Bunnies And Water

[Pipp]

There are threads about bunnies and water hereand on Etherbun, so I thought I'd throw my:twocentsin.

Somebody on EB said their rabbit is on sub-q infusions (fluids givenunder the skin with a needle) and eats normally until the fluids wearoff, then stops eating again.

I'm experiencing something similar. If I hand feed Pippdiluted juice, she eats her veggies. Otherwise, shedoesn't. She'll only eat pellets. I'm really seeinga correlation between her appetite and activity level, and her liquidsintake.

Pipp had/has molar spurs, they showed up when she was justunder a year and a half old. They've been done three times,the last times just two months apart. But then they went awayfor months, I assumed the spur broke off. But now I'm wondering if itwasn't drinking-related..

Right now I'm assuming they're developing again, or at leasther appetite is up and down like a yo-yo. She seemed to behaving some urinary problems on Metacam, so I started hand-feedingdiluted carrot juice. It was a miracle cure. Herspur symptoms (almost) disappeared along with the urinaryissues. But the spur symptoms came back again when I stoppedgiving her juice.

She's never eaten hay, and shenever seems to drinkon her own, or at least I've never seen her drink, especiallylately. But when I make her drink, she eats. It'sreally weird. I know that a bunny won't eat if it can't drink(I remember a tragic loss when somebody new to rabbits didn't realizetheir new baby didn't know how to work a water bottle), but why would abunny not drink?

I specifically asked the vet to check her tongue when the spurs wereacting up to see if there was any irritation, and there wasn't.

And now I'm realizing how important drinking is, I'mwondering how many 'stasis' bunnies actually started withahydration issue. It's not just a cure, it's thecause?

sas

 

[aurora369]

I once heard that many elderly people havedehydration issues due to a confusion between thirst andhunger. They feel hungry, but their body is actually thirsty,so they don't get as much fluids as they really need.

Maybe some bunnies get confused, and feel they are hungry, so eatinstead of drink. Then start feeling crappy, so they stopeating.

I found out that Penny really likes orange flavoured pedialyte (Ibought it in hopes of keeping a sickly baby alive).She would beg like no tomorrow for it. I would give her a fewdroppers full.

If keeping Pip hydrated seems to help with her eating issues, then byall means it's a great idea to make sure she drinks! Maybeyou could eventually wean the carrot juice out, untill it is all ormostly water? Do you use a syringe?

--Dawn

 

[naturestee]

That makes sense to me. I do know thatwhen Loki sheds he's still willing to eat piles and piles of hay butstill gets small hard poops until I start giving him daily doses ofpumpkin. I'd bet that early doses of fluids and simethiconewould prevent a lot of GI problems.

Although I'm wondering if you've had blood tests run on Pipp lately? It might be worth checking for a kidney issue.