New bunny advice

[Blue eyes]

(My "like" on your post above was for the photo -- love that expression on her cute face!)

 

[JBun]

Lol! Ok yeah, she's a littler chubber. A cute one though

So I don't know if this is what's going on with your rabbit, but I may have discovered why my rabbit's been guzzling water, and thankfully it's not a health problem, particularly kidney disease. I've only had him about 2 months. All of my rabbits have been on a no pellet diet for a while now, but this new guy was basically on pellets for most of his life, and he's 5 now. So I wanted to get him off pellets and onto hay, leafy greens, and forage like the rest of my rabbits(who by the way all drink normal amounts for their size), especially because his soon to be bunny wife wasn't on pellets either so I wanted them on the same diet.

Over the first month he was with me I got him neutered and was gradually reducing his pellets and trying to get him to eat hay, which he wasn't good at(he was drinking normal amounts at this time). He would nibble some hay but was reluctant to eat much of it. About 2 weeks after his neuter I noticed he was emptying his 3L water tank in about 2-3 days, something that should have lasted him 2 weeks. At 4 weeks post neuter he was completely off pellets, bonded with his bunwife, and was draining most of the shared gallon water tank in 2 days(and peeing everywhere). I thought that maybe it was his teeth that were causing the increased thirst, but he seemed to be eating hay really well(his poops were perfect). I was most worried that maybe the anesthesia from his neuter might have caused kidney damage. He was being treated at this point with antibiotics for possible cystitis as well as a URI, and fenbendazole for possible EC. I wasn't really seeing any improvement.

Well with the increased thirst he's been losing a lot of weight despite eating loads of hay. I started supplementing with black oil sunflower seeds to try and boost his calories and stop the weight loss. I finally decided I needed to also get him back on a concentrated feed as he was needing a ton more calories than he was able to get from hay and forage alone. I started him back on pellets yesterday. Last night and today the excessive drinking and peeing has stopped. Like stopped completely.

Now, I'm fairly familiar with rabbit health problems, and I have to say this is one of the strangest things I've encountered. I have never seen nor heard of an instance where a rabbit has dramatically increased water consumption because of not getting pellets. I haven't figured out any sort of explanation yet for why this happened.

I know it's only been two days, but he's been guzzling water for weeks, and all of the sudden it stops when I put him back on pellets. It's not like rabbits can't do alright and be healthy on a no pellet diet. My 7 other rabbits haven't had pellets in probably over a year and have been perfectly healthy in that time. In fact I've encountered less stomach upset incidents since removing pellets from their diet. And even before that, for several years they only got like a tsp. of pellets a day. So it's just something about this new rabbit that a no pellet diet isn't going to work with. So I guess this means I'm feeding pellets again... much to my rabbits delight I'm sure

Now with your rabbit, if I understood your post right you took this new bun off pellets and put on a hay and veggie diet? So, I don't know, but maybe pulling her off pellets has had the same effect that it did with my rabbit and that's why she is drinking more than seems normal. I think this would only be a problem if she is drinking so much it's depleting her electrolytes, and if it leads to excessive weight loss like it did for my bun.

 

[Lauraeli]

Yea with how much she has been drinking I was thinking about putting a pinch of sea salt in the water bottle but I'm not sure if that would be possibly a bad thing...I know with her diet she should be ok on potassium so if bunnies are like people, I thought its possible she could need a bit of sodium. I've had adrenal issues in the past so I'm well aware of what happens when sodium gets low. Water just goes right through you and no matter how much you drink, you still feel dehydrated.

 

[RavenousDragon]

Putting sodium in the water is likely to increase thirst, not decrease it- in a (mostly) healthy animal (aka one without adrenal issues), salt regulates blood volume, which regulates thirst.

I'm wondering if the lack of pellets is like us humans when we are hungry but dieting. We tend to drink more water! Or just animals that are hungry in general. So maybe (this is not really backed up by any studies or any research on my part) your buns are both feeling the lack of what THEY have decided is 'appropriate' food and fill up with water instead of eating 'nasty' hay and veggies.

That's all I can think of.

 

[ladysown]

different rabbits drink different amounts of water

 

[JBun]

Putting sodium in the water is likely to increase thirst, not decrease it- in a (mostly) healthy animal (aka one without adrenal issues), salt regulates blood volume, which regulates thirst.

I'm wondering if the lack of pellets is like us humans when we are hungry but dieting. We tend to drink more water! Or just animals that are hungry in general. So maybe (this is not really backed up by any studies or any research on my part) your buns are both feeling the lack of what THEY have decided is 'appropriate' food and fill up with water instead of eating 'nasty' hay and veggies.

