How much water does your rabbit drink?

[Jenk]

I have a few questions related to your rabbit's (or rabbits') water intake:

1) Approximately how much water does your bun consume in a 24-hour period?

2) What is his/her weight?

3) What (approximate) quantity of greens do you feed him/her in a day?

4) What quantity of pellets do you feed him/her in a day?


Thank you,

Jenk

 

[Hazel-Mom]

1) Not much at all. His bowl hardly goes down in a day. He gets most of his fluids from his greens.

2) Last weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces, and still growing. He should end up being about 10-11 pounds.

3) 2 baskets full daily. Not sure about the weight, I will have to weigh some time. I'm guessing at least 5-7 cups daily.

4) He finishes about 1/2 cup usually in about 1-2 days, sometimes faster than others. So I would guess about 1/4 to 1/2 cup daily.

 

[LakeCondo]

1] I put out 1 1/2 cup & she drinks about half of it.
2] Full grown at 4 1/2 lbs.
3] About 4 cups now, but it'll be down to 3 when winter comes, back up to 5 next summer.
4] A handful once or twice a day in her kitty egg, so she has to push it around to get them. Pellets increase when greens decrease.

 

[Jenk]

Hazel-Mom wrote:

1) Not much at all. His bowl hardly goes down in a day. He gets most of his fluids from his greens.

3) 2 baskets full daily. Not sure about the weight, I will have to weigh some time. I'm guessing at least 5-7 cups daily.

My current issue is that Emma, who weighs 4.5 lbs., is overcoming stasis (official cause unknown/undiscovered), and she's not drinking nearly enough water on her own. She usually drinks at least half of her water crock, which is about 125 mL's. For the last two weeks, though, she's literally drinking next-to-nothing. (I've been syringing her water, Critical Care, and giving her sub-Q's.)

I gave her no sub-Q's yesterday but did syringe her 40 mL's of fluid (as both Critical Care and some water with just a touch of CC for flavor). And she had about 3/4 C. of greens. But that still doesn't seem like nearly a normal amount of water, and I'm worried as to why she's not drinking water on her own.

She's not eating her typical amount of hay, either. Things are still "off" with her yet.


Jenk

 

[pamnock]

Are her fecal pellets moist and well-formed now? Are the mucous membranes of her mouth moist and pink? Is there any tenting to her skin? Are her eyes moist or sunken and dry?

It may be the stasis or the fact that you've been supplying so much liquid that she's not drinking much.

 

[Jenk]

pamnock wrote:

Are her fecal pellets moist and well-formed now? Are the mucous membranes of her mouth moist and pink? Is there any tenting to her skin? Are her eyes moist or sunken and dry?

It may be the stasis or the fact that you've been supplying so much liquid that she's not drinking much.

Her fecals are currently moist and well-formed. Admittedly, I've not checked her gums. (I'd need my husband's help to do so, and he's still snoozing. Heh.)

I've just checked her scruff; it seemed to go down normally. Still, I don't trust my judgment in this area. (I once watched an exotics-only vet check Zoe's scruff, which appeared to snap back to me; he said it went back a bit too slowly yet.)

Ironically, the fecals Emma passes when she's out for exercise are smaller, but moist and fibrous-looking. Those that she's passing in her pen (litter box) are smaller/darker yet and not at all fibrous-looking. (Those are the type that make me nervous, as they seem to be a stasis symptom for her.)


Jenk

 

[Jenk]

Looking at Emma this morning, her eyes appeared fairly normal--i.e., they weren't flat and dull. I'm not sure if they're 100% "bulgy" as normal, but they're close.

She received no sub-Q's yesterday, though i syringed her approxiately 40 mL's of fluid. (I say approximately because some of it was syringed water with a hint of Critical Care; some of what she got was a normal [thicker] CC feeding.) She only had that and about 3/4 C. of greens last night. And she's still barely touched her water by 11 am today. (She normally drinks about 125-150 mL's of water a day, so I am worried that this situation will spiral if I drop my guard.)

