I got the final word from my vet about juice. He stands by his initial advice to put 100% pure apple juice, or an apple-cranberry mix, into Frank’s water (at most 1 part juice to 6 parts water) if it encourages him to hydrate. He says they used to recommend pineapple juice, because of its digestive properties, but now they recommend the papaya enzyme tablets (which Frank is already on), because the carbs in the pineapple pulp are really not good for rabbits, and if the juice is sitting out for awhile (mixed with water, for instance), the pulp can go sour.
Hope the apple juice helps Frank consume more water 🙂
Thank you! It has been helping since the vet recommended it last year (he was in for GI Stasis and became very aggravated when they stuck him for the subcutaneous fluids, so because he wasn’t too dehydrated the vet suggested the juice-water, and said we could feed it to him daily if we thought it was worthwhile). The problem was at our last appointment, we saw a different vet who was alarmed by the juice-water. So she consulted with the other vet, and then we spoke on the phone and he confirmed that it was acceptable (assuming your rabbit doesn’t drink enough water, which Frank doesn’t, and it encourages him to drink more, which it does for Frank).