Apple Cider Vinegar for rabbits?

[Littlebun]

Recently, the Rabbitery I got my bunny from recommended I dilute ACV in her water as I felt like she may have some sort of UTI..I want to know if anyone here has given their bunnies diluted ACV to drink?
My bunny is a female and 11 months old. She is not spayed yet and since she was 7-8 months I’ve noticed she leaves little drops of urine wherever she is sat. Mostly on the couch or bed (soft surfaces). I was assuming it’s territorial marking but Google also scared me that it could be UTI though she doesn’t seem to be in pain as she is active and eats normally however this prompted me to ask the rabbitry for advice and they said ACV has a multitude of benefits too.
I would take her to the vet but don’t know any rabbit savvy ones in my city..the joys of living in a third world country!
Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Preitler]

My 2 cents:

It has a catchy acronym, it was all the rage for some time and speculation about alleged effects got hyped across the internet.
Imo it does pretty much nothing (it's just vingar inb very low concentrations), no multitude of positive effects
But, on the positive side - there is no harm in trying. It doesn't cost a lot and can't do any harm , especially at those recommended amounts of a tablespoon per liter or gallon of water.

Although "It Is Said" that it entices rabbits to drink more (I don't like the idea of flavouring any drinking water much, if you're thirsty water just tastes wonderful, one should drink because of thirst and not because expecting a treat). I would always provide an extra bowl with pure water.

Are there any other symptoms? What is her diet exactly?

There is the this issue when googling stuff, one can get paranoid. I think this site is an ok sum up:
https://www.petmd.com/rabbit/conditions/urinary/c_rb_lower_urinary_tract_infection
I had a young intact doe indoors once, single males were no problem, but I found some of Fury's pee spots only when I moved out and removed the furniture, and with hormones in full swing now I wouldn't panic.

I would keep an eye on it and for now put something washable on places where she does it, if it is an UTI ACV alone isn't going to cure it, others here might give better advice.

 

[Watermelons]

I wouldnt ever put something like that in their water.
If they dont like the taste you can cause all sorts of issues because they will now be drinking less water.
With rabbits we want to encourage water drinking.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We use water from a reverse osmosis system so the is little to no calcium or other minerals in their water. Our biggest problem was pellets til we eliminated any with Alfalfa.

 

[Tinytailsrabbits]

I use it! It has worked miracles on my bunnies! As was mentioned before, maybe add an extra bowl of water incase she does not like it.

 

[Littlebun]

I use it! It has worked miracles on my bunnies! As was mentioned before, maybe add an extra bowl of water incase she does not like it.

What problem did you start using it for?

 

[Littlebun]

We use water from a reverse osmosis system so the is little to no calcium or other minerals in their water. Our biggest problem was pellets til we eliminated any with Alfalfa.

I had another question about sore hocks, wondering if you can help. To my utter horror I’ve discovered my bun has tiny sores on her feet . Just when you think you’re taking great care of your rabbit .. long story short I use soft straw hay for bedding, with a pee pad placed under, however the last few weeks I was unable to get the straw hay (an issue on the suppliers end), so my bunny was hopping in and out on the grate. Which wasn’t hard to be honest, but well, it must have been if it gave her sore feet! I feel awful. Now come to think of it I saw her grinding her teeth the other day as well but she was doing binkies and eating and drinking as normal so I was always under the impression those are signs of a healthy bunny..I’ve definitely removed the grate now. Her sores are not as bad as the photos I’ve seen on Google, I think I have caught them in time but one of them was bleeding a bit. Ive heard applying neosporin works well. Applying it will be a huge task itself as my bunny doesn’t let me even pick her up. However it’ll be a two maybe three person job and we’ll have to fix the sores. Now I don’t have Neosporin but I have another triple antibiotic that has the same ingredients, and no it’s not the pain relief one. But I just want to share a photo so you can see if it’ll be ok for her? If not, I’ll try to get Neosporin somehow but I think in my country it may go by another name.

 

[Tinytailsrabbits]

What problem did you start using it for?

I am a rabbit breeder. I use it to help with baby bunny diarrhea and I also bought a bunny that started to be lethargic. Turns out he had mites. I put ACV in his water and sprayed a 1 to 1 mixture of ACV and water on his coat and skin. He was only around 8-10 weeks old and the ACV was a gentle but strong way to get rid of it without harming him. It also have him some more energy.