Emma's poop production confuses me; it's been all over the place in terms of size since this stasis bout started. And when I say that some fecals are overly small, I mean just that. What she's been passing in her pen litter box is much smaller/darker/non-fibrous than what she's been passing in the litter box set up for her in the dining room. (She has a total of two hours' access to the "outside" litter box each day and has recently been passing better/more normal fecals in it than in her regular litter box.)


Jenk

 

[pamnock]

Moist, well formed fecals are a sign of good hydration.

 

[MandyK]

It depends on the rabbit. I have two rabbits who are almost identical in size, but one drinks much more than the other. It can take between 3 to 5 days to go through a "regular" sized sipper bottle.

They are both about 2.5 kg.

I give them each a loosely packed cup on greens every day.

I give them a full bowl of pellets per day (I know I'm horrible for doing this)


I find that if they're not drinking as much water as I'd like them to, I just give them more greens. There's lots of moisture in veggies, so it should help.
Have you considered a salt lick? I know some people suggest salt licks to encourage rabbits to drink, but I've never seen a rabbit that enjoys them.

 

[Jenk]

MandyK wrote:

I give them a full bowl of pellets per day (I know I'm horrible for doing this).

Could you guesstimate what volume of pellets you're feeding daily? I don't ask in order to chastise you. Truth be told, I've become a believer in feeding rabbits whatever seems to work for them; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. :biggrin:

I find that if they're not drinking as much water as I'd like them to, I just give them more greens. There's lots of moisture in veggies, so it should help.

You make a good point. I've been concerned about increasing Emma's amount of greens, since I've fed her a tiny amount for so long. But I've started throwing caution to the wind and giving her more over the last few days' time. Normally, she'd only receive about 1/4 C. of greens in the evening. Now I've been giving her 1/4 C. in the morning and 1/2 C. in the evening. I figure I can slowly increase the amounts, depending on how she seems to handle the current amount. (For her size, I figure that 1/2 C. in the AM and PM would be good.)

Have you considered a salt lick? I know some people suggest salt licks to encourage rabbits to drink, but I've never seen a rabbit that enjoys them.

I have a mineral block--which is mostly salt--hanging at (Emma's) head height along the side of her litter box. (I added it this past spring, when she was recuperating from another really bad stasis bout.) There was a time when she used it, but I think she's become accustomed to seeing and, thus, now ignores it. I should hold it near her face and/or set it near her on the floor to see if she'll develop an interest in it again.


Jenk

 

[MandyK]

The pellets probably works out to about 2 cups per rabbit. Sometimes they'll eat 2 cups a day, sometimes they'll only eat 1 cup in a day.

Have you thought about buying a whole new salt lick? I'm not sure, but there might be some that are flavoured, or you could rub some veggies on it to give it a little more flavour to make her interested?

 

[Jenk]

MandyK wrote:

Have you thought about buying a whole new salt lick? I'm not sure, but there might be some that are flavoured, or you could rub some veggies on it to give it a little more flavour to make her interested?

I don't want to get into supplements with more additives, such as coloring and flavoring. And I have my doubts that she'd like a fruit-flavored salt lick.

I also have a regular salt lick, besides the mineral lick. (Both are ring-shaped, so as to easily attach to the pen wall with a fastener.) She hasn't had access to the salt lick, so it's essentially new. I'll swap it with her mineral lick tonight and see if she uses it at all.


Jenk

 

[juliew19673]

2 buns; female about 6 lbs; male about 10 l lbs;

water crock is 2 cups; and I fill it every other day;

greens are huge salads at dinner time (cilantro split a serving, romaine leaves 2 each and raisins about 5 -8 per salad);

about 2/3 cup pellets a day - grab 1 handful in the am and pm - have small hands so think its alittle over a 1/4 cup per serving.

when they both "run up" on the kitchen for "snacks" I toss more cilantro (used to be Cheerios but the male got fat and poopy butt, so stopped and both have/are subsiding).