Bottle vs. Dish?

[Jenner]

 Is there a better choice? Jenner has always had a water bottle, but I see a lot of people on here with water dishes. Are dishes better?

 

Thanks!

[Sarita]

I think everyone will have their own opinion about this.

I prefer water dishes for these reasons:

1. More natural way of drinking;
2. Easier for me to clean and give fresh water – I dump my rabbit’s bowls twice a day and give them fresh water – I think it’s easier than with a bottle;

My rabbit don’t drink much water anyway.

[LoveChaCha]

Chacha bun did have a water bottle in the beginning. The noise is annoying, and no matter if I placed the bottle for her to reach it, it seemed awkward for her to drink from.

She has a heavy cabbage shaped bowl that she drinks from. It is very cute to hear and see her drink from it I do have to change the water more often, but she seems to drink more from the bowl.

Rabbits also get a lot of their water from their veggies

[tobyluv]

In my experience with my own bunnies over the years, and my experience of volunteering for 20 years at a Rabbit Sanctuary, I have found that bowls are much better than bottles. The rabbits can access the water a lot better with a bowl and that is almost always their preference. Keep the bottle up, but go ahead and put down a bowl for Jenner and see if that is preferred, then you can remove the bottle later. Make sure that you get a heavy, crockery bowl so that it can’t be tipped over.

[LBJ10]

Mine prefer bottles. Wooly is very picky though, he wants the kind with the balls in the spout. He has his own special bottle that he likes to drink from. I tried a bowl in the beginning, but they didn’t take to it very well. Maybe it has to do with what they had when they were babies. Like if their mom has a water bottle and they learned to drink from it through her, then maybe they will grow up preferring it. Maybe? LOL, or maybe my rabbits are just weird.

[Stickerbunny]

My two started with bottles, but after having to listen to them clicking the bottle for about 5 minutes at a time to get the water they wanted, I switched to a bowl and they both prefer it. I change the water daily, or if a lot of fur gets in it I will change more often.

[RabbitPam]

Ultimately it seems to be the bunny’s decision on which they prefer. I’m guessing that it may be 4 to 1 in favor of bowls, but some do prefer a bottle. I like giving them the choice and seeing which they access on a daily basis, then you can always keep the other as a back up.

I ended up using 2 crocks after she drained her first, shallow one. I gave her a second, deeper bowl as a back up, and now sometimes she drinks from one…and sometimes she likes the other. (If it’s Thursday, it must be Diva Bowl day.) Also, my bottles always leaked and dripped, so I stopped those with Spockie for that reason.

[Jenner]

 Thanks for all of the responses! I will place a water dish in Jenner’s cage, but keep his water bottle, and see which he drinks from more.

[Nicolene]

I’ve been using a bottle and she never drank much, but when she got spayed this week they asked me to pack a small bowl for water for after the surgery instead of a bottle and she loves it. I give her a small glass pyrex bowl (like the ones you put ingredients in before starting a recipe) and she drinks most of it every day, so we’ll keep giving her a bowl.

[Freyja]

I personally don’t like bottles as they can be hard for bun to get enough water from at once and there is always the possibility of the ball getting stuck, which i always worry could happen when i am out for the day which would mean no water for bunny all day that and my water bowl is shaped like a big ceramic carrot

[LittlePuffyTail]

I use heavy crocks for all my buns.

[Author]

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