Why would my 3 month old bunny have reddish-looking urine?

[boo_bunny]

She is acting just fine. Eating/drinking normally. Still wants to hop up, down, around, through, over, under... nothing appears to be wrong at all. But, she's passing urine that appears to have blood (???) in it???

I know her urine is VERY orange sometimes, but this is different. I noticed it for the first time last night... then saw more of it this morning on the paper underneath her cage.

Could she be in heat or something? :?

 

[BlueGiants]

Rabbits don't have a "heat". They don't "show" like that. But reddish urine is perfectly normal. Have you introduced any new treats or foods? Sometimes a new vegetable or fruit will color the urine. The reddish color is from an excess amount of Tannin and Vitamin C. Both of which are excreted in the urine, with no harm to the rabbit.

 

[LadyBug]

edited to say:never mind. i was not really 'thinking' when i posted. i can't believe i managed to forget rabbits don't have heat...............:shock:!(undersanding that i research animals into the ground and for the most part have a pretty good memory of what i've learned:biggrin2silly me:disgust:

:hug:

Anna

 

[boo_bunny]

Thank you! She has gotten to nibble bits of banana every now and then, but the last couple of days, we've let her eat the banana peel, too... which she LOVES! So, maybe that is exactly what is causing it.

I guess it's okay to keep letting her eat it, then?

 

[tonyshuman]

as long as the urine is a consistent reddish color and not some other color with swirls of red in it, it shouldn't be a problem, like bluegiants said. when rabbits have urinary tract infections there are swirls or streaks of blood in the urine. orange or red colored urine is completely normal. i'd suspect some dark leafy greens to be the source rather than the banana, like spinach, romaine, kale, etc.

ETA: wanted to add that my muffin loves banana peels but not banana, and my tony loves banana itself better. eating banana peels is ok.

 

[boo_bunny]

Thank you.

Well, the only green things she has been eating are her Timothy hay and some St. Augustine grass (while hopping around the yard). But, she's been eating both of those things all along... neither are new foods. Hmm...

Her urine is definitely a consistent color throughout, so I guess everything is okay. It was just a jolt when I saw it and I started to panic some.

BTW... I probably should ask this in a new thread, but I'm curious how to get her to urinate in her litter box. Instead, she just uses that thing as a perch and moves her food bowl out of the way to pee underneath that??? I have been moving that litter box ALL OVER her cage, but she will *not* go potty in it at all. It's driving us crazy... as if she's just thumbing her bouncy little nose at us to prove that she truly has the upper-hand! LOL!

 

[BlueGiants]

When she pee's in the wrong place, clean it up with paper towels andlay the wet paper towels in the bottom of her litter box. Use vinegar and water to clean up the place she pee's to get rid of the smell. By "moving the smell" to the litter box, she may get the idea. Don't be in a hurry to clean up the litter box. Too clean will confuse her.

She is also pretty young. Give her time to grow up. Mature does usually like to keep their territory clean.