Bunny sludge

Hi People,

Looking for a bit of advice here I have 2 Rabbits Binky and Lola, both about 18 months old and females who have been speyed.

Now over the last 4 months Binky has been getting really bad sludge, the worest our vet has ever seen. At the moment the vet is sedating her & expressing her every 4 weeks.
We have upped her drinking by flavouring the water (where we live has soft water) but she still doesnt drink loads but is urinating more now, and cut out as much calcium as possible in her diet.

I see people mentioning subcutaneos fluids but does anyone have any more suggestions as I don't want to be cruel and keep her in pain every 3-4 weeks needing expressed?

Thanks

Ally

We had a couple with sludge issues so we cut out all pellets made with alfalfa meal and cut out all veggies high in calcium. It worked for us, anyway. Good luck.

Yes I agree in looking at the diet, what are you feeding and how much of it how often?

I would suggest having multiple ways to drink water. When Lunchbox first came home, she had some sludge going on and I gave her the water bottle and two different sized bowls with water. It got messy, but it helped a lot.

Thanks people.

At the moment we have 3 water bowls on the go some with a splash of flavouring and some without.

As for eating we moved her 3 weeks ago to timothy hay and of this week we have cut out any pellets (previously we were on low cal ones) or small biscuit type treats.

We are still giving her peas, Brussel sprouts & Roman lettuce with a wee bit banana as a small treat and to give her Loxicom in it. Those have all been advised as low in Calcium.

Basil and cilantro are much lower in calcium than brussel sprouts and lettuces. Even parsley which is usually considered higher in calcium, has lower levels than brussel sprouts.

I'm going to attach a link that is actually from a guinea pig site. But it has a nutritional chart that includes calcium levels of various greens. It should prove helpful.
http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum...n-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List#post254730

Just bear in mind that the chart may include a few items that are ok for guinea pigs to eat, but are not ok for rabbits. :bunnynurse: