Hi guys. Im at a loss and need some help. I have a less than 1 year old Holland Lop, Buggy. Since 2/3/2023 she has stopped drinking water voluntarily. We immediately re-cleaned her water bottle and added a water bowl to see if she would like that (she has always used a bottle before, she never liked bowls). We started syringe feeding her water the same day to ensure she was getting at least a little bit of water in her system. The next day her pee and poop production slowed down. She completely stopped peeing, but would poop every now and then but not as much as she normally does. She was still eating her vegetables, pellets, and hay normally, and acting like her normal self, she just would not drink or potty regularly. She did poop some over the weekend (again not as much as normal) but would not pee. We continued this process of syringe water and cleaning water bottles and bowls at least 2 times a day over the weekend until we could get her to vet. On Monday 2/6, we took her to the vet (mind you, we are in a small town, this is the ONLY vet that will see her - and he does not see rabbits too often), the vet tested her poop and did a full physical exam. Poop test came back negative for everything and the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her physically. His only guess was its stress, to try a probiotic, and he told us to continue what we are doing and let him know if she doesn't improve. Monday night I bought her a new water bottle(glass instead of plastic), a new water bowl, and the probiotic(which I put on her pellets Monday night). We also left a night light on for her (she sleeps in her cage in our bedroom and we turn all lights out at bedtime, this is nothing new as we have done this since we've had her). Monday night she hardly touched her pellets, vegetables, and hay and still no voluntary water drinking and also not a single ounce of poop or pee. I was able to hand feed her vegetables Tuesday morning 2/7/2023. Throughout the day she did actually drink a tiny bit from her new water bottle, finished her pellets, and ate hay. About midday Tuesday she finally pooped a decent amount and peed a little. Again, throughout this whole process she is acting her normal self, I know bunnies are really good at hiding pain but she has not acted different in any way. We are at a loss of what to do and really need some help, suggestions, anything.
Not drinking, but eating
- Thread starter melstew
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Could you describe her daily diet in detail? What brand/type and amount of pellets. What veggies? Type and amount of hay?
My first go-to if a rabbit refuses usual food is simethicone (baby gas drops). This can be given to safely to a rabbit and can relieve gas that is often the cause of a rabbit refusing food.
1-2cc per hour for 3 hours, then 1cc every 3-8 hours as needed
My first go-to if a rabbit refuses usual food is simethicone (baby gas drops). This can be given to safely to a rabbit and can relieve gas that is often the cause of a rabbit refusing food.
1-2cc per hour for 3 hours, then 1cc every 3-8 hours as needed
So she is peeing as long as you're syringing fluids? She's not showing any signs of straining to urinate, blood in urine, thick creamy or pasty urine, urine soaked bum, dribbling spots of urine on ground? Is she showing any signs of pain, like grinding teeth in pain, lethargy and reluctant to move around, sitting hunched in pain? Or is all her behavior normal exept for lack of drinking and appetite? Has anything about your water changed recently? Is she spayed?
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Urine
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bladder_sludge_and_stones
Did the vet do a dental exam at all? If a rabbit isn't acting lethargic and is behaving relatively normally, exept for having eating and drinking issues, often it will be due to a dental issue causing mouth pain when they attempt to drink, eat, and chew their food. This can cause selective eating and/or drinking, where they will favor soft food over hard food, pellets over hay, not drink much or drink more than usual, depending on the dental problem going on.
If it is a dental issue, for now to keep your rabbit eating, if you have rabbit recovery food(eg. critical care mix), you can try either offering a dish of that(made fresh) or syringe feed(ensure you know proper syringe feeding process to minimize risk of aspiration occurring, check with vet if needed). Or a pellet mush can be made by soaking pellets in warm water and then see if your bun will eat that. You may also want to try offering your bun warm water to drink(not hot), as cold water could cause tooth pain and may be a cause for a rabbit not wanting to drink.
