My tiny potatoe ate wicker! Also a water question..

[Kellsb]

Okay. I am a FIRST time rabbit owner. He got into a wicker basket and I'm pretty sure its treated with sealant since it's from IKEA and shiney.. I tried to get it out of his mouth but was unable to in time. It was a decent sized piece from what I saw. What signs should i be looking for to tell if he has been poisoned and need to take him to emerge?

Aswell.. if anyone has tricks for them to drink water on a regular basis other than salt and mineral licks.. let me know.
If he doesnt die from the wicker, he drinks little to zero water.

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Hello! Welcome to the forum! He should be fine if he only got a little bit, but if he is less active, not eating as much, or not pooping then I would take him to the vet. What is his water in? If you get him a bowl he will drink more. You could also add a tbs. of apple juice to the water if he still refuses to drink it. What does his diet look like? It should look similar to the diet in the picture (photo credit: Rabbits Indoors)

 

[Kellsb]

His diet has been consistent. Mostly hay. Few veggies or fruits in the morning, and a few at dinner. Only about a 1/4 cup a day total so far. He gets pellets at his will but never put more than half a cup in his dish for both day and night 24hr period. Will definatly take a look at the given attachment though. And the water trick, he LOVES apples. So will give it a go in his dish tomorrow.
Thank you for the advice. Have never had one eat wicker cause I've never had IKEA furniture before, and have bunny sat my sister's rabbits but learned my lesson. Your advice has been very appreciated though. Thank you!!

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Wicker is a huge attraction for rabbits, so I am not surprised he ate it. I wish people would stop treating wicker and willow! It would be so much easier to buy toy baskets and to rabbit-proof.

 

[Blue eyes]

I would not add the apple juice to his water. That may make him refuse any regular water if he gets used to the apple in the water. Better if he drinks plain water. He will drink what he needs.

Do you provide water in a bowl or a bottle? Bottles can discourage them from drinking because it takes more work to get it out, drip by drip.

If he's been getting "veggies and fruits" every day, he may be getting his water from those. Rather than "veggies & fruits" he should be getting greens. Fruit is a treat only (so is carrot). Fruit or carrot should be limited to no more than 1-2 tbsp. per day max. So one slice of apple is all for the day (or a 1" slice of carrot). Greens, on the other hand, can be offered more freely. As he gradually gets used to a variety of greens, the ultimate goal should be about 2+ cups of greens daily.

With those greens, he should only get 1/4 cup of pellets per day (if he's in the 5-7 lb range). Most rabbits will eat their portion of pellets within 5 minutes so their pellet dish should be sitting empty for most of the day.

With fewer pellets, he'll likely eat more hay. As you can see in the poster that Mariam attached, a rabbit should be eating his body size in hay every day. If he does, he'll start drinking more water for sure.

Also no salt or mineral licks should be used. They get all they need in their pellets.

"Allow your rabbit to have fresh greens daily and avoid mineral supplement blocks for them to gnaw on. These are unnecessary for rabbits fed a balanced diet and do not promote correct dental wear, and can cause other health problems."

Woodcroft Veterinary Group, Ltd.

 

[zuppa]

Okay. I am a FIRST time rabbit owner. He got into a wicker basket and I'm pretty sure its treated with sealant since it's from IKEA and shiney.. I tried to get it out of his mouth but was unable to in time. It was a decent sized piece from what I saw. What signs should i be looking for to tell if he has been poisoned and need to take him to emerge?

Aswell.. if anyone has tricks for them to drink water on a regular basis other than salt and mineral licks.. let me know.
If he doesnt die from the wicker, he drinks little to zero water.

Hi, hopefully he only ate a little piece and will survive this time, just make sure for the future he has no access to things that are not safe to chew on.

For water, you need to revise what he eats, if he eats mostly hay (as every rabbit should for their health), he will drink water. If he gets lots of vegs/fruit he gets water from them and so have enough perhaps.

I see often suggestions to get them drink from bowl rather than from bottle, I have to say that most rabbits drink well from the bottle and some are struggling so I would personally prefer bottles as I find it's more hygienic than bowls, I know some people would disagree.

You can offer him bowl and bottle and see if he will drink more but in my experience rabbits learn eventually drink from bottle even if they were struggling as babies.

My rabbits drink differently, some drink only 60-70 ml daily, others up to 300 ml daily, those are usually great hay eaters.

Drinking water is natural so he'd find it if he needed, probably he gets enough wet food at the moment.

