Skyler's peeing excessively and has a soaked butt

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SnowyShiloh

SnowyShiloh

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I'm worried about Skyler. Here's a bit of background info first:

Age: 1.75 years
Sex: neutered male
Breed: purebred Dutch
Previous health problems: had a URI over a year ago, was cleared up with meds- healthy other than that.
Behavior:
Food consumption: normal
Poop: normal
Urine: normal in scent and appearance, but peeing more recently
Water consumption: higher than normal

Hope that was helpful! More in depth, we've noticed Skyler drinking more water over the past several days. He's been peeing outside the litter box in the corners of his cage too. This isn't completely unusual- he doesn't have awesome litter box habits- but worse than usual. He hasn't been peeing in the middle of the cage or anything. When I picked him up about an hour ago to do a butt check, I saw that his rear end is soaked in urine. The bottoms of his feet, his tail, the creases between his thighs and body, everything. The skin is a little pink on one of his thighs too. I immediately filled up the sink and bathed him with baby shampoo, rinsing well (by the way, that was by far the wettest bath I've ever administered- water on the mirror, floor, walls, probably ceiling too!). I also cleaned his litter box so I could maybe keep an eye on his urine output.

Paul and I have agreed to call the vet in the morning and hopefully take him in, providing the good vet is there.

Of course I have lots of questions. Is this likely a kidney problem? How hard are kidney problems to fix? And is the wet butt a sign of incontinence? His litter box certainly wasn't overflowing or anything and the bunnies don't usually have a problem keeping themselves dry. Perhaps the wet butt is because he peed in the corner of the cage (plastic with no bedding) and then lay down over the urine, getting himself soaked. The fact that he's been peeing in the corners of the cage rather than the center is at least slightly encouraging to me.

Last of all, what should I ask the vet tomorrow and what should I expect??

Thanks!

I'm going to go check out the RO Library.

 
At that age, very unlikely to be a kidney issue, and he's not obese or showing signs of paralysis, so it's most likely it's a Urinary Tract Infection -- a UTI.

It isn't likely to be just him sitting in the urine, urine scald usually comes from dribbling.

And unusual litter habits are also a sign or a UTI.

Some antibiotics should clear it up.

Good luck!


sas :clover:
 
Oops, I was just looking back at the original post, and I meant to have it say "Behavior- normal". I'm not sure what happened there.

Pipp, good to know that it's probably a UTI and not kidney problems though! Do you remember when Rory was having the small urine issue a couple weeks ago? Peeing spots outside of his cage? He hasn't done it in well over a week now and appears to be fine, but I find it interesting that Skyler is having (more severe) pee problems now too.
 
My gosh, it's 7:45 am and I haven't gone to bed yet! I'm way too awake so I decided to wait until I talk to the vet, then go to sleep. I really hope his vet is in today, or tomorrow at the latest. I really hope he's okay! Also, I promise I'm not freaking him out by being too nervous around him.
 
I wish I could swear on the forum! Skyler's vet isn't available until NEXT WEDNESDAY. Over a week from now! What the heck! I do not want to wait a week to get him to the doctor! The receptionist said I could either wait until next Wednesday or bring him in this afternoon and have the "bad" vet look at him- the vet who has successfully misdiagnosed every.single.ailment my bunnies have ever had when she was their vet, including telling me Tallulah would probably make it less than an hour before she died. She is a very nice lady, but doesn't seem to know anything about bunnies.

There are no other rabbit vets in town, the closest other rabbit vet is 300 miles away.

ARGH!

What should I do? I claimed the appointment for 8 am next Wednesday, but I really don't want to wait that long for him to be seen. The receptionist said I could call back tomorrow morning to see if there have been any cancellations. Our vet is in surgery today anyway so isn't seeing patients, but she's been able to squeeze my guys in between surgeries before so I'm going to call back in a few hours to check.
 
Next Wednesday is a bit long to wait. We don't want the urinary tract infection to travel--it could go from bladder up to the kidney. If you go to the bad vet, you can ask him to treat it like a cat/dog urinary tract infection. He'll need to take a urine sample, which may be a bit different than he's used to depending on the best method to do that. I'm not sure how it's best done, but I have heard of sticking a needle into the bladder through the abdominal wall to get a very clean urine sample, since just collecting it from the litterbox can get it contaminated.

The vet should then do a culture and sensitivity test on the urine sample to determine which bacteria are there and what antibiotics they are suscpetible to. This can take a week. Ask to have him put on a broad-spectrum antibiotic at first, like cipro or baytril (can be given orally). Other antibiotics are a bit more specific so they shouldn't be given until the culture results are back. Don't let him give any -cillin drugs orally. Pain meds in this case are sometimes needed, but Metacam can be hard on the kidneys, so a narcotic is better, like tramadol. He may not want to give you that drug. I think Skyler will probably be ok without pain meds unless he's visibly in pain. By the time the culture results are back, the good vet should be in. The use of Baytril/Cipro in this week may not cure the infection, but can get a head start on it. Getting a culture and sensitivity test started will be a BIG advantage if you can get that going this week.
 
