Apple Cider Vinegar

[SarniaTricia]

So, I had someone tell me to add a splash of apple cider vinegar to my rabbit's water to help prevent weaning enteritis.

I've been doing this since mid May.... so about 2 months....
A. water is the bottles started to smell awful!!! OMG ... think sewer water!! I cleaned all the bottles well with dawn and stopped adding ACV.... There is no way I want the rabbits to go without water in this summer heat and I wouldn't drink that stink and I have human nose!!
B. no change in weaning enteritis that I noticed

So, I am going back to plain old water for my rabbits....

What are your routines for watering and cleaning bottles and adding ACV
Maybe I'm missing something here?

 

[shazza]

i use ACV in the water for my rabbits regularly and have never had it smell bad like that D: i would think something else is going on...but i have no idea what it would be. i admittedly am a bit lax on flushing out the water system/cleaning the waterers in the growout pen regularly and it's only ever just smelled like ACV water.

 

[SixGun]

I use ACV in my water daily and I've never had it smell bad. Now, I like the smell of vinegar, so I may not be all that much help there.
It may be changing the composition of your well / city water to a state that smells really bad. I'm not a chemist, so I don't know exactly, but... I know some people spray ACV in their cage pans, because it interacts with the urine and makes it more benign. Depending upon your water it could either be strengthening or working with something in the water.

 

[BlueHaven]

since vineger is largely antiseptic and some say antibacterial I don't see why you had a problem with a sewer smell.
I for one don't use it and feel its kind of one of those wonder products, and I am a little skeptical of all the claims made for it.
Anything from curing illnesses, increasing fertility, weight loss and the list goes on and on and on. The same can be said for baking soda, wheat grass and whatever else the IN thing is. I find just good clean water and pellets is just fine for most rabbits.

 

[tarheel506]

I also am not a fan of the smell of vinegar. When I was younger, I would literally throw up when my mom tried to clean the household coffee pot with vinegar :x Not quite that severe now, but still not a fan.

I have also added ACV to my water bottles (not for weaning, though), and had some funky results if it was left for too long. I also have very heavy minerals in my well water (like my tub, toilet, dog bowl, and rabbit bottles will turn red within a week). Maybe the minerals have some effect on the ACV? At any rate, I have found that when I'm running ACV I need to dump and rinse out the bottles daily even if they aren't empty/don't appear dirty, and add a fresh mix of water and ACV. I also wash all bottles with mild soap weekly anyway...cause even though I know it's just the minerals, I don't appreciate that red coating on everything...

 

[alforddm]

Vinegars antibacterial properties are largely due to it's low PH. If you happen to have water with a high PH, it could be neutralizing the vinegar enough so that something has a chance to use the minerals and any remaining sugars in to grow something nasty.

 

[tarheel506]

Alforddm that makes sense. If that's the case, I wonder if the rabbits are getting any benefit from the ACV in their water :?