Drinking excessive water

[emelvee]

Hi guys, new to this forum.

We have a 2 year old American Fuzzy Lop, male neutered, named Jazzy. We noticed he was drinking and urinating a lot - around 6 oz. per day, compared to maybe 2 oz. normally. Vet gave him a course of Baytril, and he seemed to be getting back to normal. But the past few days, his water intake (and pee) is back to the higher level again.

This started around when we got a new kitten in late September, if that's relevant. Jazzy seems to be acting normal - he hops around the house, does his binkies, etc. He's awfully young to be having kidney issues. Any thoughts?

 

[Maureen Las]

I assume that the vet thought there was a bacterial infection /bladder infection. ?

Is the vet rabbit saavy? Did he culture the urine ?

baytril may just not have been the correct drug for particular bacteria ( if that is even the issue. )
I would take him back to the vet and ask more questions.
Did the vet test the urine at all?

Does your rabbit show any signs of pain such as huddling in the litterbox, straining to urinate, spending a lot of time in the box or not using the box at all and peeing all over the place

Those are frequently symptoms of a bladder infection.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12052&forum_id=10


I cannot see any correlation between the kitten and this problem

Did anything else change ..any changes in food at all , brands of pellets etc.
2 years is young for kidney problems but not unheard of

 

[emelvee]

Thank you for the reply. They did draw blood and do a urinalysis - at least I was billed for it.
The vet was thinking that it was a bladder infection. She seemed to be fairly familiar with rabbits (and was recommended by our cat's vet), and had another one in the office at the time we were there.

He doesn't huddle in the litterbox much...doesn't seem to strain to urinate (if we have him running around for a while and put him in his cage, he'll go right to the litterbox and pee). He once in a while pees outside the box, but we were thinking that was a territorial thing due to the cat (the cat has been in the rabbit's cage, though we're trying to not allow that now).

No changes to diet. He's eating his timothy hay as normal, loves his pellets (your basic Kaytee pellets) and a handful of greens daily.

Any suggestions for questions I should ask the vet?

 

[Maureen Las]

If the vet did lab work the results would tell you whether the kidneys were functioning normally. You could ask the vet specifically about the results of the lab work involving kidney function.

if the kidney function is normal then that is good as drinking and peeing excessive amountscan be a symptom of decreased kidney function .

If the vet believes that Jazzy has a bladder infection then you might want to ask her if she could do a culture of the urine in order to determine which antibiotic would be most effective to kill the specific bacteria involved

if this is not a bladder infection and is not a kidney function problems and actually is a behavioral issue related to the cat ..I have never heard of this before but you never know...:?


I would be careful with the cat interacting too closely with Jazzy; we just had a terrible incident occur here with a cat attacking a bun . sometimes kittens can play bite and even a play bite is dangerous to a rabbit because of the bacteria in the cat's mouth.I wouldn't allow the cat in Jazzy's cage at all. The kitten is exposing Jazzy to bacteria if he is using her box at all.

 

[tonyshuman]

The urinalysis and blood tests should tell you about the kidney function or possible UTI.