Blood in Urine

[amanda2396]

hi!
so i just saw on my rabbits pad what looks to be blood
she is about 7 years old. Do rabbits get periods? any advice would be appreciated! i'm watching her closely I will probably end up taking her to the vet very soon.

 

[Augustus&HazelGrace]

No rabbits do not get periods. And at 7 years old she needs to be spayed as this could be a sign of reproductive cancer. After 3 years old rabbits have an 80% chance of getting reproductive cancer. Although if this was in her urine this could be caused by a UTI. Either way, she needs to be seen by a vet ASAP. Seeing blood is not normal.

 

[amanda2396]

No rabbits do not get periods. And at 7 years old she needs to be spayed as this could be a sign of reproductive cancer. After 3 years old rabbits have an 80% chance of getting reproductive cancer. Although if this was in her urine this could be caused by a UTI. Either way, she needs to be seen by a vet ASAP. Seeing blood is not normal.

thank you! i'm taking her immediately, i just wanted to confirm this was unusual. thank you so much again

 

[Augustus&HazelGrace]

No problem! I hope everything turns out ok.

 

[Preitler]

It does definitly look unusual, and seeing the vet asap is a good idea. Good luck

After 3 years old rabbits have an 80% chance of getting reproductive cancer.

Pardon me, it's down to 3 years now? That's how this meme works, everyone who repeats it knocks it up a notch. Doesn't make the numbers any more true, 3 years, 80% is close to ridiculous.

Truth is, their risk to develop (not necessary deadly) abnormalties in their reproductive system is rather high, my guess is more like 30% in their lifetime, which still is high and a good reason to spay. There is very little actual data on that topic, a lot of hearsay, and I'm sure it depends on breeding lines too.
Anyway, it is one of several good reasons to spay does, no point in blowing it out of proportion.

I thought about getting a 6yo doe spayed, both vets were not happy with the idea, saying that at that age the risk is quite high compared to spaying a young rabbit and didn't recommend it if there isn't a good reason to do it. But, different vets obviously heve different views.

 

[amanda2396]

I got her through a friend of a friend, only had her for 8 months, I don't think she has ever been spayed

 

[JBun]

That definitely does look like blood. Hopefully it's just a UTI and can be easily treated with the proper antibiotic(baytril, smz/tmp). If you don't already have a vet appt., I would make sure to get her in today, as an emergency if necessary. That's a significant amount of blood to be seeing in just one urine puddle, and I would have concerns about more blood loss having already occurred apart from what you've seen.
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/