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Malocclusion
(CONTAINS MEDICAL RELATED PHOTOS)
https://lbah.com/rabbit/rabbit-teeth-conditions/
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Medicating_your_rabbit
Based on your description of behaviors, my guess would be that there is either a bladder issue going on or a dental problem. And this will require getting her to a knowledgeable rabbit vet for a proper evaluation and the necessary treatment to resolve this issue. Which sounds like you may need to travel to get to one, since your local vet isn't very experienced with rabbits.
https://rabbit.org/veterinarians/
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Urine
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bladder_sludge_and_stones
Did the vet do a dental exam at all? If a rabbit isn't acting lethargic and is behaving relatively normally, exept for having eating and drinking issues, often it will be due to a dental issue causing mouth pain when they attempt to drink, eat, and chew their food. This can cause selective eating and/or drinking, where they will favor soft food over hard food, pellets over hay, not drink much or drink more than usual, depending on the dental problem going on.
If it is a dental issue, for now to keep your rabbit eating, if you have rabbit recovery food(eg. critical care mix), you can try either offering a dish of that(made fresh) or syringe feed(ensure you know proper syringe feeding process to minimize risk of aspiration occurring, check with vet if needed). Or a pellet mush can be made by soaking pellets in warm water and then see if your bun will eat that. You may also want to try offering your bun warm water to drink(not hot), as cold water could cause tooth pain and may be a cause for a rabbit not wanting to drink.
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Malocclusion
(CONTAINS MEDICAL RELATED PHOTOS)
https://lbah.com/rabbit/rabbit-teeth-conditions/
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Medicating_your_rabbit
Based on your description of behaviors, my guess would be that there is either a bladder issue going on or a dental problem. And this will require getting her to a knowledgeable rabbit vet for a proper evaluation and the necessary treatment to resolve this issue. Which sounds like you may need to travel to get to one, since your local vet isn't very experienced with rabbits.
https://rabbit.org/veterinarians/
She gets as much Timothy hay as we can give her, we always keep it super full. Pellets are Selective Science House Rabbit Pellets. Vegetables are kale, celery, spinach, cilantro, parsley, etc.
From what I can find online, I was thinking bladder issue also. The vet did look at her teeth and said they are in good shape and he couldn’t find any sores in her mouth
She is spayed. No blood in urine or urine looking any different (it may have gotten a slight bit darker if you look really really close?) no dribbling of pee no wet bum. As long as we have been syringeing her water she has been peeing. Her food intake has been normal now except for Monday night. The vet did do a dental exam, nothing is wrong with the teeth and no mouth sores
Keep in mind that sometimes problems at the back of a rabbits mouth can be missed in a conscious dental exam, especially if the vet isn't an experienced rabbit vet. Sometimes it takes sedating the rabbit to get a proper look at the mouth. So dental problems could still be a possibility.
You can also try different things with the water to see if maybe the taste of the water just changed, and that's putting your bun off of it. Some rabbits can be super picky about these things. Try warm water, cold water, bottled water, a touch of apple juice to the water.
You can also try different things with the water to see if maybe the taste of the water just changed, and that's putting your bun off of it. Some rabbits can be super picky about these things. Try warm water, cold water, bottled water, a touch of apple juice to the water.
Parsley and spinach are high in oxolates. Kale is high in calcium. All 3 of those greens should only be fed sparingly or occasionally, not daily. If they get any one of those every day (even if they are alternated), that could exacerbate the issue. Cilantro is safe for every day.
There's a list here that shows which are safe for daily feeding and which should only be fed occasionally.
There's a list here that shows which are safe for daily feeding and which should only be fed occasionally.
We’ve tried purified water, bottled water, and she regularly received cool water (not like refrigerated cold but just cool). We also tried apple juice with high hopes because she highly enjoys fruit treats but she had no interest. We will try warm water for sure. We did have an improvement today. A really good amount of pee, poop, and she drank from her water bottle on her own for the first time in a week.
Thank you. I reviewed the list, we will introduce more of those Daily greens.
Momma Luvbun
Well-Known Member
A good way to get extra liquid into buns is to soak greens and not dry off.
I usually use a salad spinner to take the water off my buns supper greens, but if I needed to get more liquid into them, I'd simply not spin it off or at least not as much as I do.
I usually use a salad spinner to take the water off my buns supper greens, but if I needed to get more liquid into them, I'd simply not spin it off or at least not as much as I do.
Yes! We’ve been wetting all her greens since this all started. At first she didn’t like it, but for the past few days she has had no problem eating her wet greens
Momma Luvbun
Well-Known Member
I have also heard of a light plain camomile tea cooled and offered to bun to help with getting liquids in.
