Not Drinking Water!

[KookieKing]

My rabbit Zell is doing critical care at home with fluids, pain meds, and syringe feeding but he still won't drink much water. Does anyone have any ideas to get him to drink? He goes back to the vet on Thursday.

 

[pamnock]

Is he dehydrated? (Poops are a good indicator of dehydration) If the poop is normal, then he's getting enough moisture through the other sources you are providing. If the poops are tiny/dry, I'd be concerned. A little apple, grated carrot, or dark leafy greenscan help provide moisture to the diet.

I advise giving a little Nutri Cal for cats/dogs. Very therapeutic, and has electrolytes, vitamin e (good for the gut) and provides glucose (keeps body from digesting muscle/cardiac tissue by providing the brain with the glucose it needs). An added benefit is that you only have to give a tiny amount and don't have a big mess.



Pam

 

[KookieKing]

His poops look normal but I'll try a little of that Nutri Cal. I run his lettuce and baby carrots under water to get some more water on them. Thanks for the info.

 

[Amy27]

You can also soak the lettuce and it will absorb more water then just running it under water. Good luck

 

[KookieKing]

Thank you. He's starting to drink a little more from his water bottle and my boyfriend is gotta check out some of that Nutri Cal stuff at work (yay for PetSmart discount)

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Amy, that's what I do, but with Cilantro! They LOVE it and I know some don't like it real wet!

I've also added something tastey to their water...... like pineapple juice - just enough to make them go "YUMMMMMY!"

 

[NorthernAutumn]

I think it was JimD who had some success with adding a bit of vanilla to the water to improve water consumption

 

[pamnock]

If the poops look good and he's eating well, then he's getting plenty of moisture and I wouldn't be overly concerned. Rabbits on a high moisture diet drink far less than rabbits on a concentrated pellet diet.

Pam

 

[tonyshuman]

My guys used to not drink any water at all because of the water in the veggies. He also could be not wanting to drink on his own because he's getting it syringed in.

 

[JimD]

What is Zell being treated or recovering from?

 

[KookieKing]

Last Thursday we took Zell to the vet because he didn't eat at all on Tuesday or Wednesday and wasn't acting like his normal active self. The results we heard there wasn't very good news. We had some blood work done that day because the doctor felt that his left kideny was huge and couldn't feel his right one. He said it's either kidney failure, cancer or a unknown mass, the blood test showed 3 of the 4 signs for kidney failure though. The vet said that we could leave him there for treatment witch could get expencive, do critical care at home, or put him to sleep. I wanted to at least try to make him better so we brought him home. The vet said that if he didn't show signs of improvement in 2 or 3 days it's probably not a good sign but he's back to his normal self now. He goes back to see the vet again on Thursday.

I moved him into Kookie's cage because it's a lot bigger then his just to make him more confortable plus Kookie's cage is in my room too that has a consant temperature of 70.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

Would it be possible that Zell has a kidney stone (as the unknown mass)?
There are two other members facing similar challenges right now... here are their threads:
Luna's kidney stones (myheart)
Chase bladder stones (Amy27)

I recognize that this may not necessarily be a kidney stone
Here is a lot of forum-based threads and research about kidneys and bladders:
Lagomorph Library: Urinary Tract Problems

 

[tonyshuman]

With kidney disease or failure, it's pretty common to give sub-cutaneous (sub-q, under the skin) fluids on a very regular basis. So if he's not drinking enough, you should talk to your vet about injecting fluids. I agree that it could be a stone and he's going to need quite a bit of treatment, but he is by no means on his last stand--especially read Luna's thread, because she was thought to be in renal failure due to blood test results but weeks of home sub-q fluid treatment really improved her results. I'm in the process of working on that Library thread, but especially look into the posts further down about renal failure in a separate post by me (not by RO staff).

good luck

 

[KookieKing]

Thanks for the info guys. I don't think it's stones he's an old bun around 6 or 7 years but I'll bring up the possibly of that to the vet.

Good news Zell's back to drinking water regularly.