Tea with Ms. Lucy

[Saudade]

I was reading earlier about mixing tea with the rabbits water to combat strong ammonia, I have a 300ml water bottle in Ms. Lucy's cage and have mixed it 2 parts water with 1 part tea (with a drop of honey in it) and she has absolutley loved it last night.
There were no suggestions as to the correct mixture of the tea to water, nor to how often I can give it to her. Do you suggest a stronger or weaker mixture in it? And how often can I give it to her? I'm happy to have it always in her water bottle if it's healthy for her. Or I can switch her schedule around from tea to water to tea to water.
Suggestions?

 

[Hazel-Mom]

I'm guessing it depends on what tea you are giving. If it's caffeinated (regular black, green or white tea), it may not be very good for her. In fact, caffeine is toxic to rabbits, as it is to most mammals.

I have never heard of tea nuetralizing ammonia, either.. how is it supposed to do that? Why is there ammonia in the water in the first place?

 

[Saudade]

The ammonia in her urine not in the water.

Link here to the page that talks about it.

I'm using decaffeinated, i think I'll switch to decaf mint tea.

 

[tonyshuman]

As long as it's decaf, I would treat it like any other herbal supplement. i.e. I'd ask the vet to make sure it's ok. I don't know if anyone here has done it.

 

[PepnFluff]

You can put a small amount of vanilla essencein the water to reduce ammonia levels, theres a topic round here somewhere I'll go have a hunt.

 

[tonyshuman]

I have heard of the vanilla too. It can be artificial vanilla flavoring and I think the rule is 1 tsp per gallon. Not many people make up gallons of bunny water though, so you'll have to adjust. I add vanilla occasionally if I'm worried about stasis (it can entice them to drink more), but I just add a drop or two to the bowl.

 

[Luv-bunniz]

Tea doesn't work...I've tried it. lol. It actually made things worse, as the rabbit was drinking more, so even if the ammonia was decreased in the urine, the rabbit counteracted it by peeing more. *Eye roll*

 

[DazyDaizee]

If they like it and drink more (give it's safe) it might be a good idea for rabbits who don't drink enough water or would benefit from drinking more.. like rabbits with history of bladder stones or those with kidney problems. I don't know enough about it to know if it's safe for these issues.. but if a vet agreed it was okay, there might be some other use for it.