Reoccurring possible uti?

[Garett]

Hey there!
so my one rabbit Navi is 3 years old and has been having issues since last November with a UTI, we treated with baytril and she was good for a while.

Then in January and February she had to be treated again. ( when I’ve taken her to the vet they have done a free catch urine analysis to determine what it was)
At this point the vet ruled out that it could possibly be her back teeth that were causing her pain and making her drink excessive water leading to the uti in the first place, so we decided to go with that route to see if it would help and did the dental work which we did on may 5th.

She was doing good up until the last few days and it seems that it is coming back with pee spots around her room and the excessive drinking again. she is eating normally and her poop looks normal.

For food she has unlimited hay, and gets about 1/8 of a cup of pellets per day, we do feed her romaine lettuce mostly for veggies and ocassionally some cucumber/ slice of bell pepper if we have on hand.
For other treats she gets a slice of banana occasionally and oxbow urinary tract support treats.
Her litter gets changed everyday and sometimes twice daily as there has been so much pee.
I really would like some advice on what to do or what to recommend, I don’t know where to go at this point.
thanks for reading and hope to hear from someone soon!

 

[JBun]

There are a several other possibe causes of urinary incontinence and increased thirst/urination in rabbits. E cuniculi can cause urinary incontinence. Kidney problems. Bladder stones and sludge. It's possible it could be the teeth still if there is ongoing dental pain, such as from an infected tooth or overgrown tooth roots. There are also cases of excessive thirst being caused by improper pellet mixtures with too much sodium in them.

Medirabbit: urinary incontinence

So if a UTI is ruled out, you may need to look at having blood tests done to rule out kidney and liver issues. Testing done for e. cuniculi. Xrays to check for underlying dental issues that could still be causing pain(eg. tooth infection, elongated tooth roots). Xrays to check for kidney stones or bladder sludge. Diabetes, though rare in rabbits, is a possibility as well.

https://www.stortvet.com/excessive-...yuria and,rabbit may be partially incontinent.

https://bunnylady.com/rabbit-urine/
If it does end up being a recurrent UTI problem, you may want to look into the sherwood urinary supplement. I haven't used it but have read and heard good things from others about it.

 

[Garett]

Just got back from the vets and they determined from X-ray, blood test and urine sample that she has another uti.
The vet recommended getting a lower calcium pellet to feed them (currently feeding oxbow adult rabbit pellets 1/8 cup per day- every second day)
Would anyone have a recommendation for low calcium pellets?

 

[JBun]

For my bladder sludge prone bun, I had to pretty much remove pellets, feed only grass hay, select low calcium leafy greens, water(can also do low calcium bottled water), and a salt lick. I don't know that there are any pellets lower in calcium than the oxbow adult pellets. You could try feeding less, like a tsp twice a day; good fluid intake is important, so a bowl and not a bottle; offering low calcium veggies like cucumber, celery, romaine, cilantro. It's also important for a rabbit prone to bladder sludge(and secondary UTI) to move around and hop up and down from things, to help keep the sediment in the bladder churned up, and easier to expell when the rabbit urinates. You could also ask your vet about doing sub q fluids on a regular basis, to help with hydration and keeping the bladder flushed out.

https://rabbit.org/bladder-stones-and-bladder-sludge-in-rabbits/
If you aren't sure your current urinary support tabs are helping, you could give these a try, or even just another cranberry supplement.
https://store.sherwoodpethealth.com/urinary-support/
Rabbits do still need some calcium in their diet, so you don't want to eliminate all calcium, but for a non growing/nursing rabbit, good grass hay and low calcium veggies still should provide enough dietary calcium.

https://rabbit.org/lowering-blood-calcium/
Low calcium diet for rabbits