how do i get my rabbit to drink more water?

[hippie]

so after switching my rabbit's pellets to oxbow(no alfalfa) i have noticed that he still has white patches in his urine. i think this could be due to the fact that he doesnt drink enough water? how much water is normal and how can i get him to drink more? he drinks from a crock and occassionally from a water bottle. thanks!

 

[MikeScone]

hippie wrote:

i have noticed that he still has white patches in his urine. i think this could be due to the fact that he doesnt drink enough water?

Not necessarily. Rabbits are different from most other mammals in that their urine is naturally basic instead of acid. That's because they excrete excess calcium through their urine. It's quite normal to find a rime of white calcium in a bunny's litter box.

Are you feeding Hubbell any green vegetables? Rabbits can get a lot of their water needs from the vegetables they eat. Keep the veggies wet after you wash them, and the bunny will get even more water that way.

How are you providing water? I found that Scone didn't like having to twist his neck to lick the water tube on his suspended water bottle he came with. He drank lots more water when I switched him to a self-filling water dish. Natasha likes the water dish, too - but in her case, I had to bungee cord the supply bottle to the side of the cage because she kept knocking it over in her excitement (Scone ignored the extension of his balcony on which the water sat, Natasha thinks it's a high-speed bunny run).

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat: Also, some veggies are higher in calcium. Had one come to us with a bladder stone, so, after an expensive surgery we eliminated all high calcium veggies.