Urination Frequency

Question
I have a 1.5 year old mini-rex male, kept in doors most of the time. Fairly often he will drink over an entire 1 liter bottle of water in a day when others it may take him over 2 days to drink. When he drinks this much he will also completely soak his full sized cat litter box in 1 day. He does this probably 3 or 4 times a month on average but I don't keep track. I know the other rabbit I have (male lionhead) does not drink or urinate nearly this much. So on top of it being expensive and a hassle to replace the bedding everyday, I'm a little concerned. He does not seem sick otherwise though. Any thoughts?

Answer
Dear Tanna,

Excessive urination and excessive drinking can be a sign of renal disease.  I would get your bunny to an experienced rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

who can draw blood to check kidney and liver function.  It's not common for a bunny this young to have kidney problems, but not impossible.

Another possibility is that the bunny is having pain from molar spurs, and attempting to soothe his mouth by drinking water.  He'll naturally pee a lot if he's drinking too much. And the fact that he does this only periodically suggests that this could seriously be the problem.  Be sure the vet you see is well versed in rabbit dental procedures, and knows what to look for.  Please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

I hope this helps.

Dana