Just a note about a comment made it thisthread....rabbits do not "come into season". I haveseen many people take a visual at the femaleequipment and saythey are ready for breeding. Well...they are always readyunless they are already pregnant (of course assuming they have not beenaltered). They, like many small mammals, do not have a heatcycle like dogs or cats...or technically humans....that can conceiveonly during a somewhat brief period of time. They are"induced ovulators" which simply means that the doe will become fertileshortly after the male mounts her. Does can also conceivewithin a very short time after delivering a litter. What itboils down to is that in the wild, rabbits are low on the food chainand there is a high mortality rate. This method ofreproduction assures a sustainable population.
And a word about collecting urine for urinalysis. When youexpress a bladder onto a surface...counter top, bottle, jar, plasticbag, etc...you also get the bacteria that is on that surface which canlead to a less than accurate diagnosis. Also, some urinarytract infections contain bacteria that die when they come into contactwith oxygen....another possibility for a misdiagnosis. Thebest way to collect urineis toperform a procedurecalled cystocentesis. It involves inserting a catheter(usually a very small needle) thru the abdominalcavityanddirectly into the bladder and extracting the urine in thatfashion. This is quite necessary in some stubborn infectionsthat cultures and treatments are not getting the desiredresults. Needless to say, it takes a very skilled doctor tosuccessfully execute this procedure.
Randy
