Update: Dinking A Lot of Water?

[Roxygirl]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to update you all. I spoke with my vet and she didn’t think I need to be concerned about Heff’s increased water intake since he has been eating well and still acting like his normal bunny self. She said as long has he’s not straining to pee (he doesn’t seem to be), that the increase in water intake might be caused by a change in seasons or the fact that he’s a shedding monster at the moment.

Thanks so much for all of you advice, I’m glad to know I have people to talk to when I’m worried about my “kid”! 😉

Heffie is 9 months old and I noticed last night that his water bottle was getting low a lot quicker than it should have.  It usually takes about 3 days for his water bottle to need to be refilled but this one was close to empty in a day and a half.  When I got up this morning I noticed that more water was gone, even though he’d already drank his normal daily amount before I went to bed.  I’m just a little worried about the sudden change in water consumption because I also water down his veggies twice a day so he’s getting a lot already.  We do live in Hawaii and it gets warm in the house sometimes, but he has a fan and the floors are linoleum tile so he can lay down and stay fairly cool.

His poos are normal consistency, if anything maybe a tiny bit darker than normal, and it doesn’t seem like there’s an excessive amount of pee in his litterbox.  I’ve notied him eating hay a little more than usual the last few days, but i’m glad to see that because he doesn’t seem to like hay very much and I feel that he doesn’t eat enough of it.  His appetite for veggies and pellets have been great.

I recently switched his pellets from Kaytee Timothy Complete to Oxbow Adult Basic.  I wonder if that might have anything to do with the extra water consumption?

He had his teeth checked at the vet in mid-February when he went in for Sub-Q fluids following his neuter surgery and the vet said they looked good.  He will go back again in June for a check-up and have his teeth looked at again, because I’m overprotective and a worrywart.

Any thoughts on why Heffie might be drinking a lot all of a sudden?  I’m a concerned Mom over here!

[littlemissflip]

The only thing that comes to mind is kidney problems, which can be caused by E. cuniculi infection, but probably other things as well. Has he had any balance problems, or any other symptoms?

It could be something much more benign–he could just be making up for the increased consumption of dry hay, but… kidney problems would be the thing my worrywart mind would worry about.

[Roxygirl]

Hi Littlemissflip,

Heff’s been acting like his normal bunny self, cruising around and sitting up for banana chips. He has not had any balance problems that I have seen. I’m really hoping this isn’t a kidney problem 🙁

[Sarita]

I would check to make sure the bottle is not leaking.

[MimzMum]

For a few months now my Holland lop was drinking a lot more water than usual, (and as a result, peeing more as well), but my vet checked his urine and didn’t find anything wrong with it. He also had tooth problems so she went in for a molar trim. Apparently he was drinking more to fill an empty tummy, since he wasn’t eating as much as he usually did. I hardly noticed the decrease in his hay consumption though.
But yeah, I would suspect kidneys. As long as the bottle isn’t leaking.
I think my bunnies just begin drinking more water at the turn of the season. It may not be heat, but just the difference in light or humidity (although you probably don’t deal as much with daylight change in HI) and also my buns are shedding, so I see them drink more during that time.

What kind of hay are you feeding? I notice that my bunnies get darker poos with orchard grass than they do with lighter hays like timothy or oat. And yes, possibly the change in pellets might have caused him to drink a little more, especially if they are more dense than the ones you were feeding.

[BinkyBunny]

How many ounces is the water bottle? How many pounds is your bunny? Depending on how big the bottle and how big your bunny, I don’t find it unusual for the water bottle to be almost empty after a day and half. It’s more about the fact that this is a change in YOUR bunny’s normal behavior, and so that is what is key here.

I’m glad you mentioned that his teeth had been checked as drinking water excessively can be a sign of tooth issues (a way to soothe pain).

If he’s eating alot more hay, it could be the explanation to more water consumption. I know when I volunteered at SaveABunny for a few years, those bunnies would drink alot of water. I don’t think a whole water bottle would have ever lasted three days! But I also know they ate alot of hay. And bunnies have to drink in order to digest, so that makes sense.

Regarding e.cuniculi — imbalance is only one type of symptom. Not all bunnies get that particular symptom. e.cuniculi can show up in different ways. But please don’t let me scare you, I am ONLY mentioning that because I don’t want you or anyone reading this thread to think that head-tilt/imbalance is the only symptom of e.cuniculi.

I also ditto about checking the water bottle for leaking. For some reason I have always had a hard time finding a water bottle that didn’t leak at some point.

Keep us updated.

[Emmie]

I’d check the bottle to see if it’s leaking/dispensing water right. I thought Zelda was drinking excessively, turned out the bottle wasn’t working correctly.

Have you tried giving your bun a bowl of water instead and seeing if that helps?

 

EDIT: Re-read your post and saw the bottle is fine. Duh… Yep, check for leaks!

[Roxygirl]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for your help!

Heffie is about 3.6 lbs and his water bottle holds about 450 ml of water. I usually refill it at 50 ml.

The bottle doesn’t seem to be actively leaking, but I did notice when I refilled it this morning and was adjusting it in the wire holder that some water came out, a little more than the normal couple of drops, so I guess it’s possible that Heff is playing with it and it’s leaking a little, but it wasn’t much water that came out and the floor below the bottle doesn’t seem to be wet.

Heff is going though a pretty heavy molt right now (poor guy, the tufts of hair come off in my fingers!), so as you mentioned MimzMum, that could be a contributing factor.

His Kaytee pellets were a little bigger and seemed more “fluffy” as compared to the Oxbow pellets, which are smaller and appear to be a little harder. I wasn’t even sure he liked them because he kept picking out the Kaytee pellets and leaving the Oxbow, but he’s completely switched over now and cleans his bowl as well as his veggie dish regularly and will still snatch a banana chip out of my hand and take off across the room with it.

His poos are still normal in size, volume, and consistency and he’s still eating more hay than normal which makes me happy. His behavior is still completely normal other than the doubling of his water intake. Should I still worry or am I panicking over nothing?

[KatnipCrzy]

Continue to monitor his water intake and if it stays unusually high- you should call your vet and ask them about it and you might need to schedule an appt for bloodwork to check his levels- especially kidney. Was bloodwork done before his neuter?

[Roxygirl]

Hi Katnip,

They didn’t do any bloodwork prior to his neuter. I had asked them to do it but they didn’t have time to get the results before his surgery but said be seemed pretty healthy and felt comfortable proceeding. I’m going to call my vet today and see what she thinks, only because I would rather take care of a small problem than wait for a bigger one to develop.

[KatnipCrzy]

We had a member a couple of years ago (Knowlton?) that has a bunny that drinks a lot! She got tests done and they all came back normal- her bunny just drinks a lot- but the only way to tell is to do the diagnostics. Some pets are born with genetic conditions so it is always best to pursue if something seems off.

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