Claire, thanks for the input! The idea of the "bad" vet sticking a needle through him makes me shudder, I can imagine her poking his liver or something. Does anyone else have any ideas too?

Also, as of this afternoon, his butt has remained dry. The fur is still a little stiff on his backside (not the actual space under his tail, but the area over his tail). I didn't put any shampoo there and was in such a rush to bathe him that I didn't notice he had pee there too. How on Earth did he get urine there?! I feel so mean making him take another bath :( Plus we're running out of clean towels :(
 
My vet will prescribe an antibiotic without testing the pee, and if it clears up in a week, great, if it doesn't, it warrants further diagnostics.

I've been told you can also take some very clean bubble wrap and line the litter area with it and catch some of the pee in the bubbles, wrap it up and take it in. It wont' be sterile, but it will provide some information.

Good luck!


sas :clover:
 
I'm off to the vet here in a couple minutes with Skyler. I decided to bring Rory along too since he's still been having pee pee issues. Are UTIs contagious?
 
They usually aren't because they're caused by bacteria that are always present on the bunny. Stress can allow these bacteria to develop into a full-blown infection, so perhaps they both experienced some stressful event, like the changing seasons?

Good luck today!~
 
Two of us are back! Good news is the vet said they both look perfectly healthy except the urinary issue. Good weight, hydrated, acting normally, normal appetite, etc so she doesn't think they have kidney infections. She tried to get urine from both of them but they both peed right before we left the house so their bladders were empty. Skyler had to stay behind so they can collect a urine sample from him. She said we could bring Rory home without getting a urine sample because she thinks it's the same bacteria, and Rory gets SUPER over the top stressed out at the vet office. I didn't want to stress Rory out by leaving him but am really hopeful they have the same problem so that we don't end up treating Rory with the wrong medication. What do you guys think?

So now we're just waiting for Skyler to tinkle, then I can go pick him up and find out what the damage is financially- they apparently used the ultrasound machine on them to try to get urine samples and poor Ky is going to get sub q fluids to make him pee sooner. I'm betting this will all cost about $500. I just hope my boys get better quickly with no lasting damage!!
 
I will cross my fingers it is the same thing for both boys. Though it is possible to be two different things. I had Ringo and Connor sick at the same time and they bother had totally different issues.
 
Thanks, Ali! They're both suffering from essentially the same symptoms (I made a thread about Rory's peeing a little while back) so hopefully it's the same thing.

I just called the vet office to find out what's going on and they said Ky just tinkled. Their office is closed from noon until 1:30 today for some reason so they want me to wait until 2 to come and get him. I want to get him home! I didn't bring any food or hay for him to eat at the vet office because I didn't think he'd be staying :(
 
Skyler and I are home! The vet didn't call until 4, it took a while for Paul to get home to pick me up, and I was there for an hour. The vet confirmed that he has a UTI and prescribed Enrofloxacin for both bunnies. .2 ML once a day for 2 weeks. I was disappointed to find out that Enrofloxacin is the other name for Baytril (thanks Google). Hopefully it's strong enough to kill the bad germs!

Earlier in the thread, Pipp and Claire said they would take a urine sample and test it but it would take a week for the bacteria to grow, so they'd get Baytril in the mean time. The vet did some sort of test on Skyler's pee this afternoon and said bacteria was definitely causing a UTI so prescribed the Baytril. I hope this works!! Also the Baytril is beef flavored so I hope I can get it into them!

Anyone know what they could have got the infections from? The vet asked if they'd been getting a lot of calcium rich foods. They have been getting broccoli two or three times a week because we eat a lot of it. Do you think too much broccoli could have caused it?
 
How old are the rabbits? I don't thing too much brocolli would have caused it. Older age can be a factor. A high sugar diet may contribute to UTI's. Genetic pre-disposition as well as other illnesses can predispose a rabbit to UTI's.

Pam
 
Thanks for the reply, Pam! Rory is 2 1/2 and Skyler will be 2 at the end of December. I don't think they get too much sugar. Rory is a mixed breed bun from the animal shelter here in town and Skyler is a purebred Dutch from Pennsylvania so they aren't related.

The vet said a change in their environment could have caused it too, but the only change has been Ned's arrival. We got him in May though. Come to think of it, he lived upstairs until the end of August, so they didn't see him that much, but still. Like Claire said, perhaps the changing seasons stressed them out?
 
Bunzos got their first dose of medication last night. As expected, Rory hated it. It's beef flavored and smells terribly!! I felt so guilty making him take the nasty medicine and gave him a treat afterwards to get the flavor out of his mouth. Skyler, on the other hand, loved the medicine and wouldn't let go of the syringe. He is one weird little bunny.
 
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