Max may have bladder infection

[Raspberry82]

Last week Max peed on himself twice (4 days inbetween each accident) outside his litter box. He has excellent litter box habits, so I figured he must have been protesting that his litter box was too dirty for his liking or maybe protesting that his run around time was cut short (he enjoys being creative in his protests about things I've noticed). But this week it has happened another 2 times last night within 30 min with what looked like dribbling spots on the other side of the cage from the pee puddle. No blood or sludge that I can tell, it looks normal yellow.

I spent most of the evening reading through anything I could dig up on here about bladder infections and buns peeing on themselves, but it's a lot to dig through to find the right info, so I will be continuing tomorrow. Max will be off to the vet asap, I'm guessing for antibiotics and testing. And I'm making sure he has plenty of water and little pellets with plenty of hay until he sees the vet.

I'm really wanting to find out what exactly brings this on? Random bacterial overgrowth appearing on its own? Stressed immune system triggering the bacteria?

Not good enough pellets sounds like a possibility from what other's have said, too high protein may cause this? But he has been happiest with his current pellet brand with little to no shedding and good energy (Nutriphase, 17% protein). I had him on Kaytee Timothy Complete for a while, but made him shed like crazy. New pet store opened up near-by and carries Oxbow, so likely will be switching over.

First health problem that has come up with Max in the 3 years I've had him, so I'm being a worry-wort Momma atm and wondering what I did wrong to make him get sick :?.

 

[DyemondRabbitry]

How old is max? 17% may still be a little to high for him- I used to feed 15 or 16% to my retired buns and it worked great. Right now I have a 6 yr old NZ on 17% though and he's never been sick a day in his life! Lol!

 

[Raspberry82]

Max is 3.5 years old . He gets 1/3 cup pellets every day (sometimes a pinch more if I have to give him half his usual veg amount- which is a habit I've had since I got him). Always free hay.

 

[DyemondRabbitry]

Hmmm.. not sure.. vet time I guess! You never know what kind of bacteria they can get to cause infections there.

 

[Maureen Las]

You sound like a really good bunny owner............

investigating anything that he might have been eating or drinking that caused it.
it sounds like you are taking great care of him


I just edited this post realizing that he was not on a timothy pellet but a high protein one. I would get him on something low protein , lower calcium although that may not even be what the issues is....won't hurt to switch him
Just think of all the rabbits that come into shelters as strays and have been eating God knows what....

some of them have health issues later but many don't.

I'll look into preventive measures after you get him diagnosed.
Kathy Smith uses some alternative methods for bladder problems which are spelled out in her new book "When You rabbit needs Special care"
let us know what the vet says as he will most likely culture the urine

 

[Maureen Las]

Just wondering how much Max weighs ?

 

[Raspberry82]

Most of his life I've have him on pure timothy pellets, Kaytee Timothy Complete (I know it's not the best, but it is the best I could find without driving 3-4 hours to a quality feed store, until the Oxbow now became available near-by). Max always seemed to shed heavily on this pellet and had been on it for 1 yr.

I switched temporarily to Nutriphase for the past 4 months and his shedding dropped very noticeably, he seemed to have more energy. The pellet change was the only thing I did differently (no major stress changes, no enovironment changes or veg changes- he only likes romaine, parsley, cilantro ). But now this bladder issue.

So I'm thinking I'll just switch to Oxbow asap, but I've read that some rabbits do respond better to some alfalfa supplementation in their diets and get lower energy when they don't get enough calcium from their pellet.

Max weighed 4.7 lbs at his check up last year (I don't weigh him routinely outside of this because he doesn't put on noticeable weight changes, he only gets a teensy weensy dried fruit piece or two maybe 1-3x a week or small nub of carrot instead, after he eats his pellets/veg). I have my vet appointment this Tues at 11, so will be able to update his weight then . He's a Polish bun so he's little. He spends most of each day in his own free run room, then nights in his cage.


Gosh, maybe it is the pellet. His coat is healthier under Nutriphase then under the Kaytee Timothy Complete. Sigh... Oxbow time anyway.. lol.

