excessive water consumption...diabetes? kidney trouble? please help!

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babybug74

babybug74

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Aiea, Hawaii, USA
Hello...

I have been noticing that my bunny girl Brandy drinks a ton of water. I would say she drinks about 12-16 oz. in a 24-hour period. I've only had Brandy in my household for about a month--I rescuedher from a family who was going to get rid of her; they lost interest in her when they adopted a chihuahua puppy.

Here are some more details--she's about 4 lbs, and 8 month sold. She's a Holland Lop and she was recently spayed (on January 9, 2007). Her daily diet includes 1/4 cup alfalfa pellets, unlimited Timothy Hay, about 2 cups of vegetables (a mixture of romaine lettuce, parsley, beet tops, celery, swiss chard, brocco listems & leaves, dandelion and collard greens and cilantro). She gets an occasional (once a week)treat of banana, apple, or a couple of raisins.

She has a great appetite and loves eating. She has great litterbox habits, and her poop looks normal (all uniform &round), and I guess because of all the water she drinks, she does produce a huge amount of pee. She is curious and active and her behavior seems normal (doesn't seem to be in pain or anything). She enjoys running around the living room and grooming her neutered bunny pal, JarJar.

I know all bunnies are different, but I was wondering if her water intake could be indicative of a problem (i.e. diabetes or kidney trouble)? I am sure that a blood test could point out the specific problem, but I don't want to stress her out by sticking her in the carrier and driving the hour it takes to get to the her vet. Is there anything I can do in the meantime (like alterher diet) to help her out?

I'llget her to the vet eventually...just wanted to wait a bit since she's still recovering from her spay.

Thank you in advance for any advice you cangive, or experiences you can share.
 
Wow, that is a lot of water!Especially with that much veggies. I'm not sure what to recommend, except to maybe try timothy pellets. Maybe all the calcium (do they have more salt too?) is making her drink more?

Oh, and you aren't giving her mineral or salt licks are you? That could really drive her thirst up.

And yeah, you have the right idea with the blood test. That will definately show any kidney or blood sugar problems. Too bad your vet didn't do one before the spay. Mine recommends blood tests before all surgeries, so you would have already known.
 
Can alsoindicate a bladder infection. Most certainly needs to be checked out.

Are you certain she's actually drinking all the water, or is it leaking out?



Pam
 
I got the little guy in my avatar, Buster Jones,about 4 months ago. He weighs 2.75 lbs. I set up his cage with a 16 oz water bottle. I filled it up at night and it was always completely empty in the morning. I had a huge 32 oz bottle laying around so I put that up. I was shocked to find that one emptyt oo! I thought it must be leaking, but it wasn't. I'd never seen anything like it and I've had several bunnies over the years.Accordingly, his litter box was always completely drenched. I even had to put in a larger, deeper one. Iwas SO worried. I took him to the vet and, amazingly, everythingcame back fine...kidneys, liver, bladder, e. cuniculi, etc. I've noticed over the last month or so, he's finally started to drink less.He still drinks more than my other buns, about 16 oz every 24 hours,but its much less than before and the litter box still has dry pieces in the morning :) I still don't really know what to make of it,but maybe yours will slow down too as she continues to settle in (but still take her to the vet, of course).
 
My Flower drinks the same amount of water, and has since the day we brought her home (you can see her rescue story here, if you want:http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=13337&forum_id=1 ).

Anyway, when I first got her, she'd been without food or water for quite a long time, enough so that she was all boney and malnourished. She drank like a fiend, so much so that I thought I heard it 24hrs a day!

Though her drinking amount has gone down just a bit (I found her thispast May), she still drinks quite a lot, and eats quite a lot of hay per day.

So, it sounds like your baby is quite a lot like that...I think it's a symptom of having had such a lack for so long. I don't think it's anything to worry about, personally, if only because you found her in just about the same state I found my Flower in, it sounds like.

If you're truly worried, though, I would recommend possibly calling and asking the vet. :)
 
Hi there,

Thank you all so much for sharing your opinions and personal rabbit experiences.

i also wish my vet had recommended blood work before the spay procedure. That probably would have been a real time saver. i don't give brandy any salt or mineral licks, and i will try switching her over to timothy pellets instead of the regularalfalfa pellets we currently use.

the water bowl that brandy drinks out of is new, and it doesn't have any cracks, so that rules out the possibility of any leaks.so i am pretty sure that she is drinking all the water i give her.

i do hope that brandy is just one of those rabbits who loves her water--much like flower and buster, and hopefully doesn't have any medical problems. i do intend to get her to the vet after sheis all recovered from her spaying.

Thanks again for your help!:)


 
I've got one rabbit -- a big hay eater-- who drinks a big crock fulldaily, and then there's Pipp,who doesn'tdrink any at all. :shock: (She also doesn't eat hay). Both get a lot of veggies. Id o notice that the more hay they eat the more water they drink.

Fair warning, a blood test on a bunny is not all that easy, it can be quite a big deal on a little bunny. I think if she's other wise acting healthy, the vet may be more inclined to check a urine sample. I think they can express the bladder. (It's tough to get them to pee in a cup). ;)

It's probably nothing, but best to get her checked out.



sas :)
 
Sas,

Thanks for your post! Brandy (my big water drinker) does eata ton of hay, and my other rabbit does not. That makes a lot of sense if the more hay a rabbit eats correlates with the amount of water intake.

And I don't want to stress her out so I would like to avoid a blood test if necessary. I will be watching her to see how she is,and then see what my vet recommends. Thanks for your help!:bunnydance:
 
I'm so thankful for this site. I was going to start my own post on this topic, but decided to do a search first. Our little Pearl goes through food and water like crazy. She is a 3 month old French Lop. She has unlimited alfalfa hay that we fill 2-3 times per day (she has one of those hay manager things in her cage), eat 1/2 - 1 cup of timothy pellets and drinks about 1 cup of water. She has a large crock, plus a water bottle. This morning when I got up she had no food or hay left, her water crock was nearly empty and her water bottle was half full. I think she's just growing since when she was weighed at the vet two weeks ago she only weighed 2.2 pounds. I think she's closer to 2.5 or 2.7 now. My sister who hasn't seen her since she first came home saw her last night and commented on how much bigger she's got.
 
The new vet I have does not recommend alfalfa hay at all for rabbits because of the calcium content. Especially for french lop breeds as they grow so fast. It could be the calcium causing the thirst. Her and the new breeder both say, good mixed hay and timothy pellets ( 15-16% protein ) from the start. Good luck with this wee girl, I like the idea of the urine test first.
 
Alfalfa hay is fine for young bunnies and bunnies trying to put on weight. French lops are big-boned (literally--they have larger bones) and I wouldn't worry about giving too much calcium until the bunny's 6 mo old or older. A mix of grass and alfalfa hay is probably better than just alfalfa, though.
 
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