do you perfer a dish or bottle

[JeffS]

I use something like what's in the pic below. Before I got it, I tried a regular bowl and a bottle. My rabbits liked to tip over the bowl, or if not I had to fill it too often anyway. Bottles can be hard to drink from compared to bowls.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

I use a bowl storm won't drink enough out of a bottle. At the shelter he had a bottle and they had to IV hime three times a week.

Plus bottles make a funny noice but I use bowls cause storm prefers them that's my main reson

 

[Brandon16166]

DeniseJP wrote:

I had better luck with bottles myself... I have not had leakage problems and they are easily cleaned with a baby bottle brush - with bowls the water was never clean enough in my opinion.

When you get your bunny, ask if he/she is used to a water bowl or bottle and if you are going to switch from one to another, have both filled with water at first so you can see what the bunny prefers... Bowl bunnies I have switched to the bottle when they came close to investigate it and a tiny squeeze can get the water flowing to get bunny's attention... if bunny is thirsty at that moment, he/she will get the idea through practice.

Just my humble opinion. What kind of bunny are you getting?

Denise

Im not sure yet, I still dont know if im going to get one from a breeder or a shelter. But mini lops are my favorite :inlove:

 

[sweetrose]

It also depends on the breed and if they are housed inside or out, E-lops ears can freeze if they get wet and its cold outside

 

[Brandon16166]

They are going to be inside

 

[EileenH]

I tried a bottle but Gulliver doesn't seem to understand it.

So I got a bowl and Gulliver thought it was fun to toss it.
I then got a bigger 3 gallon water-cooler thing, but apparantly that is also fun to toss, especially with 3 gallons of water...


I have found that the heavy bowl crocks work well; they cannot be thrown or picked up. So that is what we have settled on.

 

[Chickadee289]

I use a bowl. I made one in ceramics class (I throw clay) its really bottom heavy. Its also super easy to clean. I'm sure you could find a similar bowl maybe not made for bunnies but that is too heavy to tip.

 

[Brandon16166]

Whats a good size. is 5 or 7 inches good?

 

[funnybunnymummy]

I think it really depends on you and your bunny (to be) and their cage setup. Gus is in his cage at night, but free roam during the day.So I use both. Gus has a bottle in his cage because he tends to make a big wet mess if there's a bowl in there with him at night. But he drinks more from the bowl than the bottle, so I've got a bowl for him during the day. (Which still gets full of hair and hay and needs to be changed at least twice a day!)But at least between the bowl and the bottle I know he's always got access to water!

Rue

 

[elrohwen]

I prefer a dish. I've used bottles for gerbils throughout the years and have had a few leak. I also don't like how hard they are to clean. And a dish just seems easier for the bun to access the water and drink as much as he wants. Since water is so important to bunny digestion, I figure any way to make the water easy to access is a good thing.

Then again, my bun doesn't tip his water dish or get it full of hay. I might be a bottle convert if he did those things ;-)

 

[Stanza]

Flops uses a bowl, he drinks more water that way

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

I have found that most of my rabbits drink the most water from water bottles - there's more water and it stays cleaner longer than the water in dish (even though I change the water in the dishes 2x a day! Sometimes more. )

But I have hadsome bunnies who prefer the dishes over the bottles because they c an access the water more quickly.

I much prefer the bottles myself, but in cold weather they really are suck-y. But so are the dishes. lol. I'm switching all current bottles to Lixit-top-fill bottles. They don't have a ball in the tube, but more of like a little pin or something, and when the rabbits' tongue pushes it and they get a larger flow of water and they don't have to keep licking the tube to get a drink. Much easier for them to drink and the rabbit who has one now drinks a lot more water with this type of bottle.

My rabbits do know how to use both, though. Because at county fair they have to have water bowls so it helps that they know how to use both a dish & a bottle so the transfer is easier. We usually start babies out with a dish because they don't know how to work the bottle yet - then when the learn the bottle they'll use both. lol.

Emily

 

[Yurusumaji]

Like Helen's Kirby, Michiko had a bottle at first but never drank from it. I don't think she knows how to use it at all. I got her a small cat bowl for water and that's working out great. I might get her a bigger one, though. She goes through it pretty fast. :biggrin2:

 

[doggie0506]

Flurry insists on tipping bowls so if your bun is a little stinker like mine then go for a water bottle.

 

[Fynnagin]

I use these crocks, then there is no tipping or spilling..it attaches to the cage.

http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-3761251r200.jpg

 

[emily0862]

my bunny drinks a lot more from a dish and if you get a ceramic one, mine has a small ceramic souffle dish and she never knocks it over

 

[Agatecrystal91]

I prefer bottles and have always used these, they seem more 'sanitary' to me really. The water is not out in the open air so to speak and it stops bits of food/substrate/bedding and hair going into a bowl.

 

[emily0862]

it also depends on your layout, my bunny isnt in a cage, she runs free so her food and water arent near her litter box so her water stays clean. and bowls are a lot easier to clean then bottle, and a lot of people dont clean and disinfect bottles so they end up harboring more bacteria.