water bottles vs water dishes

[Alina]

For those of you who have buns who drink out of hanging water bottles, how did you do that?

I have a water bottle hanging in PJ’s cage, and also a water dish because he doesn’t touch the bottle. He runs away from me (we’re on day 8 together) so I don’t know how to show him there is water in it and how to drink it.

 

What should I do?

[mocha200]

my rabbits don’t like water bottles ether. I would just say if he likes the dish better then give him that. its more normal for them to drink out a dish anyways cuz in the wild thats how they drink.

[LoveChaCha]

I used to give chacha a water bottle. I put it at the same height as her head so she wouldn’t have to twist her head.

My friend told me that she switched to a bowl since its more natural. A water bottle is actually very human convenient. its funny hearing a rabbit drink water from a bowl, hehehe.

[Otti]

I think you need to show him that there’s water in it by putting him in front of it and pressing your finger on the little ball inside the spout to make water come out. You can then bring your finger to his mouth so he gets it’s water. I think if you do this consistently over time most rabbits get it… I just didn’t bother when Sammy didn’t know what the water bottle was for (which he doesn’t to this day) and just used the water dish instead.

If you’re going to try training him to use the water bottle, you still need to provide the water dish as well obviously, until you know for sure he gets the water bottle thing.

[Lintini]

I used water bottles until I found out they liked bowls better. I had given Indy a bowl after he was neutered to make it easier to him to drink and it turns out he liked it much more, and the same went for my other buns.

[Denise12]

I used to have buster drink out of a bottle when she was in the cage. now that she’s in the pen, i leave a crystal bowl out for her
I love watching her drink from it…and listening to her lap it up. So cute.

[Alina]

Lol if all of you think water bowl is better then I’ll do that.
Maybe it’s not worth using a water bottle. He seems totally happy lapping. And it does give me an opportunity to see his tiny pink tongue.

Thank you for the help!

[stacyblue]

My marshmallow HATED his bottle he would tug on it with his teeth and make an awful racke it scared me i just knew he would break his teeth or something. So i went out and found a cheap large plastic dog food bowl that is hard to dump and he was a much happier bun indeed.Dexter loves her water bowl all the months at the feed store with a bottle she was very happy to have a bowl and used it as a wading pool for the first 2 days i had her.From another stand point I think a bowl is a much better way to go as they are much easier to keep clean and free of nastys tahn a bottle .A water bowl you just wash everyday when you refill and a bottle is hard to wash plus the temptations there for some to let it hang there till its empty getting all kinds of grems breeding inside it yuck!

[Beka27]

I used the water bottle for years. It was their only option. I recently (within the past couple months) began offering a water bowl, and now the water bottle goes entirely untouched and they are drinking so much more. So my recommendation is to skip the water bottle all together, or offer it as a second option just in case, but don’t expect it to get used.

[allegrabunny]

I have both and I find that all my buns will drink from both, as they prefer the bowl to poo in. (Buns thinking “where’s the flush on this thing?”)

[CocoaB]

Water bottle only here. Cocoa will dump water bowls. She digs in them. I clean my water bottle with scalding hot water, a baby bottle brush and a touch of dish soap.

[Alina]

That’s my only concern, is there seems to always be poo or food or hay in the water bowl.

[jennyrabbit]

honestly, having rodents all my life, so a dish for a rabbit never even crossed my mind, “bottle is better” is drilled into my head lol. Kari and Jenny both used bottles from day 1. Peepers is different…he uses a dish lol his breeder said he uses both for all his rabbits, but that they all prefere a dish.

[Beka27]

I’ve heard many times on BB that most rabbits prefer a bowl, but honestly… I always ignored this advice, thinking “Bottles are easier for me.” But having switched, I now realize that bowls are easier, at least with my two. It only takes me 20 seconds to dump out the bowl, rinse, and refill. I have the bowl on the other side of the pen from the litterbox and hay, so I don’t have an issue with the water getting dirty. I used one of those heavy glass “old-lady-type” ashtrays (unused for cigarettes of course!), the rim is thick and rounded, with a solid, heavy base. There is no way they can tip it.

So if you haven’t tried a bowl yet, try it out and see how it works. Even if you offer both, it only takes a few seconds to refill the bowl. I wouldn’t get a petstore water bowl, check out a dollar store and see what kind of heavy bowls they have available.

[Deleted User]

some of my rabbits prefer their bottle over bowl since they will use it even if a water bowl is sitting right beside it. I hate bottles though because they are noisy. I keep using the bottles in certain areas because then I can be sure my dogs did not touch their water.

[Sarita]

If your cage is large enough or your rabbit is free roam you don’t need to worry about the water getting dirty or full of poo. Maybe fur when they are shedding but it’s so easy to dump, clean and up fresh water in.

None of my rabbits get their bowls dirty.

[bunnnnnnie!]

I do both in Zeus’s cage.  He drinks 100% out of the dish, but I like having the bottle as a ‘back up’ water source.  Sometimes I’m out of the apartment for 8+ hours at a time, and if he somehow dumps his dish over or gets it really disgustingly dirty, I don’t want him going that whole time without clean water.  The dish is also surprisingly easier, like someone else mentioned.  It’s just dump, rinse, refill.  No worrying about overfilling vs underfilling a bottle (messes with the suction/vacuum), a leaky bottle, the nozzle breaking, etc, etc.

[Beka27]

^It seems to take me more time to screw the lid on the right way so it doesn’t drip, than it does to give a water bowl. And as someone else mentioned, it helps fight the urge to not refill the bottle every single day.

[Deleted User]

Posted By Beka27 on 09/23/2010 04:09 AM
  And as someone else mentioned, it helps fight the urge to not refill the bottle every single day.

 

What are you talkung about — that’s just the point: get a huge water bottle and you don’t have to refill, change or worry so soon again.

[Dee]

I don’t know- I change my buns water bowl once or twice a day, and their bottle once a day. I guess I always think that I wouldn’t wanna drink water that had been sitting around for over a day, so they wouldn’t either. I also put ice in the water bowl in hot weather too, since I hate warm water and therefore imagine my buns do too. Talk about projecting human feelings onto a bunny lol. I have always used a bowl, but recently added a water bottle just in case they might like it. BunBun drinks out of his bowl occasionally, and he’s tried his water a bottle a couple of times in the past 2 weeks that we’ve had it. I have never seen Nelli drink at all… very strange. I suppose she does or she would have expired by now.

[Beka27]

Dee: We actually were talking about cold water in bottles/bowls and we seem to think that bunnies prefer room temperature water. I know it sounds strange because it’s not what WE would want to drink, but just a thought ;o)

[RabbitPam]

A vet once cautioned me a few years ago to use tap water that was cold, but not refrigerator water. She said the icy cold is not comfortable for their tummies, so I just run the cold tap once a day into the dish. Changing is more important just because little germs, dust, pellet specs, bugs, fur…can drop into it during the course of the day and they really need clean water. You would not love drinking a glass you had left on the counter the morning before, though if you had to you would.

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