That's all I can think of.

With mine it definitely wasn't lack of food. He was eating loads of hay, a pile of fresh grass, a large handful of leafy lettuce and parsley, plus a handful of alfalfa leaf and a spoonful of sunflower seeds to get his weight back up. So he was getting plenty of food. Maybe it's something in the pellets he needed, could have been the sodium, or maybe it was psychological and despite getting plenty of food he was missing his pellets, since he's been conditioned to eat them as his primary food source for 5 years. No idea, but he is perfectly fine and happy now that he's getting them. Completely normal water consumption today, about 6 oz.

 

[Lauraeli]

I did put a pinch of salt in her water bottle as an experiment. Since then she has gone through 3/4 of a water bottle in the amount of time she would've gone through probably a bottle and a half. I may give her a salt wheel and see what she does with it. That way she can regulate her sodium levels herself. They actually did a study where they gave bunnies a diuretic to dehydrate them, and then gave them two water bottles, one with salt water, and the other just water. The bunnies all were able to regulate their sodium levels by knowing how much salt water they needed to get back to an optimum level. Maybe ill try that and see

 

[Lauraeli]

So miss bunny was spayed 3 weeks ago, she is very sweet now, no aggression. I've been trying to bond them for the last week and I am getting frustrated. Why does he nip her for no reason? She doesn't retaliate, she just runs away. If he is sitting in one spot and she comes within range, he lunges at her. Ocassionally he seeks her out and acts like he just wants to sniff her, and then bites her. If she is facing the other way, he stretches his neck out and bites her on the side or butt. I don't understand why he's being so mean. He bites hard because I picked her up this morning and he was next to me, he went for her and bit my hand. I am not as nice as her, I react to pain. How can they ever be friends if she likes him and is nice, and he is just an ******* for no good reason? :-( he acts like he doesn't want her around....I thought bunnies like to have friends?

 

[RavenousDragon]

You probably mentioned this already, but is he neutered too?

 

[Lauraeli]

yes, he was neutered a couple years ago. I have given them more time together than I usually do and he seems like maybe he is trying something new. I have seen him go up to her where he would normally nip her and instead nudges her with his nose a bunch of times. Maybe he is just getting to know her in his own jerk-y kind of way. I know I'm not supposed to but I scold him when he bites her. When I see him about to nip I tell him 'be nice' and he looks at me and changes his mind. I can't help it.
He was chasing her from the hay rack earlier but right now he is clearly ignoring her so she can eat. She is 3 inches from his butt eating it off the ground and he is pretending not to see her. Maybe things will be ok after all

 

[Lauraeli]

Actually today I took them to the park to eat clover today, first time I've taken her outside. She actually loved being outside. but that was their adventure for the day. They cuddle up real close in the car. When I got home I said what the heck, ill just leave the kennel door open.

They have alternated a bit between the kennel and pen so both areas are theirs. The second kennel door opens into the pen. But I don't usually put them in the same one.

Anyway so I supervised. Every time he went up to her I said 'be nice'. If he sniffed her and backed off without biting, I praised him. If he bit her I scolded him.

They aren't dogs lol but is it weird that it seems like it helped? His demeanor seems to have changed suddenly like he 'figured it out'

Maybe I'm speaking too soon lol

 

[Lauraeli]

Also she was laying for a bit with her chin on the floor. Is that a submissive behavior?

 

[stevesmum]

Nope that's dominant behaviour: "groom me now".

 

[RavenousDragon]

Little nips like that are often a way of just figuring out dominance. Like Stevesmum said, that posture with head down is GROOM ME PLEBEIAN. It's yet another way (less violent perhaps) of determining dominance. It sounds more to me (without me being there) they are just trying to figure each other out. Keep us updated!

 

[Americanbluevelvets]

Hey i was wondering if anyone could help me know how to post something

 

[Lauraeli]

Ugh so frustrating to post with this phone. They're friends now, I left them together after my last post. They lay next to eachother now but haven't figured out the pecking order yet

 

[Lauraeli]

Guys, she got sick and died! :'( one morning she was hopping around, next she was dying on the vet table

 

[stevesmum]

Aww sorry for your loss... from your description of the males behaviour it seems like he knew something was not right with her though...

 

[Lauraeli]

but they were friends at the end. :-( the blood work before her spay all came back normal...yesterday morning she was fine, last night she seemed really sleepy. This morning she wouldn't eat so I took her in and it was too late. :'(

 

[Lauraeli]

I think they said she was severely anemic...why? :-(