FOUND BLOOD

[Samara]

IMMEDIATE INFORMATION:

Gubble:

Location: New Hampshire, USA

Description (Breed, color, weight): Mini Lop, REW, 5-6lbs

Age: 7 months

Sex: intact male

Concise Summary of the Rabbit's Condition:

I found blood just now surrounding his water dish. It was not there this morning or afternoon when I gave him fresh water. My husband and I checked him over top to bottom and can't find any visible wounds or blood on his fur. We trance'd him and I looked in his mouth with a flashlight and could see no evidence of blood, but could not get a good look behind his teeth.

I shift his NIC pen every morning to sweep up bedding and hay and afterwards I wipe the floor down with a Clorox wipe and dry it with a towel. It was not there this morning.

I am absolutely sure it was blood; some was dry on the linoleum floor, some was wet around which I assume was from the dish itself if he dribbled any. I dipped my fingers in it and it smelled of blood. His litter box is nowhere near his food/water, so it is for sure *not* reddish tinged urine.

Litter box looks normal.

Food (Manna Pro)/hay intake is normal. His hay for the last 2 days has been Orchard Grass (i.e soft not prickly). I was giving him his nighttime feeding when I noticed the blood. There is no blood in the food dish or around the food dish. He came right over to check the food out, but decided to run around the room instead.

Never been sick. No medications.

He is currently having out time and acting normal.

Breathing normal, nose normal, eyes clear and focused (one eye is slightly wet with clear fluid).

He *does* drool when I give him epic nose scritches when he is sitting on my lap relaxing, but there's never been blood in it before nor has he drooled any other time that I have seen.

No coughing/sneezing.

No plants, chocolate or other substance within reach except for a box of plain Cheerios and his bag of Aspen bedding.

He lives indoors, and has not had any trips outside except when he was born at the breeder and the ride home.

We do have other pets, everyone is acting normal and none of them have antagonized Gubble today that I have seen. I would highly doubt they would.

ANY GUESSES??

:cry2

 

[Samara]

If it helps, we trimmed his nails 3 days ago, but didn't hit any quick/kwiks. I doubled checked his nails tonight in case one split. Nothing.

 

[ZRabbits]

The eye that has clear fluid kind of sticks out to me. I was thinking maybe he hit himself by accident, but then again you don't see any injuries other than the clear fluid in his eye. Was there a lot of blood? Or a few drops on the floor and in the water bowl? Nose bleed? But you would have notice something there too.

I wish I knew. I would just observe him and see if there is any more blood. Hopefully this doesn't occur again.

K

 

[Samara]

He does do a lot of binkies in his pen...I suppose he could have whacked himself. His dishes are heavy ceramic...

There was enough blood that I needed a washcloth to get it up. More than a few drops. How much of that spread because of the dribbled water out of his dish, I'm not sure. It was very red, frank blood though.

I'm watching him like a hawk!

A..bunny friendly hawk. Ha.

 

[tonyshuman]

Keep an eye out for blood in the urine. Bunnies with UTIs often don't pee where they normally do. If you use a litter where you can't see the color of the urine, you might want to change it for a few days or put some plain white paper on top of it. That's the only thing I can think of other than back teeth, since you have ruled out other possibilities.

 

[Samara]

I use Aspen bedding, which the urine shows up in. I will add some paper just to make sure.

What were you thinking involving the back teeth? That he bit his cheek or something similar? I couldn't get a look past his front teeth, but he didn't resist me poking around.

Should I look harder? Any tips how to manage it without hurting him?

:stikpoke

 

[Samara]

There wasn't any blood today. He hasn't been drinking much (he uses a ceramic bowl, not a bottle) today. I was thinking of adding a raspberry (or something similar) tea bag to a cup and adding that to his water after it steeps cold. Maybe the flavor would encourage him?

 

[tonyshuman]

If bunnies get a lot of water from veggies, they won't drink a lot. If seems to be drinking less, I would be more concerned about a UTI. You could add some tea as long as it's not just sugar. Some people will do a bit of juice, like cranberry (preferably the unsweeteneed cranberry, you can get it in the natural foods section) in the water to encourage drinking if a UTI is suspected.

 

[Samara]

That makes sense. I have natural cranberry juice on hand so I'll try some of that.

I had a personal herpaderp moment when you mentioned the veggies. Why didn't I think of that?

I fail.
:embarrassed:

 

[tonyshuman]

I had the same concern when I first got my Tony. He was eating everything but not drinking any water. The vet was the one who told me about the veggies.

 

[ZRabbits]

How's Gubble doing? Any more signs of blood?

Hoping all is well for your sweet Gubble.

K

 

[Samara]

Gubbs is doing much better! I haven't seen any blood since that night. His urine looks good too. Must have been a fluke of some sort. He's REW so blood would show easily up on his fur.

He's desperately trying to wake the entire house up by storming around inside a paper bag right now. I tweaked his tail and sent him binkying across the room. The little cretin almost took me out at the ankles.

 

[ZRabbits]

What good news. So glad to hear Gubble's has shown no signs of more blood. That's probably a relief to you. Maybe to him as well, that's why he's trying to wake the entire house. lol

K

 

[Samara]

IIII think I just figured out where he may have been bleeding from. He just slammed into the wall face-first mid-binky through the air.

I'll be bringing that up with the vet when he's fixed. Holy cow. No wonder his face is flat.

 

[Samara]

You said it, Karen. Boy howdy!

:thud:

 

[tonyshuman]

Oh poor boy. Maybe he's partly blind? I know a lot of REWs have poor eyesight.

 

[Samara]

That's a good point. I will ask his vet what he thinks.