seems healthy I wouldn't worry too much.
The average water intake for rabbits is 50-100ml per 1kg of body weight so you could potentionally try to measure it to help put your mind at rest.

Drinking from a bottle will Deffinatley take them longer to quench a thirst as they only get a drop of water for each lick.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
 
Hi thank you for your reply...Elmo came from a place called Fat Fluffs, which is a rabbit rescue, but they are excellent with buns and provide top notch care. He has no front teeth...he recently had the last one removed from the front...he doesn't seem to have any dental issues, but it can be tricky to tell. It was actually fat fluffs that recommended a course of panacur possibly, but didn't want to put them both on it unless necessary. I'll monitor his water intake and see if I can work it out. on the plus side his wee is almost like water, which is lucky as he's in the weeing everywhere phase..:)
 
Awh bless. I've heard lots of good things about fat fluffs :)
I'd be tempted to do panacur as it sounds like fat fluffs haven't done it, but you can make that choice yourself I believe. Good luck measuring the water intake. It can be difficult with two buns and different water places.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
 
Are there any side effects with Panacur? and how is it best given to the buns...sorry I always have so many questions! :)
 
I would definitely do a 28 day course of Panacur - own of my buns has EC and it presented as excessive drinking - but to be honest, excessive drinking could be because of other things as well.

Panacur seems to be tolerated very well by buns. I used to put it on treats - such as fenugreek crunchies which Bobo gobbled up regardless of what was on it :D But your bun may be good at taking his meds directly by mouth.

To be honest though - if it continues I would take the bun to the vets and get checks done - we're just guessing and without blood tests etc, you are never going to really know what is going on.
 
Colly said:
Are there any side effects with Panacur? and how is it best given to the buns...sorry I always have so many questions! :)
Click to expand...
I've never had any negative side effects reported but with any medication you give there will always be a risk.
I found the liquid easier to dose as I can mix it in with baby food quite easily.

As already said, excess drinking can relate to other health issues, and without a full vet examination and/or test you won't know what's going on internally.

You could always call your vet to discuss over the phone with them if you want.

If were my bun I wouldn't be overly worried yet, but then you may feel your peace of mind would benefit from a vet examination.

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I assume both buns are neutered? Even so, the new bunny could be stressed a bit by the presence of the other male, we can't detect their intentions. You could ring FFs to see if they noticed him drinking excessively.
 
Colly said:
Are there any side effects with Panacur? and how is it best given to the buns...sorry I always have so many questions! :)
Click to expand...

Hi Colly :wave:

There are side effects to every drug. It's a balance, but if Fat Fluffs have recommended a 28 day course of Panacur, then perhaps you could discuss with your vet?

I would also provide a water bowl and not just a bottle. It's often arduous for a rabbit to get the water they want from a bottle. And it's been shown they drink more from a bowl, which is best at preventing conditions such as bladder sludge.

Good luck xx
 
My pair and my new bun all drank quite a lot when they were living side by side and for a few weeks after they were bonded - they now seem to be back to drinking normal amounts so I was wondering if it was some sort of stress reaction to the changes? I didn't take them to a vet or do anything different during that time, they are going to the vet on Tuesday for their RHD2 vacs so I will mention the period of increased drinking - they all seem well but I know rabbits are good at hiding illness.
 
Have you restricted greens? Rabbits get a lot of water from fresh food so if your other bun eats them but the new one has less that would give you a difference - just a thought :)
 
Hi all, so I was going to get some Panacur today (it calls it Panacur for worming is that right??)

I've only given them both a little bit of carrot, their as pellets and loads of hay. Elmo new bunny drinks a lot from the bottle and I'm having to change their hay basket daily as it it saturated with wee....it could be that I'm just not used to the quantities of thing from 2 bunnies...but I did discover some very sludgy poo last night...it was just a little but I'm sure it came from Elmo ... So really keeping an eye on them both...oh the worry!!! �� xx
 
Colly said:
Hi all, so I was going to get some Panacur today (it calls it Panacur for worming is that right??)

I've only given them both a little bit of carrot, their as pellets and loads of hay. Elmo new bunny drinks a lot from the bottle and I'm having to change their hay basket daily as it it saturated with wee....it could be that I'm just not used to the quantities of thing from 2 bunnies...but I did discover some very sludgy poo last night...it was just a little but I'm sure it came from Elmo ... So really keeping an eye on them both...oh the worry!!! �� xx
Click to expand...

Rabbit do wee a lot that's for sure :

Yes it's Panacur used for worming, and for EC treatment/control.

Carrot can cause squidy poos, and in some rabbits even a shred of it can do that. Try eliminating that and see what happens? Can you try giving forage instead?

https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/articles/free-food-for-rabbits/foraging

This link also refers to a great little book by Twigs Way on foraging - aka Parsnipbun on here :D
 
Hello Colly, are you chopping up or blending veg for Elmo? A water bowl is better for a bunny with no front teeth. As he's boney he may not be getting enough to eat. You can chop his veg small and crush some pellets in the mix, also add a little hay or forage in there. He has to pull it into his mouth with his tongue as he hasn't got the front teeth to pull or shovel the food.
 
Once again thanks all for the advice, I really appreciate it. :)
I'm trying to fatten Elmo up a bit, he's really tiny and very boney, prior to being at the rescue he'd had a horrid start in life, so I'm just giving him extra but slowly. He seems to cope with pellets fine, crunches them on his back teeth, and eats hay but slowly. Elmo also has a bowl of water and bottle so he can choose. The one thing that is wonderful (hopefully) is that when I pick him up and pop him on my lap for a stroke he falls asleep and will cuddle up there for ages, yesterday it was an hour...I had to wake him as my arm had gone numb...he was fine and bounced off for a drink...I have no idea if this ok but it feels like he needs the love. I've booked both Obi and Elmo in at the vets for tomorrow, they will both have a good check over and hopefully I can get some panacur to give them a dose. x :wave:
 
Colly said:
Once again thanks all for the advice, I really appreciate it. :)
I'm trying to fatten Elmo up a bit, he's really tiny and very boney, prior to being at the rescue he'd had a horrid start in life, so I'm just giving him extra but slowly. He seems to cope with pellets fine, crunches them on his back teeth, and eats hay but slowly. Elmo also has a bowl of water and bottle so he can choose. The one thing that is wonderful (hopefully) is that when I pick him up and pop him on my lap for a stroke he falls asleep and will cuddle up there for ages, yesterday it was an hour...I had to wake him as my arm had gone numb...he was fine and bounced off for a drink...I have no idea if this ok but it feels like he needs the love. I've booked both Obi and Elmo in at the vets for tomorrow, they will both have a good check over and hopefully I can get some panacur to give them a dose. x :wave:
Click to expand...

You're welcome :D

A pinch or two of porridge oats is also easy to eat and fattening :)

Yes, I hope the vet gives you the Panacur and the dosage and you can begin it x
 
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