Renal failure?

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Seraphina

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Hi,

i'm semi new to rabbits, i've had my first one (Sera, lop) for almost 2 years, and Epies for just a year.

Sera turned 4 last august, and began to have potty problems. She'd drink a lot of water and then have an accident where ever she was and thump like she was mad about it. After going to the vet, he treated her for a bladder infection and all was well.

Since then, she's had 2 more times (including now) where she's drinking an excess of water and peeing excessively around in her cage and not always in her litterbox, and almost always having matting of her fur on her bum and legs.

The vet recently called and suggested we get blood work to see if she has kidney disease and it made me wonder...

are there things i feed my bunny that could cause her to have that? And are there veggies she can eat that can help cure/prevent that. Right now all she eats is 1/8 cup of pellets, romaine lettuce, and loads and loads of hay (she loves hay).
 
I would suggest more of variety of veggies other than romaine. Mine love parsley, cilantro, dandelion amongst others. Definitely get the bloodwork and a urine analysis and a urine culture. Sometimes rabbit get crystals in the urine. This can lead to bladder and kidney stones just like people. What water source do you use to fill the bottle? I found that changing to filtered water helped.
 
:yeahthat:

Crystals can sometimes be seen in a urine sample or on palpation (felt by the vet), but your best bet is to have an x-ray done. Stones and calcium sludge will show up clearly on an x-ray. They aren't too unusual in rabbits. Part of it may be caused by a high-calcium diet, but it seems to be more related to the calcium metabolism of the individual rabbit.

The blood work is also a good idea. It will show you there is a chemical imbalance in her blood from a problem with her kidneys or liver.
 
i didn't think she'd have a toxic level of calcium cause it could cause tiny crystals in her urine right? and her pee is really a clear pale yellow.
 
Like I said, it doesn't matter so much how much calcium is in her food because it is more related to how her body deals with calcium. And she can have stones and have clear, pale urine.
 
I am not familiar with that site. Sounds interesting though. Some veggies do have a high amount of calcuim like kale. Since I stopped give pellets and changed the water none of my rabbits have had bladder problems. I had one rabbit who had bladder sludge that looked like she was peeing chalk. I did take her to vet for that.
 
Naturestee: really... she'd show signs of pain if she had stones though wouldn't she? Everything else is normal.

pla725: yea, i was thinking about taking out pellets and replacing with more greens might be more benificial for her bladder. But then you could be sacrificing vitamins. I'd have to do more 'green' research
 
You'd be surprised how much pain a rabbit can hide from you. I adopted out an older bun who ended up being diagnosed with kidney stones about a year later. I was good friends with her mom (Myheart on this forum). Until closer to the end, Luna rarely showed clear signs of pain unless she had a UTI from the stones at that time. Luna did eventually pass from kidney failure, but her life and well-being was extended by regular sub-cutaneous fluids (sub-q fluids), pain meds, dietary calcium reduction, and having any UTIs promptly treated.

IMO I would only eliminate pellets for rabbits with known calcium problems. The more you know about vegetables and rabbit nutrition, the more you can reduce or possibly eliminate pellets, but it takes some research to do it right. I personally am not comfortable with it for my rabbits despite having that knowledge, partially because I don't like the types and quality of veggies I have access to during the long Wisconsin winter.

Oh, and if you suspect urinary tract issues, it never hurts to start giving cranberries as treats. I buy a couple bags every fall and freeze them, then give 1-2 of them at a time to my bunnies straight from the freezer. Whole cranberries are a fairly regular dinner item here. Blueberries are also thought to be good for the kidney and bladder in the same way.
 
ok, thanks naturestee. My mom was talking cranberries too. Might be a good thing to just try. And i too, am not sure how i feel about eliminating pellets.

Well, the appointment is just in a week or so. so we'll see how it goes.
 
Fingers crossed! I am having my two older buns checked for renal problems next week. They have molar work done regularly so they need to be checked anyway, but the last few months they've been starting to drink and pee more. I'm not sure which one because they are bonded.
 
Thanks guys. The vet said sera was a very good bunny about getting blood taken, and he's gonna call me tomorrow. He wanted to do x-rays too just incase theres a lump or stones or something that won't show up in blood work. yikes... =\ should hope for the best though. she seems fine. well except that she did lose weight again.

naturestee wrote:
Fingers crossed! I am having my two older buns checked for renal problems next week. They have molar work done regularly so they need to be checked anyway, but the last few months they've been starting to drink and pee more. I'm not sure which one because they are bonded.

Aw that sucks. Luckily for me, sera's teeth are fine, she eats hay like theres no tomorrow.. thats why i don't get why she'd be having potty problems or losing weight, it doesn't make sense.

And so if your bunnies are bonded, you let them stay in a cage together? mine are bonded, but i do put them in separate cages at night.
 
What kind of hay and pellets are you feeding. If she is still getting alfalfa it is very high in calcium. Of course from me the next question is always - what sort of litter are you using. Refer to the forum in the infirmary just posted - is it statis or is your litter contributing to the problem. Just a thought. Really pray that nothing turn up serious.
 
if i do anything it's too much research lol..

sera eats timothy hay and timothy pellets and has paper pulp for her bedding. She once had stasis last year cause shes got a load of fur that sheds 4 times a year, and she grooms the other rabbit too.

but it can't be that anyways.. sera is eating and drinking. just drinking a lot.. and peeing alot.
 
Seraphina wrote:
And so if your bunnies are bonded, you let them stay in a cage together? mine are bonded, but i do put them in separate cages at night.
Yup, they live together. Those two live for each other. When my buns are fully bonded, they are together day and night. I don't know what size cages you have, but I always make sure that bonded couples have room to get away from each other if they want, including a big shelf to jump up onto. They end up spending most of the time snuggled into one ball of fur anyway. But I only move buns in together when I am absolutely sure they won't get annoyed with each other enough to get in a fight. I've done several bondings of my own buns (and helped friends and people adopting buns), although this is currently my only pair due to deaths over the years. My widower male is such a dork about bonding, I'm not terribly keen about bonding him with the more friendly of my single females.

Edit: I should also add that my pair luckily need molar trims around the same time, so they go to the vet in one carrier and stay in one cage before and after the dental work is done. They take care of each other.
 
Yea.. i'm worried when sera goes, epies is gonna be devistated. He really needs someone, and they're really close. I expect we'll always have 2 rabbits though.

lol your dork male rabbit must be a little handful
 
Sera's blood work came back good! kidneys were fine, the only things are little high levels of calcium (vet says normal for pet rabbits.. i don't feed her anything high in calcium x_X), and little high stomach enzymes but everything else was normal. =)

yaaaaaaaaaaaay no renal failure!!

but. sera is not eating as much hay as she used to and did lose a little bit of weight. So vet says tomorrow, x-ray.
 

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