Water for Rabbits

A cuddly bunny makes one of the most endearing of pets. They are quiet, clean, easy and inexpensive to keep, and utterly delightful to talk to and pet after a stressful day at work. In most towns anyone keeping a dog needs to license it. Not so with rabbits, and even their droppings are easy to handle and make outstanding fertilizer.

Like all animals, rabbits thrive on nutritious food and clean water. Commercial rabbit pellets provide all the nutrition a healthy bunny needs, but they like to wash it down with plenty of water.  

Never leave a bunny without water. A heavy crockery type pet bowl works well and resists tipping over, but pet stores sell special water bottles that attach outside the hutch, with only the spout protruding inside. Bunnies quickly learn to drink from the spout, and the bottle keeps out bits of hair, food, and other debris that often fall into an open dish.

Rabbits are amazingly cold tolerant. Come fall they’ll grow a thick coat of fine under-fur that provides outstanding insulation. But, no matter how cold it is they still need fresh liquid water available all the time. Constantly bringing warm water to a rabbit hutch in a cold barn several times a day is a chore, but there is an easier solution. Most livestock and pet stores sell electrically heated pet dishes. Although usually made for dogs, they work perfectly for keeping a bunny’s water liquid during the coldest days. But beware! Rabbits love to chew on electrical wire, so make sure the cord leading to the dish is armored and out of reach. Most electric cords leading to pet bowls are armored with coiled metal around the wire, and this will keep both the wire and electric wire safe.

Rabbits do struggle to stay cool during summer’s hot humid weather. A strong need and a great joy for them is a cool drink. They will drink far more in summer than winter, so be sure to keep containers filled.