obsessive licking and drinking urine...

[Nyctra]

(woops. I have a cold and think I just stuck this in the wrong section..)

One kit in particular is crazy about licking me. I let them run around the kitchen a lot, and I've been wondering why there's no piddle spots...well, while the licker was licking me, I look over and see another back his butt up to the wall and pee. Before I could get a tissue, he'd turned around and licked it all up.
I keep thinking a deficiency, because they're on hay, oats, and alfalfa cubes - but they have a salt/mineral lick in the food dish, though I've never seen them lick at it. Does salt/mineral deficiency sound about right or you think this is just an unexplainable behavior thing?
I got a new bag of pellets (the last went stale 'cause the adult buns haven't warmed up to pellets yet), so I'm going to start weaning the kits onto it. They're around 5 weeks old now I think.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Iron deficiency, maybe?

Allegedly veal calves are kept anemic so their meat is white in color instead of red, and they are kept chained in their stalls to prevent them from drinking their own urine for the iron content. I believe I read that in John Robbin's book Diet for a New America, which was very anti factory farming and using animal products in general, so you might want to take it with a grain of salt.

 

[katiebear]

I would think it's probably a deficiency but of what I don't know...Mama sheepdog is probably correct that it is iron. You might want to break up some of their mineral lick into the feed.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The hand licking makes me think they may have a salt deficiency. Some horse owners always provide a plain white salt block in addition to a mineral lick in the belief that the animals will avoid the mineral lick if they already have enough of "x" mineral, so can actually become salt deficient despite having a huge mineral infused block of salt available at all times.

I had intended to always provide my rabbits with a choice of both plain and mineral enriched salt, but nixed that idea while my rabbits have water crocks. I have had too many rabbits pick up their chunk of mineral salts and deposit it in their water dish to risk it. Rabbits wont drink water with a high salt content- and I am afraid that if they put the plain salt in their water I wouldn't notice it in time- the mineral block turns the water red so you know right away, but dissolved white salt wouldn't be as noticeable.

 

[Susie570]

All of our babies are hand lickers, but so is their mom. And dad. I think they're just being affectionate.

Our buns do have mineral licks as well and they use it. Even the babies use them. If our babies have a mineral deficiency, it's something not in the mineral block. I've never seen them lick urine, but they're in wire bottom cages.

 

[Zass]

All of our babies are hand lickers, but so is their mom. And dad. I think they're just being affectionate.

Our buns do have mineral licks as well and they use it. Even the babies use them. If our babies have a mineral deficiency, it's something not in the mineral block. I've never seen them lick urine, but they're in wire bottom cages.

Some rabbits are just affectionate. Kits frequently are. Whenever I forget Mucky is on my lap and stop petting...she will give me a few licks to remind me that her ears are still needing to be stroked.

Most of my rabbits seem to love their Himalayan pink salt blocks. I don't know if it helps much with mineral content, but I do know they are getting plenty of salt.