After switching to Oxbow...

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 9sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 8 months ago by JackRabbit.

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- 09/07/2014 at 2:23 PM
  litheandgraphic
  Participant
  608 posts
  Hello all.
  
  So I just recently switched Theodore from Kaytee Timothy hay to Oxbow Western Timothy. Actually, I’m sort of blending the two together for the time being since I still have so much of the Kaytee left over. Theodore enjoys both brands and will eat both, but he LOVES the Oxbow. He’s eating even more hay now than he was before; almost to the point where I would ask if there’s such a thing as a bunny eating too MUCH hay! He does not snub his precious serving of daily pellets or his daily salad, though, so I think we’re okay on that front.
  
  But I have noticed a couple things. Firstly, since the switch, his poops seem to be slightly smaller. He is producing just as many as he used to, but they’re a little smaller than they were on the Kaytee. The other thing, and I’m not sure if this is related or not, but since switching I’ve noticed that he drinks slightly less water. He’s still definitely getting water, but whereas he used to go through 1.5 bowls (about 8 cups a day), now he’s only drinking about 4-6 cups a day. Is this enough water? He weighs 4 lbs, by the way.
  
  I’ve heard that changing hay brands can have these kinds of effects, but I was wondering if anyone has any specific input.
  
  Thanks!
- 09/07/2014 at 2:33 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  Usually eating more hay results in slightly larger and slightly lighter colored poops. Are you sure he’s actually eating more hay? Was the Kaytee hay courser and stemmier (maybe 1st cut) and the Oxbow softer and more grassy (2nd cut)?
  
  With water drinking, the more hay they eat AND the more active they are, the more water they will drink. Is that 8, 6, or 4 cups really 8 ounce cups each (so 64 ounces, 48 ounces, 42 ounces)?
- 09/07/2014 at 8:43 PM
  litheandgraphic
  Participant
  608 posts
  I have an update, actually: I came home today and his litterbox was filled with a LOT of larger poops, and he’d drank quite a bit of water. And, no, you know what, after really looking at the bowls, I’d say they’re more like 2-3 cups of water each (exaggeration much?), so he’d have been drinking about 3.5 cups a day and has now gone down to drinking a bit less than that. Behaviorally, he’s more active and a lot more happy lately — he’s a crazy binky machine. But yes, his hay intake is ridiculous. I give him a LOT of hay, to make sure he always has some, and he always does have some available, but he normally eats 80-90% of all of the hay I give him, which is a LOT of hay. He also visibly spends a good deal of his time munching away at the hay.
- 09/07/2014 at 8:56 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  That sounds more like what I would expect, hay and water-wise! My lops are hay monsters and huge water drinkers too. Sometimes I wonder where they put it all . . . and then I lift their litterboxes which can take two hands because they’re so full of pee and poop and I know where it all goes! If he was drinking 64 ounces of water a day, I was going to suggest you get him checked and that you might consider getting him his own indoor plumbing to handle all the pee!
- 09/07/2014 at 9:15 PM
  litheandgraphic
  Participant
  608 posts
  HAHAHAHA! Just typing this, ankle-deep in rabbit urine…
  Yes, I may have been a little liberal in my estimation of the water dish size!!
- 09/07/2014 at 9:49 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  My husband is a plumber and he’s actually contemplated actual bunny potties . . . Still trying to figure out how to get them to use ’em and how to get them to flush them!! (Ooohh, imagine a tiny little bunny potty plunger!)
- 09/08/2014 at 1:41 PM
  litheandgraphic
  Participant
  608 posts
  This is too adorable of an idea not to happen.
- 09/08/2014 at 3:05 PM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17035 posts
  They’re supposed to consume 100 ml water per kg, that’d be like 1,6 f ounces/pound body-weight. If the diet is hay and pellets only this is how much water they’d drink, If theres lots of veggies in the diet, they will drink considerably less.
  
  3,5 cups a day seems A LOT for such a small bunny. Thats like 4 times the amount a 4 lb bunny should drink. When my 4 lb bunny Bam is on hay only, he drinks barely one cup/day.
  
  I don’t know how worrying this is, but in dogs, excess drinking (and inevitably, peeing a crazy lot) is an observandum. It’s called polydipsia/polyuria and may signify an inflammation, a glandular disorder or a kidney problem.
- 09/08/2014 at 3:38 PM
  litheandgraphic
  Participant
  608 posts
  bam – This is really good to know, but lately he seems to be drinking a much more normal amount of water. He’s now drinking about 1-1.5 cups a day. I will obviously keep an eye on him, as always, but I’m not too worried for now. C:
- 09/08/2014 at 4:40 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  Kieko might drink a half cup on a good day. The M&Ms drink anywhere from 20 to 48 ounces a day between the two of them. I was worried about the differences and had the vet test renal function when they had bloodwork done in July. All three were normal. Kieko wasn’t dehydrated and the M&Ms weren’t waterlogged. Apparently different buns will drink different amounts and even those will vary at times.
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