Drinking lots of water

annabolic

annabolic

Young Bun
I'm a first-time rabbit owner and my two, Dot and Jim, arrived yesterday morning. They're indoor rabbits who live in a pen in my living room but will be allowed to roam a bit more once they've settled in.

As I'm new to having rabbits I've done lots of research but I'm still a little bit paranoid! I've noticed that both my two are drinking a lot of water and peeing a lot. I filled up their 12oz water bottle before they arrived and have filled it up twice since - that's nearly four bottles of water they've got through in around 32 hours. Is that a lot? I don't really have any idea! It seems a lot to me, and I wondered whether it might be because they're slightly unsettled from the move as it hasn't been long. I've emptied their litter tray (newspaper + hay) twice today as it was soaking wet. Can anyone let me know whether I should be worried?! I really want to do all this right!
 
Welcome to the forum, and to bunnies :)

Rabbits water intake depends on a few things, with what they are eating the main one. Rabbits that eat a lot of fresh foods or have access to grass will get almost all their water intake from food, where as those eating hay/pellets will drink a lot more.

Anything from around 50-250 ml per rabbit per day can be normal. It sounds like your two are on the upper end, but as they are new it's tricky to know if that's normal for them. Are they both drinking a lot or is it one in particular?

The other thing to check is whether the bottle is leaking?

I'd suggest a non clumping wood or paperbased cat litter for the tray, it's much more absorbent than straight paper/hay :)
 
I would consider a 12oz bottle to be quite small for buns. I refill my lot daily, regardless of it being empty, but my boys go through about 600ml daily, Pooka around that on her own. She has been checked for problems, but she just drinks a lot, and has since she arrived. Definitely look out for leaks - if the bottle isn't full or has a bubble inside it will usually drip. I also find that Cloud and Bilbo occasionally lie under the water bottle, and their backsides shove the spout a bit :roll: they get wet.

It could be any number of things, keep an eye on them and check for normal output, or if they look like they're straining on the toilet. For litter I use fitch, if I tried to use hay and newspaper I would, likely never stop emptying litter trays. Primarily because any paper in the vicinity gets chucked!
 
Thanks both for your help. Both bunnies are drinking a lot - it's not that the bottle is leaking or anything as I can see them both drinking (being indoor bunnies in my living room) and can see that the bottle isn't particularly leaky. They both eat mostly hay with a few pellets in the mornings and some fresh veg in the evenings so maybe it's just that they need more fresh water than rabbits eating grass.

Since posting, a friend that used to have rabbits has given me a small amount of the litter they used to use (Carefresh for small animals) so I'm going to try that out rather than newspaper and hay because I'm just having to empty their litter tray so often otherwise. Also she gave me a bigger (1.1l) water bottle so I won't have to refill quite as often. From your replies, it seems like maybe I just have a particularly thirsty pair of bunnies so I'll stop worrying :) Thank you so much for your advice, I'm still learning!!
 
Try giving them a bowl of water too. Many rabbits prefer bowls, but it is handy to have both on offer. :thumb:
 
Just another thought, you aren't adding vitamin drops or anything to it are you? They can taste sweet and make rabbits drink more than normal.
 
Vegan_Bunny said:
Try giving them a bowl of water too. Many rabbits prefer bowls, but it is handy to have both on offer. :thumb:
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I second this. My buns prefer a bowl to a bottle and so do I. They are easier to clean and it just seems more natural for them to drink this way.

I worried a lot when i got my first bunny but you will get to know your bunnies very quickly and know what's normal or not in no time :)

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2
 
I haven't been adding anything to the water, no. They didn't get on with the bigger water bottle for some reason even though it was in the same place as the previous one - I came downstairs in the morning and they hadn't touched it overnight so I'm back to the smaller one for the moment. They do like to have a bowl of water but they empty it too quickly for me to keep it full all the time so I only put one in for them occasionally.
 
How big is the bowl? My three have two 1ltr bowls between them. They drink about a bowl a day, but more when it's warmer.
 
It's only a tiny bowl (designed for food really) but as long as they're getting enough water from their bottle I'm planning to stick to that for the moment.
 