 

[Kellsb]

Wicker is a huge attraction for rabbits, so I am not surprised he ate it. I wish people would stop treating wicker and willow! It would be so much easier to buy toy baskets and to rabbit-proof.

I agree. But have rabbit proofed since it happend this morning.

Hi, hopefully he only ate a little piece and will survive this time, just make sure for the future he has no access to things that are not safe to chew on.

For water, you need to revise what he eats, if he eats mostly hay (as every rabbit should for their health), he will drink water. If he gets lots of vegs/fruit he gets water from them and so have enough perhaps.

I see often suggestions to get them drink from bowl rather than from bottle, I have to say that most rabbits drink well from the bottle and some are struggling so I would personally prefer bottles as I find it's more hygienic than bowls, I know some people would disagree.

You can offer him bowl and bottle and see if he will drink more but in my experience rabbits learn eventually drink from bottle even if they were struggling as babies.

My rabbits drink differently, some drink only 60-70 ml daily, others up to 300 ml daily, those are usually great hay eaters.

Drinking water is natural so he'd find it if he needed, probably he gets enough wet food at the moment.

Thank you for the response! It is appreciated very much!

 

[Blue eyes]

I see often suggestions to get them drink from bowl rather than from bottle, I have to say that most rabbits drink well from the bottle and some are struggling so I would personally prefer bottles as I find it's more hygienic than bowls, I know some people would disagree.

You can offer him bowl and bottle and see if he will drink more but in my experience rabbits learn eventually drink from bottle even if they were struggling as babies.

Funny, I consider bowls more hygienic. When I used bottles, they would appear to be clean but would quickly get a transparent slime on the inside that is not visible. I found them such a pain to clean and the bottle brushes never seemed to quite reach everywhere.

I never had baby rabbits, so don't know about them struggling w/ bottles or not. The rabbit that convinced me to switch was an adult rescue from a hoarder situation. I watched him angrily bite at the bottle trying to get water. His bondmate seemed fine with the bottle (so I thought). When I noticed the bottle leaking, I put a dish under it to catch the drips. That's when I saw him lapping up water from the dish. It was then that I added a water bowl and noticed they both preferred the bowl. I also noticed how much more water they were now drinking. I felt so bad that I had apparently deprived them of drinking as much water as they really wanted.

From there I found the bowls that twist onto a clamp. This raises the bowl enough to keep hay or food (or worse) from getting in it. If something does get in, it's a snap to take the bowl out, wash and refill. I use 20 oz bowls (almost 600 ml) and have since had some rabbits that would drink a bowl-full per day.

That's my story, anyway, on why I switched from bottles to bowls.

 

[zuppa]

Funny, I consider bowls more hygienic. When I used bottles, they would appear to be clean but would quickly get a transparent slime on the inside that is not visible. I found them such a pain to clean and the bottle brushes never seemed to quite reach everywhere.

I never had baby rabbits, so don't know about them struggling w/ bottles or not. The rabbit that convinced me to switch was an adult rescue from a hoarder situation. I watched him angrily bite at the bottle trying to get water. His bondmate seemed fine with the bottle (so I thought). When I noticed the bottle leaking, I put a dish under it to catch the drips. That's when I saw him lapping up water from the dish. It was then that I added a water bowl and noticed they both preferred the bowl. I also noticed how much more water they were now drinking. I felt so bad that I had apparently deprived them of drinking as much water as they really wanted.

From there I found the bowls that twist onto a clamp. This raises the bowl enough to keep hay or food (or worse) from getting in it. If something does get in, it's a snap to take the bowl out, wash and refill. I use 20 oz bowls (almost 600 ml) and have since had some rabbits that would drink a bowl-full per day.

That's my story, anyway, on why I switched from bottles to bowls.

Well I expected that and I can agree that bowls are easier to clean and I also like your bowls fixed to the wall. I wash bottles with vinegar time to time and they look like new again, also some people use bottled low calcium water or at least boiled water I can tell that when you use bottled water bottle will stay clean longer. But as I said, vinegar cleans inside perfectly. Also some people add a few drops of apple cider vinegar to water. Your story is quite typical and I think it was great that you just placed a bowl under dripping bottle so they can choose.

I mentioned babies as with them you can just see how they learn to drink from bottle, some just lick and get water easily, others try to use their teeth, in my experience they learn sooner or later but I have a few rabbits they are not happy with bottles so I give them bowl under bottle as you said. One is also adopted fixed female she's 15 months old and she never used bottle before so when I gave her a bottle she was very angry at it. )