Concerned about Crumble

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Nela

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Hey guys, would you mind giving me some advice?

A while back, I noticed that Crumble's pee puddles were quite large. They seemed larger than I ever remembered any bunny peeing. Since he was otherwise healthy, I decided I would monitor it.

Crumble has always had a voracious appetite. Voracious in the sense that every time you feed him, he acts like a bunny that has been starved for days. At first I thought he was silly and called him a glutton, but since it's been an ongoing issue, I started getting concerned.

Two weeks ago, we got Crumble neutered and he acted like nothing ever happened so I was quite happy with that.

Now, come to yesterday... I went to clean his litterbox, only to find it absolutely saturated in urine. Not only was it saturated, it was super saturated. There was pee floating at the top. Now, he has a big litterbox with Yesterdays News type litter so I would think that is not an issue. Not only that, but his cage was absolutely covered in urine. The walls, the floor... Like if he had a spraying competition with several other males...

Obviously concerned by now, we took him to the vet's. I thought he had been losing weight (he felt slightly more bony than I remember) but it turns out he is at the exact same weight as before. Because he is active and the vet could see/feel nothing abnormal, she told us to take him home and watch him for a month. The fact that she would even want me to wait a month made me lose confidence in her. I asked if we should do a blood test, if that can give us any answers at all and she replied to me saying that it was possible but that she didn't know the normal values nor if they can do them themselves. This tells me that she is definitely not knowledgeable enough in rabbits to trust her fully on the matter.

Now my questions are:

- Am I panicking over nothing?
- Should I rush him for a full screening despite him acting normally aside from that?
- Is there anything that is coming to mind?

I am truly concerned about renal failure. The vet said that that is possible but that she expects that he would get lethargic. Since he's not, she seems to think it's nothing. What are your thoughts?
 
I dunno that I'd go straight to rushing him for a full screening if he's feeling fine, but given that you've got valid reasons for suspecting that your vet isn't that rabbit-savvy, I would definitely schedule an appointment with a more experienced vet to get a second opinion.
 
I agree! If you can find another vet with more experience with rabbits, that would be the best thing to do.

I think diabetes can cause excessive drinking, and maybe kidney issues as well. Try and figure out how much he is drinking in a day. I think that the average amount is supposed to be about 1 oz. per lb. of rabbit.
 
I have a hard time with averages. I don't know anyone with 2.4 kids. That said, I'd monitor behavior to see if the norm can be established for that particular one. We've had some that drink a lot consistently and others that don't drink hardly at all. Good luck.
 
If this amount of drinking & puddling isn't his normal, it could be a kidney problem. Pg 99 of Rabbit Health in the 21st Century says a urinalysis will show it before a blood test does.
 
1 ounce per pound of rabbit? My bunnies drink way more than that- Phoebe drinks about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of water a day and definitely does not weigh 24 pounds! More like 4 pounds.

Nela, I really hope you figure out what's wrong with sweet Crumble! Has it been really hot inside with the heat cranked up for winter, maybe he's been warm so drank more?
 
LakeCondo wrote:
If this amount of drinking & puddling isn't his normal, it could be a kidney problem. Pg 99 of Rabbit Health in the 21st Century says a urinalysis will show it before a blood test does.
the good news is a urinalysis is pretty darn cheap. was $27.50 or something at my vet (I got paranoid when somebunny suddenly started peeing outside the litter box once a day and because Gaz was drinking 3-4x as much water as Nala was... turned out they were both fine :p)
 
Thanks for all the help guys.:biggrin: We decided to monitor it for now as a few good points were brought up. First of all, the vet did mention that the spraying was possible due to the recent neuter and the hormones going a bit haywire before settling down. Also, Shiloh brought up a good point about the heat as we have indeed starting heating the house this week so perhaps the combination made it happen. (I hadn't even thought of that:expressionless) I am happier knowing that his weight hasn't gone down so at least that is a very good sign. Otherwise, I would definitely not even hesitate over getting a second opinion. He was out and about yesterday and was as crazy as ever so it definitely doesn't look like he's not feeling well. I guess we can give it a day or two to really see better how things progress. I have the info for other vets if needed. If something still bugs I will take a sample in for the urinalysis first :).
 

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