Bunny drinking own urine??

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This topic has 2sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 9 months ago by jerseygirl.

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- 07/20/2013 at 8:34 PM
  Fenris.Wolf
  Participant
  11 posts
  My 18 month old Rex girl drinks her own urine even though she always has fresh water availiable, why? She doesn’t just take a few sips, she drinks ALL of it and whenever I go to quickly clean it she just drinks faster and won’t move away from it. Is there something missing from her diet that shes trying to get from her urine? Is it unhealthy, or will it make her sick?
  
  I give her 2 cups of fresh greens (kale, brussel sprouts, bokchoy and a little bit of carrot and apple) everyday plus an eight to a quarter of a cup of pellets per day and unlimited hay. Shes a little overweight I think as well. Anything wrong with her food? I got her about a month ago, but I’ve only really noticed it now since she would only hide from me for the first 3 weeks.
  
  I’ve done a bit of research online but so far I’ve only got conflicting answers. I just want to make sure theres nothing wrong with her :/
- 07/21/2013 at 6:50 AM
  CheriB603
  Participant
  422 posts
  I’m assuming she is not urinating in her litter box where it would be absorbed… Have you tried putting down something absorbent so that the urine gets soaked up immediately and she CAN ‘T drink it ?
- 07/22/2013 at 11:45 PM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22342 posts
  Does she have a water bowl or sipper bottle?
  Has she only just started doing this?
  
  I don’t think you need to worry about it making her sick. I know it’s not the most pleasant habit but its not harmful.
  
  One of my rabbits does it. She started about 4 years ago and comes and goes. She’s been doing it a lot lately.
  
  Searching the Internet for answers I found several theories but the general consensus was no one really knows why they might do this.
  
  Possible reasons:
  -May have been in bad conditions or deprived of water in past.
  -may be attracted to scent from hormones
  -may like the salts (I also wonder if its a way to get calcium since they pass a lot of in the urine)
  -stress reaction
  -may be related to sore mouth, dental problems. Urine being warmer to drink then water
  -I even read how urine has various therapeutic properties so i wonder if a rabbit intinctively knows it needs it at times?
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