Stubborn bun refuses to drink out of his new water bottle!

[bunnnnnnie!]

 So, Zeus’s old water bottle started leaking badly.  I went and got him a new one, rinsed it out real well, filled it up, made sure it worked, then put it in his cage.  He won’t use it!  He went almost an entire day without drinking from it. .

For now, I just have a water dish mounted to his cage right under the water bottle, so at least he’s not at risk of dehydration.  I’m afraid to take the dish out, but I have a feeling as long as I leave the dish in there he’ll just drink from that 100% and not touch the bottle.  I really don’t like the dish, it gets his hair in it and if he tips it over then he’s SOL until I get home.  How can I get him to use the new bottle?!  It works perfectly fine, he just doesn’t like it I guess! 

[Monkeybun]

Mine all prefer the bowls, so I don’t fight with them on it I just keep it refreshed frequently.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Monkeybun on 08/15/2010 02:21 PM

Mine all prefer the bowls, so I don’t fight with them on it I just keep it refreshed frequently.

I don’t mind using the bowl, I just hate that he drinks out of it when it has hair in it and stuff.  At least with the bottle I know he’s drinking slurping down some hair with his water. 

 

[mocha200]

i would also want to know how to make them drink from one because my mom is getting mad that they keep spilling there water bowels.

[Sarita]

I know what you mean about the fur! But I really think bowls are so much more natural for drinking from than bottles. I have to change mine twice a day as well. My rabbits really are not big drinkers anyway…I guess because they have always been inside.

[Arson]

Not sure how helpful this could be but you could try pressing it a few times in front of him so he sees the water dripping from it. As i learned, rabbits are very curious animals so he may just see what you are doing.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Sarita on 08/15/2010 04:35 PM

I know what you mean about the fur! But I really think bowls are so much more natural for drinking from than bottles. I have to change mine twice a day as well. My rabbits really are not big drinkers anyway…I guess because they have always been inside.

I totally agree, but I’m just paranoid he’s going to ingest a bunch of hair with his water and get an impaction in his little digestive system or something.  I’ve been changing the water dish like 4+ times a day out of said paranoia. .
 

It’s not even that he doesn’t know how to use it, or doesn’t know that there’s water available in the bottle.  He just plain ol’ doesn’t like the new bottle, for whatever reason.  The only difference is the bottle itself is opaque instead of clear like his old one.  The nozzles are exactly the same.

[corpathina]

eh, buns are just really stubborn sometimes. there was a period where MJ randomly decided to stop drinking from his water bottle. i couldn’t figure out why – nothing had changed. so i just decided to move it to a different place in his cage and he drinks from it regularly ever since. now does that make a lick of sense? nope.

if zeus ever comes up to you looking for treats, maybe shove the water bottle in his face instead and make him get aquainted with it. either that or maybe rub something sweet on the tip of the spout to pique his interest? or perhaps try moving it to a different spot in his cage? maybe he’ll think it’s new and interesting that way. lol.. you never know what’s in the mind of a bun..

good luck!

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By corpathina on 08/15/2010 09:08 PM
eh, buns are just really stubborn sometimes. there was a period where MJ randomly decided to stop drinking from his water bottle. i couldn’t figure out why – nothing had changed. so i just decided to move it to a different place in his cage and he drinks from it regularly ever since. now does that make a lick of sense? nope.

if zeus ever comes up to you looking for treats, maybe shove the water bottle in his face instead and make him get aquainted with it. either that or maybe rub something sweet on the tip of the spout to pique his interest? or perhaps try moving it to a different spot in his cage? maybe he’ll think it’s new and interesting that way. lol.. you never know what’s in the mind of a bun..

good luck!

 

Yeah I was thinking of rubbing a carrot all over the spout or something, we’ll see.  He IS drinking very well from the dish, even better than he did from his old water bottle.. so I guess I can’t complain too much.  I guess I’ll just continue rinsing the dish like 800 times a day.

