A few Qs- water intake and crust around eyes

[koalasoom]

Hi All,

my Bunny is almost 3 months old and he’s been with us for just over a week now. I have two Qs.

I’m not sure that he’s drinking enough water? We fill up the water bowl for him and he drinks maybe half the bowl by the end of the day but eats hay, both whilst on his litter tray and when playing and running around. I refresh the water several times a day in case it’s because he’s picky about hay getting into it. i do also give him a handful of pellets throughout the day which he loves.

Secondly, i noticed in the first few days of bringing him home that he had this white crust just under his left eye. I’ve noticed now that just under the left eye, his fur seems a bit sticky. I’ve tried to clean this but he is very resistant. his eyes themselves seem okay. I’ve attached (not the greatest quality) photos that I managed to take.

He is otherwise okay. Is active in the early hours and then just crawls around and rests and naps throughout the day and then becomes active late evening time.

Should i be concerned re his water intake and eye crust?

Thank you!

 

[koalasoom]

Also, to add to the water intake query- i really haven’t seen him pee very much. I empty out his litter tray every 3rd day and de see a few dried up stains of his pee. But nothing around the room. We’re free roaming and only really keep him in the pen at night time when we’re asleep. We clean the place regularly and haven’t come across any pee puddles anywhere apart from those on his litter tray.

 

[zuppa]

Hi, his eye doesn't look bad honestly, I would just make some black or green tea or chamomile tea and would rinse with it once or twice a day, it should go away in a day or two. Should I mention that that's tea without any sugar or honey or anything else added, just tea leaves and boiled water, set for 10 mins and apply with a cotton wool pad when room temperature, you can hold it on his eye for a few minutes if you want.

For water bowl, I prefer water bottles for it's much easier to see how much they drink really because not all water from bowls goes into them. Some people say bottles are no good but if you want to try and place a bowl under bottle you will see if he will drink from bottle or bowl. Was he using bowl or bottle where he came from?

For toilet habits, you are lucky so, some rabbits are extremely good with their toilets, even not neutered. Since he is still very small, he probably only makes small puddles in his toilet. I think if he always has his water available he will drink as much as he needs. Some of my rabbits drink more up to 200-300 ml per day, and others just 50-70 ml per day, it's very individual. More drinks more puddles, it's just important that he has access to clean water at all times.

 

[Hermelin]

You can do a saline soloution and use it to clean the eye or just buy a normal eye wash. If it don't work take him to the vet. Maybe he have gotten something stuck in the eye or something else that make him build up more crust than normal. Eye problems are something that shouldn't be drag too long.

Water intake varies between bunnies and how they drink, for example one of my bunnies drink water often but the intake will be small while my other bunny drink less but drink huge amount of water. Depending on what your bunny diet is and temperature, it will have an impackt on your bunnies intake of water

 

[Blue eyes]

What size bowl are you using?

Some rabbits tend to get crusties around their eyes. If they are bonded with another rabbit, the other rabbit will typically groom it for them. You can use a damp cloth now and then to just wipe the eye area. Doesn't look like anything to worry about at this point.