Monday, October 11, 2010

Rabbit Care: Water

It is very important that your rabbit always has access to a fresh and clean supply of water.

There are two different ways to give your rabbit water:

1. In a water bottle. This is easy and less messy, it also keeps the water clean.
2. A bowl, preferably a ceramic bowl they can't tip or one that locks on to the cage. The downside of these are that the rabbit tends to get debris in it, especially if your rabbit isn't trained to use a litter box and you use bedding on the bottom cage such as shavings.

For Munchkin I use both. He is pretty tidy so all that ends up in his bowl is some rabbit fur, so I refill it twice a day to make sure it stays clean. He prefers to use the bowl to the bottle, and only uses the bottle to wet his tongue before grooming himself. I refill both at least every day and wash them out very often.

You may want to know how much water your rabbit should drink.

I have read and heard that they drink a lot of water; at least an ounce per body weight. That would mean Munchkin should drink ten ounces a day. Well, he doesn't. He probably drinks three, maybe four ounces at the most. So don't worry if your rabbit doesn't drink a lot of water, just watch our for sudden changes in how much they drink. The amount that they drink also depends on what they eat. Munchkin gets a lot of water from his vegetables, so I know he is fine. I can also tell he gets enough water from the wet spots he leaves on my jeans when he licks me.

Next time: Rabbit Care: The "Rabbitat"

1 comment:

  1. I never thought about a rabbit grooming himself. They sound like cats - except that our cat, who loved to lick us, never licked our clothes. Learning something with every one of your posts!
    -Old Learner

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