White urine baby bunnies

[Dim]

Hi everyone,

We have very very young bunnies. Im guessing about 5 to 6 weeks old. I have noticed their urine is occassionally white. Naturally ive been doing some research on this topic but keep getting conflicting info. Its not thick or sludgy but they have been introduced to veggies recently so i guess it could be a calcium issue but ive also read its quite common for baby bunnies and not to worry if its not sludgy. So i guess my question is, is it normal at this ge or should i take them to the vet? Ps Since noticing the white urine i have cut back on the veggies.

 

[BlackMiniRex]

My bunny has peed on some news paper and it has always dried on white (or orange, due to his pellets) I think they will be fine, but if your really worried a trip to the vet won't hurt, but as I said, I think they will be fine

 

[JBun]

Some amount of calcium sediment is normal in rabbit urine. As long as it's not thick and creamy(fresh or when it starts to dry some), or gritty, and as long as you aren't also seeing signs of urinary problems(incontinence/dribbling urine, urine soaked bottom, blood in urine, straining to urinate, brown urine that smells off/bad, etc), then I would think it is just normal excretion.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Uro_gen_diseases/generalities/Sludge.htm

 

[Aki]

I agree with JBun. Rabbits' urine changes color pretty frequently, depending on hormones / what they are eating... it is generally not a cause for concern, even if it's red ^^. Occasional white urine is perfectly normal. Rabbits don't assimilate calcium very well and tend to evacuate a lot of it. That's why babies are given alfafa and pellets rich in calcium, to make sure they get enough of it to grow up correctly (especially since the growth process is so fast, which is tough on the skeleton), and that we reduce the calcium intake drastically when they reach their adult size, to avoid kidney stones and such.
As long as they don't seem to be in pain, pee without straining and that there is no blood (generally streaks of red in the urine - an 'all bright red pee' being marking urine when it's outside the litterbox, you will probably see it when your rabbits reach 3-4 months and begin chemical wars... or indicating that dandelion was consumed when it's inside the litterbox), everything is probably fine.

 

[Maureen Las]

I personally would not feed buns green until at least 8 weeks minimum which is the appropriate time for them to leave mom. At 5-6 weeks the GI tracts are still struggling to create all that 'good bacteria' . A bun at 5-6 weeks still has an unstable gut and I just would not chance it unless the mother had also been fed greens throughout the gestation period.