When are calcium deposits concerning?

[Jenk]

I've noticed that one of our bunnies is passing a noticeable amount of calcium deposits. (She's gotten into the habit of peeing on a section of our dining room rug; so I've started putting down towels where she goes. For the past three nights, the urine she's passed has noticeable calcium deposits.)

I should mention that she ate a hay-only diet for four months. Less than a week ago, I started slowly re-introducing Oxbow BB/T pellets to her diet (at the rate of 1-2 pellets/day); so it's not like I've suddenly flooded her body with calcium. I'd think that her body would be absorbing more of it rather than passing it out.

If she continues passing visible deposits like this, should I be concerned?

Thank you,

Jenk

 

[naturestee]

What do you mean by calcium deposits? Is it a thin residue left when the urine dries, or is it thick and noticeable when the urine is a fresh puddle? The thin stuff is fine, just normal every day calcium excretion. Passing thick, sludgy calcium is more of a concern and may indicate bladder sludge.

 

[Jenk]

naturestee wrote:

What do you mean by calcium deposits? Is it a thin residue left when the urine dries, or is it thick and noticeable when the urine is a fresh puddle? The thin stuff is fine, just normal every day calcium excretion. Passing thick, sludgy calcium is more of a concern and may indicate bladder sludge.

It's hard for me to say for certain. What she passed tonight (on a white towel, no less) was hard to determine. It seemed like the centermost part of her urine puddle was more concentrated (i.e., lighter in color indicating the deposits). But I don't know for certain what bona-fide sludge looks like.

All I know is that when it's dried previously (on dark green towels), it dries a noticeably white/yellow color. I'd call it a thin layer, but I can see/feel it on the towel.

 

[Maureen Las]

Sludge would look sort of toothpaste like ; I think that what you are describing is normal; I see the same thing now and then from one or the other of mine.

I wouldn't stop the pellets ; they need at least a small amount

 

[Jenk]

angieluv wrote:

Sludge would look sort of toothpaste like ; I think that what you are describing is normal; I see the same thing now and then from one or the other of mine.

I wouldn't stop the pellets ; they need at least a small amount

I won't stop feeding her pelletsyet, but the lack of "loose" urine in her box (for the past two days) worries me. She's still passing some urine, sinceshe's peed multiple times on our dining room floor (on towels placed in a specific area, so I suspect that it's more of a marking behavior than a bladder issue).

I still find it odd, though, that just five (five) pellets/day couldmanage to soak up all of her water consumption, which remains high.

I will attempt to get a good photo of the dried urine to show what I'm describing.

 

[Honeysmom]

Hi Jenk,

Honey has a sludge problem. It's not as bad now since i've been giving her timothy complete pellets. She has had this problem ever since i got her. This was diagnosed by a vet and i just had to find a food that agreed with her. It took awhile but we found it.

Sludge is thick and pasty like. Have you noticed her straining when she pees or taking longer than usual to pee and then finding pasty like white stuff mixed with her pee?
Thats what Honey was doing before i found a pellet food that agreed with her.

 

[Jenk]

Honeysmom wrote:

Sludge is thick and pasty like. Have you noticed her straining when she pees or taking longer than usual to pee and then finding pasty like white stuff mixed with her pee?

That's the hard part (for me): determining if what she's passing is abnormal. I would not call it "pasty," but it does have a slightly soft, chalky feel when dry.

And I can't say that she seems to be straining when she urinates. But it's hard for me to say how long she should stand in place and how much urine she should pass during that time period. (To me, straining is only obvious if an animal tries to take a urination stance multiple times in a row while passing very little urine.)

Again, when her urine dries, white stuff is left behind. I just don't know if it's a "normal" amount of calcium that she's passing, or if it's an early sign of a problem.

 

[Honeysmom]

Confuses me too, hopefully somebody can help. I ended up taking Honey's litterpan with me to the vet so he could see it. Thats how he determined that she had a sludge problem.

 

[pamnock]

Jenk wrote:

That's the hard part (for me): determining if what she's passing is abnormal.

It's probably best to look for other signs of problems such as difficulty/straining during urination or excessive water intake because it's normal for rabbits to excrete large amounts of calcium carbonatein their urine.

Pam

 

[Jenk]

Hopefully, my photo-posting attempt works (and they'renot too large).

Jenk

 

[Jenk]

pamnock wrote:

It's probably best to look for other signs of problems such as difficulty/straining during urination or excessive water intake because it's normal for rabbits to excrete large amounts of calcium carbonatein their urine.

That's the doubly tricky part: 1) determining if she's actually straining and 2) catching her doing so. (I'm not normally around her when she's most likely to urinate; the one exception is when she's out for her PM exercise and pees on the towels that I've put out to catch her "accidents.")

The only other time that I observedher having abona-fide urinary issue, she jumped in/out of her box in quick succession in an effort to urinate. (It was determined that she likely had a small amount of irritation, possibly due to me massaging her gut and possibly irritating her ureter region.) That situation was quickly/easily resolved.

 

[tonyshuman]

That looks pretty normal to me. Sludge is thick and chalky immediately after being passed. It doesn't need to dry before it gets chalky. It's sometimes even gritty, like sand.

 

[Jenk]

tonyshuman wrote:

That looks pretty normal to me. Sludge is thick and chalky immediately after being passed. It doesn't need to dry before it gets chalky. It's sometimes even gritty, like sand.

Honestly, I've not touched the urine right after she's passed it. (And since it's being passed onto a towel, it soaks in pretty quickly.) So I don't know if it feels gritty.

Supposing that there is/could be a problem in the earliest of early stages, though, for what other symptoms should I look? (I'm guessing that a bun with a genuine UTI/sludge would have a decreased appetite/thirst/activity level. Thus far, all three are normal for our girl.)

If she were to start showing problematic signs over the holiday weekend, would a dose of sub-Qs be a relatively good idea? I've again started syringing her extra water in the meantime.

 

[tonyshuman]

My internet connection stinks today, or I'd send a pic I found somewhere. A bunny with problems would actually have an increased appetite, and you'd expect to see straining or even tooth grinding during urination/attempted urination. Additional sub-q's are a fine idea if you get in a tight spot.

 

[Jenk]

tonyshuman wrote:

A bunny with problems would actually have an increased appetite, and you'd expect to see straining or even tooth grinding during urination/attempted urination.

I'm unsure if her appetite has increased; she has been eating a considerable amount of hay. But her appetite seems to increase/decrease at regular intervals, so that's still a hard sign for me to determine.

Additional sub-q's are a fine idea if you get in a tight spot.

Good to know. :biggrin2: It's always scary for me when a holiday approaches due to my regular vets being closed (and me not trusting exotic ER vet hospitals;I've heard so many negative stories about their form of "help").