Still, I've heard that there are some bunnies that do better with some ocassional alfalfa added to their diet if their energy decreases. Simply because some are concerned if they don't get enough, especially larger breeds I guess, their body will pull it out of their bones. Same with people who don't get enough.

 

[Raspberry82]

So far he hasn't peed outside his cage again yet or had any accidents. He hasn't ever had an accident outside his cage in 2 1/2 years.. so this was unusual. Odd how random it has been lately.

Thank you AngieLuv, your advice is much appreciated!

 

[Maureen Las]

My rabbit's (except Beau) eats kaytee timothy pellets also..I also would have to order 50lb bags of BBT and do get small bagsfor beau but not the others.

I have fed alfalfa pellets before to cut costs ; the shelter rabbits get alfalfa pellets exclusively

I have never (knock on wood) had a rabbit with a bladder infection before.
I think that, however , Max is getting too many pellets for his weight. Should get about 1/4 th cup at the most

anyway alot of times things occur and it's not the owners fault anyway..
rabbitownersare prone to blame themselves for everything.:?

 

[Fuzzy]

Bunny has a similar issue which has been going on for about a year now. There would be times where he'd pee outside his litterbox at least once a day, sometimes several times a day. Then there'd be a period of time where he'll only pee in the litterbox.

We've done blood analyses, urinalyses, fecal analysis, andan ultrasound but nothing was definitive. Finally we've opted to do a liver biopsy -- I wanted to avoid surgery at all costs but I felt a bit desparate after putting Bunny through all the blood work and what not. The liver biopsy didn't tell us much either. It only indicated inflammation of the bial ducts and our vet doesn't think that could cause the urine problem. Till this day we still haven't figured out what's wrong.

I find that bygiving him more play time decreases the peeing accidents. On the days when I'm home all day I'll leave the cage door open day till night. When we let him out of the cage more, he tends to only pee in the litterbox and not on the floor of his cage.

I know how stressful itcan bewhen you can't figure out the cause. Max's situation doesn't sound as bad as Bunny's though so hopefully it's just a temporary thing!

 

[Raspberry82]

Thank you so much Fuzzy for this info! Very useful to know these things. I know it isn't "young bunny" behavior because Max long grew out of that. And it's only on his cage floor, not random leakeage wherever so far. When this happened the first time (the floor of his cage is a layer of cardboard over the grating) I completely removed the peed on cardboard to make sure he wouldn't pee there again based on scent. It happened again with the fresh cardboard flooring. I cleaned it with vinegar and wiped a little lavender oil on it to mask any pee smell. He peed there again an hour later, lol .

Honestly, sometimes I think he does it out of protest for being put back in his cage because I know that he knows peeing outside his cage annoys me the most and I'll be stuck cleaning it up. But he always has to get washed off when he does this (whic he of course HATES), so you'd think THAT would be a big enough deterrent, lol.

:wink

 

[Becca]

I hope he's okay, I'm sure he will - Like someone said you sound like a greatn bunny owner

Becca :carrot

 

[Maureen Las]

I'd skip the lavendar oil..
am I crazy or did I read that they hate the smell...
maybe he's peeing to get rid of the scent

can't believe that rabbits hate lavender when I love it so much

lavender oil is extremely STRONG

a natural rabbit repellant


http://landscaping.about.com/cs/pests/a/easter_rabbit_3.htm

 

[pla725]

I just went through this over the summer with Smitten. I cut out all pellets even the Oxbow. Smit also had severe bladder sludge. That cleared up with medication and fluids. She still has some incontinence but not as much as before. She would leave puddles everywhere. I did give her some pellets this week because funds were low and couldn't buy as many veggies as I usually do. I notice the incontinence has increased over the past few days. So no more pellets if I can help it. Anyway, have a urine culture done to see if there anything going on. Also add blood work to check the kidney function.

 

[Raspberry82]

Ok thanks! Lol, poor Max.. lavender as a bunny repellent and he I put it in his cage.. it is one of the few things I know is non toxic, but oh well! So much for that, hah.

He hasn't done it again since, I put him on very little pellets with mostly hay and 2 cups veg in case it is the pellets. We'll see. Vet appt is not until tuesday (waits patiently.........)