Is tap water truly safe for rabbits? What type of water does your bunnies drink?

Hello,

Since I got my babies almost 10 months ago, I have been frightened to give them tap water, as I would never drink it myself unless desperate and Arizona is not known for having great tap water, I hear. It smells strongly of chlorine and bubbles. I used to buy bottled water and just give them that, then later used a filter, back when I had 2 - 3. But now that I ended up with 5 (two are the son and daughter of my older bunnies) and moved 3 weeks ago, I have gotten lazy and just give them tap water, since I left my Pur water filter by mistake.

Is tap water truly safe for bunnies, though? Will it end up making them sick? I swear that lately, they seem a lot less interested in their water now but I should be buying one soon. Do most rabbit savvy owners give them tap water? I am sure it varies by State/Country.

 

My rabbit drinks tap water , and she's fine with it ..
It's not as nice as spring water for them though
And mine don't drink much of it

 

We don't drink tap water. I have a reverse osmosis water filtration system installed under my kitchen sink so all of my animals and I drink purified water. Before I had the system installed I would refill gallon jugs at the grocery store for only 39 cents a gallon. If you have space for a water dispenser you can get 5 gallon jugs of purified water for about $2 per jug and use the dispenser.

I don't know if tap water is bad for people or animals but I grew up on purified water so maybe it's just a habit for me now. I can't stand the taste and texture of tap water and I worry about drinking salt in the water from my water softener. I just can't do it.

 

I use bottled water. Where I live, the water pipes freeze/break very often and it makes the water bad. Even when the pipes are working, it has a cloudy appearance. I perfer to use bottled water just because I know it's safe.

 

I really think it's dependent on where you live. If you obviously smell something in your water, then best to be safe than sorry. Personally I feel comfortable drinking my area's tap water, so my rabbit does as well.

 

Oh , i give my rabbits and me , the spring water from the spring at my dads old farm ..
But sometimes i don't have spring water

 

It must be nice, haha.

 

Being a fellow Arizonan, I can empathize about our water. Tap water is something, it seems, no one here drinks. (We had no problem drinking it when we lived on the east coast.)

If you are on city water, then it should be good enough for cooking, or washing produce, or for pets. City water has to meet certain standards so technically it should be fine for people to drink, but few do -- it just tastes off.

We're on well water so it isn't even safe enough to use to wash produce-- high arsenic . We typically have a dozen 5-gallon water jugs on hand for cooking, drinking, etc. But we're soon getting a whole house arsenic filter. Then we'll finally be able to drink tap water!

 

We are in the country on well water. We have extremely hard/mineral water. I was told to mix it 50:50 with distilled. I was also told never to give 100% distilled water for drinking as it leaches minerals out of the tabbits intestines? This was sdvice from a rabbit savy vet. I should add, our county tests our well every three months for contamination.

 

That must be rough. I had no idea about the distilled water thing, as I did give my rabbits distilled once a few months ago. Rabbits drink so much water, definitely lucky to be on city water.

 

I suppose I should be counting my blessings, even with this Phoenix tap water, haha.

Yikes, sounds like a lot of extra steps to take for such a basic thing that bunnies drink so much of. I do not remember how many bunnies you have, sadly, but that has to be a process (worth it, of course). Really glad you are getting a new system in soon; I am sure it will be very great water after that I assume you live in an area where your pets have plenty of space to run around, eat fresh, natural food and enjoy nature-- the dream!

 

I lived in a rural area for many years and we had a well. Our water was hard and it also contained sulphur which made it smell. We installed a water softener and an air filter called 'big blue' for the sulphur. We had it tested many times and it was excellent water. I didn't have rabbits at the time, but 2 cats, a dog, hamster, 2 kids and a husband. We all drank the water from the tap and never had any health issues. I don't know if the salt from the water softener would be bad for the bunnies, but it might be something to look into. Just do lots of research because there were some companies (including Sears) who said their softener was taking out all harmful contaminants, but it wasn't. We paid $2000 Can for the softener back in 1996 and it was worth every penny. I now live in the city and my water comes out of Lake Ontario. I use a Brita filter and it takes the chlorine taste out of the water and I always have cold water in the fridge. My 2 bunnies have 2 large bowls for water and they drink a LOT! Those water bottles are cruel, I think. They have to work to get much out of it, and they often leak all over. A heavy ceramic crock is the best.

 

I'd say if you can drink it your bunny can. If you cannot drink it I wouldn't give it to my buns either.

They just get tap water here (and so do I haha).

 

I can't speak for anybody else's tap water as we all live in different places. I am in the UK and our tapwater is certainly entirely safe in terms of cleanliness. However, I live in a very hard water area and the water, even with the benefit of a filter, is still very full of mineral salts. That affects my rabbits' wee which is always very chalky if they have tapwater. So I have found a bottled water sold very cheaply in bulk by a supermarket chain that is very low pH. My rabbits have that. https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-...CnvP1Cv7Gqf18aE5vNsaAvffEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Regarding giving the water to rabbits, there has been a study, I believe by rabbit Specialist vet Frances Harcourt-Brown, that showed that using a bowl is far better than a bottle. The rabbits drank 40% more water when it was offered in a bowl.

Water is very important to their digestive system and to their general health. And don't forget how much water they get from fresh veg as well (fresh leafy veg should be 10% of the diet). Fresh veg is 90% water.

https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-diet/rabbit-diet-water/