Excessive drinking

[kotin]

My bunny has been drinking more water than usual these past few days. It’s not because of the heat because I have A/C. He drank about 300 mL in 2 days. He’s 4 months and weighs 2.6lbs(1.18kg). I read somewhere that on average a bunny is supposed to drink 100mL/kg/day. I’m worried that he might have kidney problems but he doesn’t seem to be urinating more. Has this ever happened to anyone? ie.drinking excessive amounts of water but not due to the heat.

 

[BinkyBunny]

WELCOME KOTIN!  

Has this only started happening when you had the AC on?  And how cool do you keep the place? Is the rabbit right near a vent?   Rabbits actually drink even more during cold temperature.   The reason being is they burn more calories to keep warm, and burning more calories means that they may eat more, which in turn means they’ll drink more,(rabbits must drink in order to eat)  but mostly because keeping themselves warm burns energy which also means they need to keep themselves hydrated.  

If this continues regardless of the temperature difference, then I recommend having a rabbit savvy vet check him out.

[Gravehearted]

welcome to Binky Bunny Kotin!

How much was he drinking before? Did the air conditioning get turned on it the last few days? I know air conditioning dehydrates humans, so I’d imagine it dehydrates bunnies too. Since it’s shedding season drinking isvery important since it helps the gi system keep moving. I haven’t seen guidelines for how much a rabbit should be drinking – but according to the formula you shared he should be drinking over 100 ML a day, since he weighs 1.18 kg, right? Also – check your bottle, since most water bottles leak over time, so that might be part of the increase. My guess is he’s ok – but keep your eye out for any of the below accompanying symptoms.

Excessive drinking can be a symptom of diabetes mellitus, but this typically is accompanied by excessive food intake and inability to maintain or gain weight – which it doesn’t sound like is the case. Although young rabbits rarely develop renal disease, it is possible that his kidneys have suffered some sort of insult and have been damaged. Excessive drinking and urination are most often a sign of renal problems in rabbits. But, it doesn’t sound like he’s been peeing more than usual.  If that’s the case get him into a bunny savvy vet.

edit:  Binkybunny has some fast typin fingers and beat me to replying to you 🙂

[kotin]

Thanks for the welcomes!!=)

I don’t think it’s the A/C because it’s been on for over 2 weeks already. For the 2 days that he was drinking a lot of water, I didn’t have any veggies to give him. Could is be that he’s drinking more to compensate for the water content he usually gets from his veggies? Thing is, my other bunny, who’s 1.9 yrs old, (seperate cage) didn’t drink a lot of water even though she didn’t get any veggies either.

I have an appointment on Thursday for his neutering. I know my vet does blood work prior to the surgery to see if the anesthesia is safe for him..so IF my bunny has kidney problems,would the blood work tell him anything or would they only test for anesthesia compatability?

[MooBunnay]

Hello & Welcome Kotin!

What type of food do you feed your bunny?  It could be something in his food – for example too many pellets, or the wrong kind of pellets.  Since he is still a young bun – I think that alfalfa pellets are still OK, but maybe he is getting too many? I don’t know if there is such a thing as too many pellets for young bunnies, but I have heard that can lead to some problems, so you could also ask the vet about that.  Is his food sugary at all?  I know that some of the typical brands such as Kaytee have peanuts, seeds and other items not so good for bunnies, so if the pellets have really anything other than hay, perhaps try switching brands?  I use Oxbow, I’m sure there are some other types as well without that type of food in them.

Let us know how it goes with the vet!!

[Bunnies4ever]

My 2 year old bunny Kahlua drinks a lot of water. I, too was concerned, but he’s fine. My other bunny hardly drinks any water at all! I just figured it depends on the bunny. They both get fed timothy hay, oxbow pellets with veggies in the evening and the occasional treat. If you’re concerned, taking your bunny to the vet is a good idea. I’m not sure the blood work would show if your bunny’s having kidney problems unless they are specifically checking his kidneys.

[kotin]

Oh gosh! I DO feed unlimited alfalfa pellets. I thought it was OK since he’s so young and not neutered. I’m feeding Martin and it’s only pellets…no nuts,seeds,etc. I need to cut down the amount of his food soon anyways since he’s being neutered on Thursday (YEAH!!!no more spraying!!!=))

[BinkyBunny]

Hey Kotin, well we know he is at least 3 months since you are getting him neutered (yeah, and remember that it can take a month or so for his hormones to die down, so he may still spray after surgery for a little while)

Your bunny should be getting umlimited pellets IF he’s under 7 months. (unless you’re seeing too much weight gain)   You can introduce greens at around 12 weeks.  

Here’s a good list of what to feed at what age:http://rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html#young

The fact that he stopped getting greens means he would drink more water.  Greens have a high water content.

The biggest thing to watch for is when everything is normal, temperature, the amount of greens etc, and if he still drinks more water than his normal amount, then it is cause for concern.  Each bunny may be different, but each has their own norm which you basically go by and when that norm changes, then it can be cause for concern (which is exactly what you did!) 

 Now, since you are going to have him neutered, you may want to mention that he has been drinking much more water, and that though you may attribute that to a few days without greens, at least then a qualified vet then can make the decision to check out any problems prior to surgery if s/he feels it necessary.  Blood test can indicate if there are kidney problems, but I don’t know if they have to be sure to test the blood specifically for that or not. 

One thing to note, is that since young bunnies eat more than older bunnies, then it makes sense that their water consumption would also be higher.  Young bunnies are burning alot of energy just because they grow so fast! : )

[MooBunnay]

I observed my little baby bunnies that I am fostering, and they are drinking more water than my adult bunnies too – so it sounds like that could be a common thing for babies! I’m glad to hear the unlimited alfalfa pellets are OK, because my babies are getting unlimited ones as well. The eat/drink/chew everything in sight!

[BinkyBunny]

MooBunnay –  And they are poo monsters too!   What a mess.  If they weren’t so cute……

That must be challenging sometimes.    What a big heart you have. 

[MooBunnay]

Hmmm well I could pretend that I have a big heart and baby sit the babies for that reason, but ACTUALLY I am just completely in love with baby bunnies and I’m actually just very selfish and want all the baby bunnies in the world at my house, haha I was playing with them yesterday and Big Baby (I call them Big Baby and Teeny Baby) ran about 25 circles around me and then flopped in my lap – worth 50 days of baby poop duty at least!

[osprey]

Looks like I am going to be fostering a litter of 8 one month olds for the next few weeks.  Let the cries of "cute! cute!" begin….

 

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