Hello everyone! I wanted to get some opinions/thoughts on a recent behavior/dietary(?) change in Wick, which began earlier this week. I want to know if anyone has had this occur. I’m not sure if this related, but I’ll mention Wick has also been doing poorly with litter box habits this week as well (many more pee spots/poops outside litter boxes). Wick is about 5mo old, not ready to be neutered yet, but hoping to be soon.
Wick has three sources of water: 1 small bowl in his hutch, 1 bottle in his hutch, and 1 large bowl in his gate-open pen, which is his “headquarters” for eating/bathroom while free-roaming during the day. His hutch stays all day as well, so he has open access to all three water sources for over 12+hrs/day.
Lately, it seems he has a very high preference to the small bowl in his hutch. I mention habitual in the subject as well because this isn’t too odd in itself, but I noticed any time Wick follows me around and I happen to walk in the vicinity of the hutch, he, usually without fail, will always go to take a 30sec drink of water. It’s like he sees it and always decide “Yeah, I’ll go drink right now.”. It will be as quick as he’ll drink, he’ll pee less than a minute afterwards, I’ll exit the room and he follows, then I go back in because I forgot something and he’s back to drinking again.
He doesn’t have any signs of being dehydrated nor does his urine or fecal matter show abnormalities. He’s been on medications daily since 9wo, so I’ve always been very watchful for changes. Since 9wo, he has been to the vet on average once every other week, so I’m pretty confident this is nothing severe, as we’ve successfully amended things as they’ve come up (sneezing, nasal discharge, weight loss, change in fecal size, etc..)… Wick has been a pretty high-maintenance bun, haha.
I’ve read some rabbits drink water when they’re bored? Is this possible for Wick? In terms of the other two water sources, he goes on spells where he doesn’t touch the water bottle, but on the occasional day he’ll drink out of it like crazy. He uses the large water bowl in his pen less, though it still gets some use; he just seems to really be attached to his hutch water bowl now.
Let me know your thoughts!
The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
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