Refusing to drink

[Jadeo09]

Hi my rabbit boo is still having digestive issues but at the moment I’m struggling to get her to drink now too. She’s not drinking from her bowl. She knows where it is as she kicks it but won’t drink from it.

 

She has been drinking a little from a syringe but not much and is becoming increasingly fussy about it.

She’s drinking less than 100mls a day and its been over a week.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get them to drink?

Thanks

Take care

Jade

[Wick & Fable]

Some people put a tiny bit of fruit juice in the water to make it more appealing. Sometimes people make “hay tea”, let it cool down, and serve that as well. Here is a post about making hay tea: https://binkybunny.com/forums/topic/hay-tea-for-anybunny-who-doesnt-drink-enough-especially-for-ill-or-recovering-rabbits/

One of the most reliable times you’ll see a rabbit drink water is after eating hay, so remember that while looking for water drinking behavior, it is not something that a rabbit does a lot — it typically happens after grazing for some times.

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.

[Jadeo09]

Hi Wick

Thanks for your advice.

We have put a little apple juice in and she still won’t drink.

We have been weighing her water and taking turns to stay with her round the clock over the weekend and know she’s not even drinking after eating.

She is drinking 10 x1 ml syringes of water every now and again. But she won’t drink more than that. She doesn’t like other syringe sizes and won’t drink from them at all.

Jade

[grunesdragon]

Get thee to your vet and they can give them liquids under the skin. More water should (in my limited experience) help digestive issues too.

[Jadeo09]

Hi thanks yes we do. We do give subqs at home as I have regular injections and know how to give them. This only helps when she is severely dehydrated as when we give her regular subqs she stops drinking as she thinks she hydrated. Then her digestion gets even worse as her stomach contents become even dryer as shes not takng fluids orally

[Jadeo09]

The reason she wasnt drinking is because the water in our tap has been sourced differently. We all had a letter locally. So we changed to bottle water which she drinks but only if we keep the brand the same. Whenever we change it she stops drinking. Also when we recently fitted a new carpet the smell distressed her so much she stopped drinking it. She just kept going over and to smell it and would stomp and run off. Evian gets her drinking much more. Lol

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Hehehe, spoilt 😉 My BF’s previous rabbit wouldn’t drink either when he moved to another part of the country. She hated the taste of the tap water here! He needed to get her bottled water as well, and slowly mixed in the tap water so she could get used to it.

[Jadeo09]

I’m so glad it’s not just me who experienced this! I thought people wouldnt beleive me. What animal would rather die of thirst than drink tap water! The tap water in my part of the UK is the hardest in the UK on a map we seen and is disgusting. I’d rather go thirsty than drink it myself. My mums dog refuses to drink it and prefers to drink out of puddles in the garden!

If I mix it or swap to a different brand she knows instantly and sniffs it and stomps.

I figured evian was cheaper than the subcutaneous fluids and emergency vet trips. Last time we changed water she refused to drink more than a few syringes two weeks! She ended up in full blown stasis tachycardic so fast it was almost uncountable, breathing rate through the roof and in lots of pain. They told me she was probably going to die in a few hours and wouldnt make it through the night! The experience was traumatic to say the least.

I’m baffled every day by the fussiness of rabbits! Still cant comprehend it! Lol

 

[ALRyder]

Now that is funny and awful all at once. Reminds me of my grandparents buying a dog bowl filtration system for their dogs. Is there any way to do something like that?

Where I used to live the water was really hard. The animal’s water bowls would get a hard line of calcium no matter how often you cleaned them, and the water was terrible on my hair (I have curly, thick hair and it was always frizzy). I know that a lot of people installed water softeners and filtration systems. Would that help?

[Jadeo09]

Now that we have figured out the problem we do see the funny side of it too. Shes a funny little thing. Shes doing very well at the moment, considering. Shes not perfect but much better. I’ll look into the filtration thing. Thank you!

[SweetPotato]

Wow! What an experience 😂😬😬😂 My former bun Masha used to only drink a certain water brand (I forget which one), and if we *dared* to give her tap, she would throw her bowl across her cage 😂. Bunnies truly are funny little furballs. Gotta love ’em! ❤️❤️❤️

[Jadeo09]

That’s hilarious.  My rabbit has been known to too water bowls over.

Our vet recommended adding a little fruit juice, to get her to pass some sludge years ago, to the water. It helped and when we tried to go back to water she would stand next to the bowl and stomp! Hahaha

 

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