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Not drinking water-help!!

K

kayw1

Young Bun
My two rabbits do not seem to be drinking water out of their water bottle at all because when i come to check on them in the morning, the bottle is full. I know that rabbits don't drink so much water in winter but is it normal that they dojn't seem to be drinking any? I give them a big bowl of carrots, brussels sprouts and white cabbage at 5pm in the evening.

I am also worried that when my rabbit did a wee in the litter tray, it smelled very strong which it doesn't normally. There is no colour in the wee.I have chgecked the water bottle and it is working,.
 
You could try putting some water in a bowl. When pistachio first came indoors, she was forever drinking out the dogs water bowl! I think sometimes they prefer that to having to lick at the bottle, mine have bowls of water aswell as bottles now all the time. :wink: x Jess
 
i will try that. Its a bit strange considering they have been drinking from a bottle from the day i had them. I have had them 10 months now
 
Rabbits with the start of dental problems (molar spurs) sometimes find sipping from a bottle painful as their togue gets scratched on their too sharp molar teeth as they sip and lick. Might be worth a Vet check

Janex :)
 
If urine color is clear on some occasion, that's okay. If urine color was always milky yellow, and now close to clear or semi-clear, and each set of urine is close to clear or semi-clear and you no longer see the usual milky yellow color, then it could be a one or both side partial kidney failure.
 
Hi, i have had the same problem with Oscar (the yellow dutch), he hasnt been drinking for a few months now. I started marking his water bottle and it would go down slightly, which made me think he was drinking during the night in secret.

He got plenty of vegetables, and i took him to the vets twice and both times they said he was most likely getting plenty of water from there and therefore didnt feel like he needed anymore.

I was still worried though so i got a ceramic bowl the ones that say dog, rabbit, cat etc, filled it with veg and then filled it with water so he kind of had to bob for the veg. This way he would get more water.

Mark his water bottle, do what i suggested with the ceramic bowl and try not to worry.

This morning, for the first time in months i caught Oscar drinking from his water bottle at 7am in the morning.
 
I changed to a bowl after Furby came back from her spay and I felt it was harder for her to reach the bottle. She took to it immediately, so tried with Floss & Bournville who also seemed to prefer it. so now they have a puppy bowl.
 
I prefere water bottles as they are more hygenic but as yours seems to have stopped using his i am inclined to go with what Jane said about his teeth and think offering a bowl in the meantime may help alleviate the problem until his teeth have been examined.
 
Thanks for all your comments. I think I will follow your advice, Oscar Bunny. Not sure they have teeth problems though because I have seen them eat both hay and vegetables with no problems plus my vet checked their teeth 3 months or so ago.
 
also try a little bit of apple juice in the water then reduce it every day, often works as a bribe to get them started :D i had to do this with herbie when he decided he wasn't using a bottle anymore but wasn't sure what to do with the bowl (he's quite dopey :roll: )
 
I tried that with Oscar with orange juice and pineapple juice - thing is he hates fruit - didnt work... if u need any more advice pm me, dont worry - only worry if they stop pooing and weeing xx
 
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