Bunny Drinking/Urinating Frequently

[Ghillie]

Hi,

Just curious what tests a vet would most likely run on a rabbit who drinks and urinates a great deal and is quite bony? I've had Bramble over two years and he will be 3 in a few months. He's a small mixed breed rabbit of unknown background. He eats 1/8 cup a day of Oxbow Timothy pellets and unlimited non-legume hay, but I think he drinks and urinates too much. He gets leafy veggies a few times a week, too. When he does urinate, sometimes it's not for very long like he isn't emptying his bladder, but like a little squirt. He is always hungry all the time like a little piggy, is in good spirits all the time, and doesn't show signs of pain when urinating or any other time.

I've taken him to a vet before and she did a physical exam, a BUN stick test, blood test, and cytology microscopic exam and everything was normal. There's a really good rabbit-savvy vet in a new city I'm in and I'm curious whether she would do different tests.

 

[Blue eyes]

How much is he drinking per day? Do you use a water bottle or a bowl?

 

[Ghillie]

About 2 cups per day, and he drinks out of a bowl. I have an automatic cat-waterer for him that holds ten cups and he goes through it in a few days.

 

[Blue eyes]

It isn't that unusual for one of my rabbits to go through as much as 20 oz of water in a day. That's 2.5 cups.

Do you think he eats about his body size (volume, not weight) in hay every day?

 

[Ghillie]

Definitely does. He loves his hay more than anything! :nod

 

[JBun]

About how much does your bun weigh? Did the increased thirst/urination occur suddenly, gradually increase over time, or has your bun always been like this? Have you tried gradually increasing pellet amounts to help get his weight back up to a good weight?

Did the vet do an e. cuniculi titer test to determine if that may have something to do with the increased thirst and weight issues?

 

[missyscove]

Is he neutered? Where are you located?
Do you feel like his water consumption has increased or has it always been normal for him to drink this much?

 

[Ghillie]

I think it increased last spring-- I started to feed him a pellets-only diet and he was eating mainly hay so that would make sense I think. I started to increase his pellets a couple of weeks ago and he has a more substantial weight to him now.

He weighs around 4 pounds and I live in Southern Ontario so the air gets really dry in the winter.

 

[missyscove]

If it's seasonal or related to diet (hay and pellets have little to no water in them, so they need to drink more on those diets than if they're eating a lot of fresh greens) then it may be nothing to worry about. The tests your first vet ran all sound sensible to me (although part of that depends on what was included in things like the "blood test") but of course you're always entitled to a second opinion.

 

[Ghillie]

He seems healthy in every other way! I think it's related to his diet, after all.