Anyone trained their rabbit to drink from a bowl?

[FernieB]

Just wondering as Current Bun's cage is nearing the end of its life and I'd quite like to get rid of it altogether. He's never shut in it anyway and free ranges round the house. If I did then I'd have no bars to hang his water bottle from, so it would be easier if he'd drink from a bowl (not that he drinks much). Has anyone managed to teach their bun to go from bottle to bowl?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Trouble with bowls is they get kicked and splash everywhere

My boys have a bowl out in the Pighouse and a bottle when they are in their Winter Night Cage (because guineas are multi talented and adaptable souls)
They ignore both bottle and bowl

Can you get one of those springey things to fasten the bottle onto something? Might make it easier for him.?

[Floralnomad]

Can't be that hard my rabbit has always had a water bowl and he is not the smartest bun in the world !

[FernieB]

He really isn't the sharpest claw in the paw! He is exceedingly tidy though - puts DH and DDs to shame - so hopefully shouldn't spill. I'll get a nice heavy bowl and try him with it.

[ValenciaOrange]

Mine drink from a bowl, I use a heavy ceramic one and its only ever got split once .

[Midori1999]

I don't think you'd need to teach him.

I have just moved my 3 year old buns outdoors, so they now have a water bowl in their wendy house and a water bottle in their run and they very, very rarely drink from the bottle, they always drink from the bowl. My other two buns also have a bottle and a bowl and although they do drink from the bottle, they prefer their bowl too.

I did think the water would get really dirty/spilt etc. but so far it hasn't. They just have lino as their flooring though and wood pellet cat litter and hay in their litter trays. I do keep a mat under one set of buns' bowl, but it doesn't seem to get spilt.

[FernieB]

Thank you everyone. Current Bun will get a new bowl with a mat under it - I feel as though I'm slowly turning him into a dog, he already has a basket!

[Midori1999]

Mine have a dog bed which they have some of their hay in... also, their mat says 'woof'...

[Midori1999]

In fact, they also have padded dog beds with paws on them, although they are likely to be removed soon as they seem to be mainly used for weeing...

[welshfirsttimemummy]

They will be fine with a bowl, there are no water bottles in the wild

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

My four legged sons have a fleece with dog paw prints on it.
Two cat beds - CAT BEDS

And "in the wild we'd drink out of dirty puddles" they say.

[andrea315]

My house bunny drinks from my dogs bowl and even tried eating his t tonight !

[FernieB]

Naughty bun . My pigs always try to sneak into Current Buns house to eat his food and vice versa

[superfluouscurves]

The vet advised getting quite large shallow heavy bowls for our rabbits, and they use them without problems except that they sometimes dip their ears in the water while drinking. I change the water twice a day because it does sometimes have hay floating in it.


Midori that's interesting ... I have bought my buns endless soft blankets and dog beds and all they have done is pee on them as well!!

Oh and mine have a kennel as well as a hutch

[midori1999]

super, haha, two of mine also live in a kennel... Gosh, they're going to get very confused.... Dog bowl, dog beds, blanket... Kennel... If they start barking I'll know why...

This is their kennel:

i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/midori1999/DC2EA988-62EA-47EF-B312-31D620AABDB1-26713-00001CF7B9F9B6F5_zpsc4f098fc.jpg

I've just washed the blankets/beds and the weeping has reduced, so not sure if it was partly due to them being new and in new accommodation.

[Steamedcabbage]

Ooh they are fab Midori and it's great they have all that head room!
(I would ban standard height hutches if I had my way). In fact, don't think the puppy/dog analogy is that far off. If everyone new to rabbit ownership were told that they need as much space, stimulation, and interaction as a puppy then I reckon general rabbit welfare would improve 10 fold!

Mine haven't started barking .... yet

[Steamedcabbage]

[sorry, I namechanged, it's SC from upthread]

[FernieB]

Love the pictures

My previous bun made a lot of noises and one of her range sounded a lot like a woof

[Steamedcabbage]

There's still time then

[Essexgirlupnorth]

Mine like drinking from puddles of rain water in the garden so shouldn't be hard to get them to use a bowl.

[FernieB]

He has a bowl now - I have no idea if he's using it as he hardly ever drinks. Next step is to remove the cage.

[mooseisabunny]

I use this for my bunnies, stops it being pushed around :)