rabbit urine

[Mrs. PBJ]

well storms urine seems really dark and thik.
he has a metal tray under his grate where he pottys.
well i clean that once a day and have really noticed that his urine looks dark and thik.

is this normal is there urine really thik.

 

[Maureen Las]

No that's not good "he may not be drinking enough

can you syringe fluids like unflavored pedialyte or even just water. he needs to get more fluids into his system.
You can also get fluids into him by washing some veggies. like romaine lettuce, parsley, cilantro really well and then let him eat them when they are really wet

let us know...

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

i gave him 7 1.0 ml just now when do i give it to him again he hate taking stuff.

and how much and how offen.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

oh i also gave him his vegys
and washed them really good.
and made sure they where really wet

 

[Maureen Las]

You can try giving him a crock instead of a water bottle and adding some apple juice to see if he will drink on his own. you can also try this with the pedialyte before you syringe the fluids as he may like a fruity taste and drink a lot on hisown

If he is still not drinking then go to a drugstore and ask the pharmacist for a 10-20cc syringe to give fluids you rabbit. if they won't give you one you can buy feeding syringes at a petsore


If the liquid is flavored he may like it better so try to get an electrolyte drink for children either unflavored pedialyte or a generic brand. if you cannor get unflavored get a flavor and just dilute it with waterso the sugar level is not as high.If you cannot get pedialyte then get some apple juice and mix a little with water and give him that.
If you gave 7 cc than I would say give him another 5 if about 2 hrs or so. and then give maybe 3 cc every couple hours I try not to give large amounts at once as it stresses them out big time.

remember to try to make this mixture as palatable as possible because it is stress ful for both of you if he hates what he is drinking. I can get my dental patient rabbit to drink pedialyte from a syringe as he loves it.
If you are 'forcing: it give it slowly by syringe in small amounts and watch your rabbit swallow before you give more. you want to make sure that he doesn't choke.
I believe that your bun was just neutered.

Have his sacs gone done /do they look less red??
if his urine is still dark and thick tomorrow I would call the vet/ possibly get an appt. if he needs more fluids then you may want to take the route of learning to give them subqutaneously which is far easier on the rabbit

When syringe feeding fluids or food to a rabbit you want to use some judgement in re. to stressing the rabbit.
Givehm enough time in between to recover

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

will i always have to give him fluids.
or is he just dehydrated and just not getting enough.
yes they are going down.
his atibiotic is baytril for the infection he got on the left side.
but even that looks better.

 

[Maureen Las]

We don't know why his urine is dark and thick but it may be because he drank less after his neuter.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

so rehydrating him should fix the problem by tomorrow.
if not vet time cause it is something mor serious

 

[Flashy]

Was it fresh urine, or old urine? Older urine goes darker and thicker than when it was fresh, just wondered if that might be what you saw?

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

Umm I would figure olld. I clean the metal pan once a dday. So yes it could be old.
I will watch for him to uriate today to see.

He should be using it soon as much water as he got In him.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

ok well he urinated yesterday and it was pretty normal looking.

then this morning its all dark and thik again.
in the pan.
so i will make a appointment. for him just so they can check it out.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

hi all

i just had a thought.
i saw another thread and thought i would ask the same question in another way.

i boughy storm a water bottle its not one of the small one
its a pretty good size.
it holds 5cups and he has only drank 1/2cup of water.
in a little over 5 days.

he is about a pound 1/2.
and eating fine i wanted to see if this seems normal

 

[Flashy]

Did he have a bottle before he came to you? How much does he drink when you give him a crock?

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

he did not drink any out of the crok.

yes ha had a water bottle befor.
didnt drink much watee them either. he does drink cause he keeps me up all night with the clicking of the bottle.

 

[Flashy]

How long did you try him with a crock for?

I am wondering if maybe his bottle has an air lock or something. If he 'clicks' that much there would be more water gone. How often do you change and test the bottle?

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

he had the crock for 24hours.
when i cleaned his cage i took it out cause he had thrown hay and food in it.

i just bought the new bottle last tuesday filled it up wensday when he came home. then changed the water this morning.

how do i test the bottle.

 

[Maureen Las]

I just use my finger to test the ball on the bottle after it is already hung in the cage ..I try pushing up and down on it and and see if the water is flowing freely.

I still think thatI would get him checked out by the vet AND test the bottle.

I only use bottles at the shelter; my rabbits have crocks


I think that you said in another post that he was 6 yrs ; which is not old nor young

 

[Maureen Las]

I would also change the water in the bottle at least every other day if not every day; they don't like stale water anymore than we do.
that is a pet peeve of mine

evertime I am at the shelter I take all the water bottles , clean them and put fresh water in them as the caretakers just keep adding more water.
bacteria can growon the inside of those bottles although I think it has to sit there a long time.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

i have no idea how old he is.
the vet said 1-2years old.

but we are not sure his apointment is not tell next week.
i will go check the bottle now.

 

[Maureen Las]

oops :biggrin2:sorryI got the age wrong !