Were they outdoor bunnies before you got them? When I brought one of my buns in to be a housebun he started drinking lots. In the end we put it down to the heating being on and making him a bit more thirsty compared to him being used to the winter weather outside!
 
That's a very good point actually - yes, they were both outdoor bunnies beforehand. I was told they'd probably moult a lot when they came to live indoors with me but thinking about it it does sort of explain the drinking thing too! Thanks!
 
annabolic said:
That's a very good point actually - yes, they were both outdoor bunnies beforehand. I was told they'd probably moult a lot when they came to live indoors with me but thinking about it it does sort of explain the drinking thing too! Thanks!
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Are they in the living room? I'm just thinking, you could turn down the heating in the room they are in. It may help them adjust a bit more. Obviously you won't be able to do this if they are in the living room.

I would probably offer them a larger bowl. If they are drinking so much from a bottle, they can damage their mouths. They may not be getting as much water out of the bottle as they need, either. I would have both bottle and bowl on offer for them, and just top up the bowl whenever you can. :thumb:
 
Yes they're in the living room, so it'd be difficult to turn down the heating. However it'll be a bit cooler in here when I go back to work and the heating's on a lower temperature during the day, so maybe that'll help. I'll try giving them a bowl of water when I can, thanks for the tip.
 
Just an update on this now I've had the bunnies a bit longer (nearly a month now). They have a 1100ml bottle and I would say they get through 1300ml of water between the two of them over 24 hours. I usually put 1000ml in the bottle in the morning. When I check it again in the early evening it'll be down to around 400ml with them having drunk 600ml - I top it up at this point. Then by the next morning it'll have gone down again with them having drunk another 500ml or so. They also have a small bowl of water most days. As far as I can tell both are drinking roughly the same amount.

They have a litter tray (Carefresh) and they're reasonably good at using it, although lately there have been several accidents (both poo and wee - advice on persuading rabbits not to wee on sofas would also be helpful!!). Should I be worried? Apart from drinking lots they seem to be happy, bouncy bunnies and although I'm a very inexperienced rabbit owner there don't seem to be any obvious health problems at all. Both bunnies are medium cross breeds.

While I've been typing this Dot has been drinking from the water bottle for four minutes solid… I'm kind of worried :?
 
I too have 2 medium sized cross breeds house buns and I've only had them a week and a bit. I feel like they drink a lot too. Originally I found they barely drank from their bottle so I tried them with a bowl and they drained it in a minute, they have a bowl now and a bottle as a backup in case they spill the bowl. I seem to be filling up the bowl a lot and the bottle was empty today as well. I rehomed them from the RSPCA so they were checked by a vet when they were spayed and given their injections so I don't think it can be a medical problem. My two are very good hay eaters so that might be the reason why. I know what you mean about being worried though, I'm paranoid about every little thing at the moment! Mine will quite often drink for a long time when I put fresh water down and they do the same with hay :)
 
Mine sound almost exactly the same as yours Kirotea, except mine have no problems drinking from a bottle. They also eat lots of hay (fortunately I have made friends with the local farm shop staff…) and they had their vet check with the RSPCA in December. Still totally paranoid, glad it's not just me though! :wave:
 
annabolic said:
Mine sound almost exactly the same as yours Kirotea, except mine have no problems drinking from a bottle. They also eat lots of hay (fortunately I have made friends with the local farm shop staff…) and they had their vet check with the RSPCA in December. Still totally paranoid, glad it's not just me though! :wave:
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I thinking of it as like if we ate weetabix all day we would be really thirsty too! They will sometimes literally just sit and eat hay for an hour! I've had some Timothy hay delivered today from Hay4pets and they are loving it.
 
That's true although if it was just a bit more than the usual amount of water I'd be OK, it's just that it's so much more!! But I've made a vet appointment for tomorrow morning to get them checked over just in case (the receptionist said it was probably just because they're warm having been outside, like others on here said, but agreed it was good to check just in case). Will let you know what they say! I'm also going to ask about litter training because I've just discovered a massive wet patch on my sofa :(
 
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