Bladder Sludge

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lindemanbunnylover

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I origionally posted this on another topic (something about GI stasis). Pretty recent. Anyways, she was acting weird for acouple of days, almost calm (she is usually agressive and hyper). This is WAY unusual for her, but I didn't think anything of it. Yesterday, she stopped pooing and peeing AND eating/drinking! My mom wanted to see if she looked better the next morning before taking her to the vet, despite my urges to take to vet ASAP. So, in the meantime...I tried to make her as confortable as possible. Later on that day, she started to tense up from time to time and started squeeking, almost as if she was straining to get something out.When I next checked on her, she had this weird chalky brownish substance on her bum! It had the consistancy of wet sandstone. I reseached it and come up with conclusion: bladder sludge. Everything matched up correctly! I guess it has something to do with too much vitamin D build up. Nerxt morning looked worce. I almost missed school because I wanted to be with mom while bunny was at vet, but dad said NO! At vet, mom relayed to me that my conclusion was correct, it was bladder sludge! To fix this, doctor stuck needle through stomach to pull out sludge (UGH!). Doc said this is the worst case she has EVER seen. That made me feel really bd, expecially since she said that this has been building up since about a year ago!Now, all we have to do is wait for her to pee an force feed her some Critical care food and pain meds and another kind of med too. Now, she is sleeping, in a lot of pain probubly with full bladder that she an't get rid of! They don't know if she is going to live or not 550 dolars later.:tears2:

Please let her live I don't know what to do without her.:cry4:
 
I'm glad the vet was able to help her. I hope she pulls through this. I'm sure you're giving her all the love and care that you can.
 
:pray: I really hope she starts to recover quickly! make sure to watch very closely for any signs of dehydration and to ensure that she's drinking enough water.

according to http://www.3bunnies.org/feeding.htm#greens , these are the veggies you'll want to cut out of her diet completely now that she's been diagnosed with bladder sludge due to their calcium content:
# Broccoli leaves and stems (Note: broccoli can cause gas in some bunnies, and it is high in calcium so it should not be given to bunnies who have any urinary tract problems, such as bladder sludge)
# Broccoli (high in calcium, also may cause gas)
# Carrot tops (high calcium)
# Kale (high in calcium, also may cause gas)
# Mustard greens (high calcium)
# Parsley (high calcium)
# Spinach (high in calcium)
(also make sure to never feed alfalfa hay, even as a treat, because it's high in calcium)
 
SHE JUST PEED!!!!!!!!!!! AND ATE!!!!!!

:party0002::pinkelepht::pinkbouce::weee::yahoo::clapping::panic::group2::great::bunnydance::rabbithop:bunny18:happybunny::bunnybutt::party::jumpforjoy:

VERY HAPPY!!
 
Yay!!!! I'm so happy for you and your bun :) Did the vet tell you what to change in her diet so that she doesn't have this problem again?
 
Change of pellets and less of them too. She peed a lot last nite, more than usual, but that is understandable because they pumped A LOT of liquids into her! here's a pic, sorry its sideways. looks awful doesn't she????

16511_201114_580000001.jpg


 
bladder sludge is a somewhat common problem but a bit more complex than we first thought. It seems to be primarily a genetic problem as rabbits that do not have the propensity to form urine sludge will not no matter how much calcium you feed them. Other than the genetic factor, which you really cannot do much about, is to maximize as much as possible the fluid intake of these prone rabbits... that means several things... be sure that water is not only available, but your rabbit is drinking it... offer water in bowls AND sipper tubes, AND feed lots of green leafy vegetables (the amount of calcium in these foods is probably not significant in terms of adding to rabbits' bladder calcium, so I would not necessarily avoid any of those listed above if they are among your rabbit's favorite dark green leafy vegetables...)

But if you do have a rabbit that makes sludge, any other extra calcium sources are not recommend- particularly alfalfa pellets and/or hay. Alfalfa not only has tons of calcium in it, is highly digestible and available calcium (not true of green leafy veggies high in calcium) and can increase urine sludging... in fact, pellets in general are not recommended for these rabbits as even grass-hay based pellets are extremely calorie rich and completely devoid of any water, thereby tending to dehydrate your pet rabbit.

Pain meds can be helpful during a sludging incident as some of the bunnies have painful bladders...


for a more 'expert' view of this situation, read this article by Dr. Brown:
http://www.rabbit.org/health/urolith.html

Good luck!
 

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