Teach rabbit to drink from bowl

[Paradigm]

Yesterday we picked Roger up from his sitter as we’d got back from France.

I decided that, since we don’t have much room, to get rid of the top part of his cage as it just gets in the way and clutters up the room. He is only ever shut away if we have a room inspection and spends a great deal of time laying around in the room. He’s got a covered area in the tray of his cage so I’m not worried about him needing to hide (and, in truth he spent almost the entire day today resting on our bed).

The problem is that there’s nowhere to hang up his bottle. I’ve put out a bowl and as he doesn’t drink much I’m not sure whether he’s using it at all. Today I mixed in Apple juice in hopes of enticing him by smell.

I also noticed he wasn’t really eating today and was concerned that he was dehydrated. I’ve given him
Simeticone, metacam and Recovery Plus (pretty much Critical Care) and he’s eaten some pellets, kale and a tiny bit of carrot.

My wife is worried that he’ll need his bottle back and I don’t want to make him suffer unnecessarily. How have you eased the transition between bottle and bowl? Should I just revert him to a bottle?

[Elliriyanna]

Often times I have seen people put the bowl under the hanging water bottle, This serves two purposes, if the water bottle leaks it contains it and it causes them to associate both with water.
or if needed maybe you could build something like this http://www.amazon.com/Water-Bottle-Stand-Aquapet-Standard/dp/B00KWV98J6/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1430944697&sr=1-1&keywords=standing+water+bottle

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RHJ8AGI/ref=twister_B00RHJ85Z4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[JackRabbit]

Interested to see how this goes. I’ve been trying to transition Marlee and Moshi to a bowl for weeks now. We’re down to one bottle and the gravity water bowl, but I can’t tell if they’re just drinking less (they were drinking way too much) or if they’re actually drinking some from the bowl. I tried the apple juice thing and each tasted it, but I’ve been afraid to go too long without a bottle — when I put a bottle back, Moshi acts like he hasn’t had a drink of water in days.

If your bunny absolutely insists on a bottle, you could try making a “bottle stand” using NIC grids. We’ve actually done that before when we were working on the buns’ rooms and had them in the hallway away from their areas for an extended time.

[Bam]

I have water-bottles tied to the legs of tables with metal wire, plastic-coated. i don’t untie it when I refill it, I just lift it out of the wire loops. Yohio has an additional open water-bowl, since he prefers it over the bottle. Now and then he decides to flip the bowl over or throw it around, so he has a bottle to ensure there’s still always water available. 

Bam has a saucer underneath his bottle. Yohio hasn’t because he throws saucers around. 

[Giggles]

In my case, there was minimal training required. I used both a water bowl and water bottle (placed at different locations). He initially preferred the water bowl, but once he discovered the water bottle, he used it constantly. I simply removed the water bowl, and he’s been using the water bottle since.

[Sr. Melangell]

When Olly came to live here he was very ill, he had been mistreated and given the wrong foods, he was very nervous and I noticed he did not use his bottle, I took it down and gave him a bowl of water and drank it quickly, being the softy I am with animals telling him he was a good boy, rabbits are ground animals and I think bowls are better for them, but he does like to stand in his water bowl and get wet and splash me when I go to clean his cage, I told the Priest at church I get baptised every 3 days by my rabbit.

[blubudgie]

Posted By Elliriyanna on 5/06/2015 3:39 PM

Often times I have seen people put the bowl under the hanging water bottle, This serves two purposes, if the water bottle leaks it contains it and it causes them to associate both with water.
or if needed maybe you could build something like this http://www.amazon.com/Water-Bottle-Stand-Aquapet-Standard/dp/B00KWV98J6/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1430944697&sr=1-1&keywords=standing+water+bottle

I did this. I put the bowl under the bottle. my rabbit now drinks out of bowls and also if I don’t have a bowl there she will lick water off the ground haha. She actually prefers bowls to bottles (I like bottles better tho).

I think it’s natural for rabbits to drink from the ground/bowl so I wouldn’t worry too much. He may be drinking when you’re not watching

[Paradigm]

Well, I put the cage top back up because we were going away for the night and I didn’t want him to dehydrate. He didn’t make a beeline for the bottle so he can’t have been too thirsty. When I got back, the apple juice bowl was almost entirely empty – so I’m assuming he drank it.

I saw him sniffing the bowl yesterday but he hopped away – I assume because I’ve stopped putting apple juice in.

Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply – I’ve got an essay and two exams due in the next 8 days! I’m going to try taking the cage top and bottle away again once my schedule is clear because I can’t afford for him to get stasis at this time.

Thanks for your replies. If it doesn’t work out, I will buy a freestanding bottle because our flat is has a very square/modern look about it so there’s no where to hang it. (Or anything else, really).

[Paradigm]

Mr Roger has been sooo naughty recently!

But I saw him drinking from his bowl tonight! So pleased.

[Paradigm]

Well, since he’s taken to his bowl we’ve taken away the bottle but are waiting for him to adjust before we take away the cage top.

[Author]

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