 

[Preitler]

How did you confirm that this were mites, and not a coat issue that he would have grown out of anyway? The few times I suspected mites I skipped the lab test since it was way more expensive than the treatment. If it were mites I would expect that the skin would be damaged in some way, and that putting acid on it might not be a great idea, at least on cuts it does hurt (just tested that).

Do you know what caused the baby diarrhia in your rabbits? How quickly was it resolved? Is it just rare flukes, or a reaccuring problem?
Not sure what the vingar would do, I mean, it wouldn't change much once arriving in the stomach, acidity is way higher there than a little vingar in the drinking water. If it works for you, fine, as I said there is no harm in using ACV, but I wouldn't rely on it and skip or delay more... conventional.. measures if things are serious.

 

[Tinytailsrabbits]

How did you confirm that this were mites, and not a coat issue that he would have grown out of anyway? The few times I suspected mites I skipped the lab test since it was way more expensive than the treatment. If it were mites I would expect that the skin would be damaged in some way, and that putting acid on it might not be a great idea, at least on cuts it does hurt (just tested that).

Do you know what caused the baby diarrhia in your rabbits? How quickly was it resolved? Is it just rare flukes, or a reaccuring problem?
Not sure what the vingar would do, I mean, it wouldn't change much once arriving in the stomach, acidity is way higher there than a little vingar in the drinking water. If it works for you, fine, as I said there is no harm in using ACV, but I wouldn't rely on it and skip or delay more... conventional.. measures if things are serious.

I am pretty sure that if you had seen the condition he came out of, you would not be questioning the fact that he had mites. There was poop everywhere built up in giant piles, nasty water, and lots of rabbits in one cage. There were bugs moving through his hair, eggs, and his skin had little rashes where the bugs were more plentiful. I had discovered that it was called “walking dandruff“. Might I also add that I confirmed this with other breeders who were nice enough to help me figure out what to do. As a rabbit owner, it is my job to do what I see fit to help my rabbits live the best life possible. If that means that sometimes the answer to the problems may hurt a little, it relieved his itching. I understand if you do not want to take a risk of making their skin sting a little if that means not having mites make him itch himself to a bloody mess. I also gave him some ivermectin horse paste to help get rid of the worms that were inside him. if you did not know, ACV kills the mites. If you want to keep criticizing what I did (which might i add worked) go ahead. I don’t care. I have reasons for what I do and am not afraid to share them.

It happens sometimes when the babies start eating pellets. It also happened when I had a bad feed. I have since then changed it to a good feed from a local mill and have had less trouble. It does not necessarily fix the problems, however, when they have diarrhea, they loose water and with the water, most of the minerals and nutrients inside of them. Adding the ACV gives them a boost of vitamins that they lost. (Just as a little added detail, when he had the issue of mites, it was also on bad feed, full of extra corn, no hay, and it was missing the necessary fibre)

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Oh and by the way, here is a picture of the little baby I saved, both right after his mites and when he is an adult. Let me know if you think saving him was a mistake.

(He also has over 20 babies now all over the east coast)

 

[Preitler]

Oh, well, Ivermectin does kill mites, or even fleas if it were those, definitly a very versatile drug. Sanitary conditions aren't necesserly connected with mites, but right, they would go unnoticed and untreated under bad care. Anyway, good that it worked, but I wouldn't leave out the Ivermectin or another suitable drug.

Other than the antibacterial properties of the acid I'm not aware of much significant vingar can do.
ACV is used for fad weight loss diets, it is said the acid reduces hunger, and it does contain some potassium, which is suspected to be the cause for the weight loss due to dehydration. But I guess those people drink quite a lot of it, and not very diluted.
There are drops that actually contain significant amounts of vitamins and minerals, given the very limited amounts of ACV that can be fed I rather stick to those. The list of vitamins of ACV isn't very impressive, but it rather seems the USDA didn't bother to measure any, doesn't look right...
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.ht...&commit=Search#/food-details/173469/nutrients
Edit: A more thorough list, at least some are not zero:
https://www.ernaehrung.de/lebensmittel/de/R123100/Apfelessig.php
Anyway, you write "when they start eating pellets". Do they have access to pellets, the same their dam gets, from the start, or do you introduce them later on?