Vet update

[kisha.princess]

The vet said that princess does not have a UTI she just had too much calcium in her and the orangey red colored urine was from carrots She said other than that she is in perfect condition and she said she's a happy baby. Also Oliver is eating, mostly leafy greens but something is much better than nothing.
Also if my rabbits eat celery leaves is it okay? Because they go nuts for them.
And I got new pellets as the old ones were giving princess too much calcium. They were commercial brand pellets, probably not the best. Now I have them on all natural vegetarian pellets. Do any of you know what it means when the bag says 15% pellet?

 

[kisha.princess]

These are the pellets

 

[Imbrium]

GA for that food (didn't find the ingredients yet):
Crude Protein 15.0%
Crude Fat 3.0%
Crude Fiber 15.0 - 18.0%
Calcium 1.0 - 1.5%
Phosphorus 0.5%
Salt 0.6 - 1.0%
Vitamin A 3,600 IU/LB

The protein is fine for growing rabbits, but a smidge high for adults (12-14% is ideal for adult "pet" rabbits). 15% protein is what the "15%" is referring to, by the way. The fiber level is rather low, the calcium is pretty high and the calcium to phosphorus ratio is low (should be 1.5:1-2:1, this food is 2:1-3:1 which translates to "not enough phosphorus for how much calcium it contains"). That ratio is actually pretty important, since phosphorus binds to calcium and essentially cancels out some of the calcium in the food.

This site has great info on what to look for in a pellet and a chart comparing a lot of different pellet brands.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

I was gonna say the 15% was protein probably. Had to be careful with one of ours as she had a sludge problem and the vet did surgery instead of neutering as she'd been neutered but had a calcium ball in her bladder--boy, did I get off cheap as she only charged me the neuter price.

 

[JBun]

Actually, celery leaves are the best part for rabbits. If you feed the stalk as well, you'll want to make sure to cross cut pieces, so your buns don't accidentally choke on the long stringy bits.

That wouldn't be considered a low calcium pellet, if that is what you are wanting. You may want to read up on bladder sludge in rabbits, as diet and hydration are very important.

http://rabbit.org/bladder-stones-and-bladder-sludge-in-rabbits/
http://rabbit.org/lowering-blood-calcium/
http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/sludge.shtml