[Sarita]

If he’s drinking plenty of water and eating plenty of hay and getting plenty of exercise, I wouldn’t worry too much about impaction. I imagine that our rabbits swallow a bit of fur when grooming anyway.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Sarita on 08/16/2010 11:15 AM
If he’s drinking plenty of water and eating plenty of hay and getting plenty of exercise, I wouldn’t worry too much about impaction. I imagine that our rabbits swallow a bit of fur when grooming anyway.

 

He’s not a huge hay eater, but he does eat some.  I’m just neurotic about his water I guess!

It is really cute to see him get a drink from the dish and then use his paws to dry off/groom his wet mouth afterwards.

[Beka27]

Has anyone ever tried anchoring a large ceramic bowl by putting (clean) smooth river rocks or something in it?

[Andi]

My PitStop will not drink from water bottles, or any dishes that are not White…. seriously. LOL

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Beka27 on 08/16/2010 11:22 AM
Has anyone ever tried anchoring a large ceramic bowl by putting (clean) smooth river rocks or something in it?

I’ve got one that mounts to the side of the cage, it actually was in the bird section.  He does splash some but he can’t tip it completely.. I don’t think!
 

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Andi on 08/16/2010 11:33 AM
My PitStop will not drink from water bottles, or any dishes that are not White…. seriously. LOL

 

Oh man don’t tell Zeus they come in colors.. his is white!

[Free2Dream]

Water bowls are the way to go, IMO. Even my hedgehgs have water dishes. They aren’t so much work to drink out of, and whenever I have given Oliver a water bottle, I find that his water consumption actually goes down. His bowl has a grooved rubberized bottom to keep it from tipping over. If you’re worried about the bowl tipping over, you could try a heavy ceramic one that is more difficult to overturn. The water also doesn’t get very hairy; I don’t worry about him accidentally ingesting any hair because I figure he does enough of that on his own… he spends soooo much time grooming himself!

[LoveChaCha]

I agree that bowls are much better!

I used the water bottle when I first got Chacha. I got annoyed with hearing the sound (she was in my room when I first got her) and a friend told me that she uses water bowls. It seemed more logical, so I switched.

My bunny prefers it and so do I. It is funny to hear a bunny drink water

[MissKris&Koji]

Koji is confused on his preferences. I offered both crock and bottle when he came home, even though his foster mom said he had a bottle there and did fine with it. He seemed to prefer the crock. (I have a kind that mounts to the cage also, metal, machine washable – I love it! No twist move to put it in place, so easy to get out for rinse and refill or place in without sloshing and spilling. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6067+10382+17259&pcatid=17259)

But then when we moved I left the bowl to that thing, and I was without it for a week while it got mailed to me. I put a small tupperware in, and also the bottle. He then liked the bottle better!

But my bottle just broke. So now crock it is. I do have to get a new one, though, to fit onto my carrier for vet trips.

I would second the maybe moving it or something, though. Obviously their preferences can switch with no real reason.

Brittany, I agree, the bunny slurp gulp swallow noise is SO hysterical! One of my favorite parts of bunny ownership.

[jerseygirl]

If you want to test the theory with the bottles, pop the old one back in there and see if he goes back to it. Then you’ll know for sure that you have a contrary bun. Or you could try the new spout with the old bottle. I believe you can buy replacement parts instead of an entire new bottle which is handy.

[Monkeybun]

Smudge was unsure which she preferred when she first came here as well. Now she rarely touches her bottle, unless she has dropped her towel in her bowl

[BinkyBunny]

I used to use both water bowl AND bottle, but I stick to a bowls now. However, if you are wondering if yours just doesn’t know how to use it I also think rubbing their favorite treat on the nozzle is a good idea — smear some banana or ?? on it.

[MirBear]

neither of mine like anything bigger than them, so bottles are out of ze question. mine get bowls. *pics to follow*

this is what twix uses: (i had to take the rubber off. they chewed it : \

this is similar to what hershey uses.

 (on hershey’s the bottle gles on the other side but the same concept)

 

[Author]

Messages