How much water should/does your rabbit drink?

Just seen Neo pee on the lino after missing the litter tray. Very orange! He drinks about 300ml a day, sometimes more.

He hasn't had any carrot in the last week, but there are dandelions in his forage by Excel. I think he has a cold or similar and he is going to the vets tomorrow regarding this.

He has had handfuls of grass and some fresh dandelions Wed, Fri and Sat but not since then.

Is he drinking enough? I'm concerned he may have a UTI or similar which could account for his snuffles combined with temp change and moulting.

I'd like to have as many questions as possible for the vets tomorrow!

Fergie definitely doesn't drink that much! He gets a bowl full of water (normal p@h rabbit bowl things) that I change twice a day but I estimate he drinks maybe half a bowl of water a day but I'm not sure how much that is in ml.
I worry he doesn't drink enough but he gets a decent amount of veg per day so must get some water from that (hopefully!)

Hope your bun gets sorted out at the vets!

Mine have a bowl, but don't drink anything like that amount (except, perhaps, in the height of summer). What amount of hay and pellets do you feed (sorry if you've said).

Rabbits don't get colds

I have two that drink loads and one that doesn't seem to drink a lot at all. If mine have been eating more hay/forage'y things than usual then they drink more.

My TWO rabbits don't even drink that much between them most days so I defiantly wouldn't say it's that, could be linked to his moulting though as that often knocks the rabbits systems off.

Babsie:
He gets 20g of Science Select and Pets at Home nuggets mixed together once a day. He has a huge hay rack filled with a mix of timothy.co.uk and Excel dandelion forage. He also gets meadow hay in his litter tray, he doesn't eat as much of this though. He goes through about his body size in 24 hours, some days I'm refilling the rack if it's not as tightly packed

Aly&Poppy:
I more meant the snuffles that people refer to :lol:
It's good to know, it must really depend on the rabbit and how much they eat and how quickly I suppose.

MrsDownTheRabbitHole:
Ahh, well I'm going on an average. Some days he's doing 100ml I'd guess, some days 400ml! I suppose warmer days and when he's particularly greedy with his hay must effect it.

The adoption center said he was sneezing when he wad on sawdust and they changed to paper bedding which stopped it.
I thought nothing of it as I wasn't a member on here yet and when we got him home he didn't ever sneeze.
I'm wondering how they get the bacteria that causes the snuffles?

I think orange wee is pretty normal even without carrots. My two quite often have orange wee, I think it can be caused by dark green veg or herbs. As for drinking, I see my two drinking a few times during the evening but they only drink small amounts. Moulting is normal this time of year and plus I think house bunnies moult a lot anyway. I'm not sure what you mean about temperature change. But I'd get the vet to check the runny nose.

Average water consumption is 50-100ml/kg/24 hrs

Dandelions can cause very dark orange wee

Holhol said:

Fergie definitely doesn't drink that much! He gets a bowl full of water (normal p@h rabbit bowl things) that I change twice a day but I estimate he drinks maybe half a bowl of water a day but I'm not sure how much that is in ml.
I worry he doesn't drink enough but he gets a decent amount of veg per day so must get some water from that (hopefully!)

Hope your bun gets sorted out at the vets!

Click to expand...

A normal p@h sized bowl (that say rabbit or have carrots on) are roughly 300 ml when nearly full to the top

What bunnies drink varies a lot depending on what they eat. Rabbits that eat mainly grass and fresh foods will drink virtually nothing, rabbits that eat hay and dry food drink a lot more. So if she eats fresh dandelions and grass one day, then none the next, it's likely his water intake will go up a lot

Agree with Tamsin. So dependent on the amount of fibre eaten during the day.
Mine eat mainly veg and grass so they don't seem to drink so much as others

Lewis and Ailsa don't drink a lot, maybe 150ml each per day. At least, usually 300ml is missing out of their bottle.

Islay, Jura and Arran drink a bit more, obviously there's three of them, but about 600ml between the three bunnies.

It depends what else they are eating really. Mine are out eating a lot of grass which has moisture.

My 2 usually drink between 300 - 500 mls per day out their water bottle. They have pellets for breakfast and fresh hay, then on an evening they have dried greens (dandelion, plantain, etc) and a few fibre sticks during the day hidden around their hutch as well as unlimited hay. They do live outside, and it has been warmer lately as ive noticed their intake go up. When I first got them a month ago they only drank 200-350 mls between them. So im guessing it can all depend on temperature, diet etc.

My buns all have the same diet... yet Peggy aND tONIC DRINK a tiny bit, Bunny and Benji a little more, and Timmy and Misty drink looooooads! x

We've had some hot days about a week ago and to my surprise their water bowl was full. My guess is they were getting all their fluids from the fresh grass (which has now been mowed down to the soil bunny style) and salad vegetables.