I think something's wrong...but I'm not sure which bun!

[snap]

So I've decided I post a lot here, but I'm still learning and this problem is upsetting me very much.

I have a NZ pair, brother/sister not breeding, who live outside.

Popcorn, the female, drinks water AT LEAST twice as fast as her brother. It's the same size bottle and I've tried switching them around to see if he didn't like the nipple or something. No luck. His water bottle is also a little leaky, so I'm not sure how much of the water gone actually got into him. Popcorn, however, will sit and drink constantly whenever she has water((at the rate she goes, I'm often gone or asleep when she finishes)). It's not particularly an exaggeration either, I've watched her sit and drink for about ten minutes straight.

Is there something wrong with her, or even both? Or is it just a female/male difference I'm noticing?

Sorry if I sound uneducated and post too much, but I had a rabbit die because I ignored some very obvious signs and I'm just scared I could lose another because I determined it to be irrelevant. I felt awful because I knew I had ignored it. :/

 

[dquesnel]

Hi there, excessive drinking is often a sign that something is going on with the kidneys. However, the drip bottles often aren't a good indication of how much water is actually getting IN the rabbit. Like you mentioned, they drip. The best way to see how much they are drinking is by how much they are peeing. I had one rabbit who actually drank his water bottle because of boredom, I am sure of it (even though some people would disagree that rabbits would do that). Because of that he urinated a lot and frequently, I was very worried about his kidneys but he turned out to be just fine. I took away his bottle and only kept his water bowl, he drank much more normal after that.

If I were you I'd do the same, can you put a heavy water dish in the pens and see what happens? You should leave the bottle there until you see them drinking from the bowl (sometimes it takes them a bit to get the hang of it).

If she seems to be drinking excessive still, and is also urinating a lot, I'd take her to get looked at by the vet and do bloodwork.

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

snap wrote:

So I've decided I post a lot here, but I'm still learning and this problem is upsetting me very much.

I have a NZ pair, brother/sister not breeding, who live outside.

Popcorn, the female, drinks water AT LEAST twice as fast as her brother. It's the same size bottle and I've tried switching them around to see if he didn't like the nipple or something. No luck. His water bottle is also a little leaky, so I'm not sure how much of the water gone actually got into him. Popcorn, however, will sit and drink constantly whenever she has water((at the rate she goes, I'm often gone or asleep when she finishes)). It's not particularly an exaggeration either, I've watched her sit and drink for about ten minutes straight.

Is there something wrong with her, or even both? Or is it just a female/male difference I'm noticing?

Sorry if I sound uneducated and post too much, but I had a rabbit die because I ignored some very obvious signs and I'm just scared I could lose another because I determined it to be irrelevant. I felt awful because I knew I had ignored it. :/

texas-,how hot is it,in the outside cages.??..prey animals hide their illness,s to the point of dying,..use a-water bowl with the bottle,..a good diet is essential to good health-offer-24/7--timothy/orchard-grasses,,quality lowfat pellets(quarter cup daily)-fruit tree branches/twigs to chew on...some greens--i offer dandylions,grasses.//.hay contains dust/dirt--possibly the extra water is to flush it down,,,watch the poop boxes for ouput ,,normal/abnormal..watch for behavioral changes,,signs of pain,etc,..sincerely james waller:wave:

 

[Pipp]

How old are they? What do they eat?

Water intake is also directly related to the hay intake here. I have two bunnies who eat a ton of hay and need their water crock filled up almost hourly. They're also in a drier part of the house above the furnace, which adds to it, but the main difference seems to be the hay. The more hay, the more water with all the bunnies here. The non-hay-eater is a non-drinker. The other pair that eats a lot of hay consumes the second biggest volume of water, and so on.

I agree with the boredom possibility, and I'd also recommend getting them some kind of a trough or large crock.

But unless the increased water intake is sudden and unrelated to diet, I wouldn't worry too much.


sas :clover:

 

[snap]

They are a year and a few months old, and they just eat pellets((Purina Show formula)) and sometimes some greens. They don't get hay, because they won't eat it- I've tried timothy, alfalfa and even a few handfuls of I think orchard or something.

It's not very hot at all, it's barely been over 70 lately.

And it's not really sudden, but I know she wasn't drinking so much a few months ago. It was gradual.

Are there crocks that attach to the side of the cage, and can I get them at PetSmart/Petco? Their cage isn't exactly a piece of art so a crock would never work.

 

[Maureen Las]

Purina Show Formula is high in protein and I am wondering if you are free feeding pellets. ?
If an adult rabbit is given a small amount of pellets their interest in hay will increase dramatically ( if the hay is good quality ) . I would suggest trying to get a very good quality timothy or grass hay( not alfalfa) . The only times my rabbit would not eat hay waswhenI was free feeding pellets and/or thequality of the hay was poor.


Excess drinking and peeing could be a symptom of kidney issues and I don't know if this is the case here but if so the excess protein pellets will just contribute to the load placed on the kidneys.
My rabbit with severe dental issues spends a lot of time at the water bottle when his teeth are bothering him...
I don't know what your cages are like but you do need to get water bottles that do not leak if you cannot use crocks. No way to tell anything if the bottle leaks.


I believe there are crocks that hook to the side of the cage where the bowl part comes out to fill. I am not sure but you could look for something like that on the web and order it if necessary .

You could also look at farm stores but to be honest I have had bad luck with water bottles from farm/Fleet..seem like they all leak .

Drinking alot could also be from boredom so maybe it is not a health issue at all but it is still the right thing to be aware of any minor changes in a rabbit's routine behvior.

 

[tonyshuman]

I'm pretty sure I've seen the crocks that lock onto the side of the cage at petco/petsmart. If you can't find them in the small animal section, many dishes made for birds would work just as well. I would fill them with a watering can--that's what we do to "top off" the crocks in the cages of the shelter bunnies before we leave at the end of our shift, and it's easy and helps with the bunnies that don't like to have your hands in their cage. That way you can just take them out every couple of days for a rinse and keep them full easily.

 

[snap]

They're not on free choice pellets, and all my other rabbits eat the hay I have. :/

I'll look for some crocks when I go to PetSmart to get more hay, or I can rig up a way to hook a crock to the cage((the amount of creativity I have when it comes to rabbits is amazing XD)).

It may be from boredom, she seems like the kind of bun to do that, but she'll still do it when she's out in the playpen with toys.

 

[tonyshuman]

Yeah, you can always find a crock with some extra plastic on it and drill holes in it, and use zip ties to secure it to the cage!

 

[Amy27]

I was just at my Petsmart the other day and noticed they had a plastic crock that clips to cage bars in the rabbit section. The size of the bowl was pretty big too. I hope that helps.

 

[petitlapin]

I've found excellent stainless steel crocks that attatch it cages in the bird section of pet supply stores.