UTI and blood in urine

[Bear]

Hello everybody,
Last week I had issues with my male mini lop, Bear, he had no appetite and was barely drinking water. However his behaviour picked up and he seemed healthy.

This week I’ve found what looked like blood strained poo but the vet has assured me it’s blood from his urine. It doesn’t look like the different shade urine they get according to their diet as I’ve experienced this before. The vet hasn’t been able to get a sample from Bear to check this 100% but he has observed the poo and deducted it was blood due to other factors.

Anyway, he administered 1ml of Baytril once a day for 5 days and I’m currently on day 2. I found congeled blood, with his  cecotropes and a big patch of urine underneth so I’m not sure if he’s improving.

His appetite is fine and is eating hay as per normal.

Has anybody had any experience with this? I thought why he still might have blood in his urine is due to the hay that I was feeding him which I think was different to the hay I was normally feeding him, I feel as though it had high levels of lucerene in it and I don’t think he was used to that (I picked up the bag by mistake).

Is it possible the hay is causing this UTI? Are there anyways I can make him more comfortable as he looks fairly unhappy.

 

Thanks so much

[Sarita]

I cannot imagine hay causing a UTI. 5 days of baytril doesn’t seem like enough to me. It would be helpful if the vet could get a urine sample though. I guess I do wonder too how the vet could assure you it’s blood from his urine if he couldn’t get a sample – that doesn’t make sense to me unless I’m missing something.

[Bear]

Yes I agree, the vet sent me home with a little instrument to take a sample but I’ve been unable to.
He gave me some kitty litter that’s meant to make it so the urine runs to the sides but he started eating the litter so I took it off him immediately and I’m get to come up with another way to get a sample.

It’s day 5 of the baytril and there’s no improvement. I found a large amount of blood in his tray and on his newspaper.

Safe to say I’m very worried now.

[BinkyBunny]

Are you sure its actually blood? Rabbits can get reddish urine and its not blood. I have seen both blood in urine and reddish urine. My bunny jack would get streaks of blood in his urine due to a bladder stone rubbing in his bladder. He ended up having surgery to remove it. I also was of the thought that while urinary tract infections can create blood in the urine, normally it is in amounts that are not so obvious.

So for me the way that i could tell if there was blood in the urine was to put hydrogen peroxide on the urine and the blood would make it bubble up like mad, while with just red urine with no blood may do a little fizzle just due to peroxides own nature but otherwise relatively uneventful. This is not a 100% accurate thing I don’t think but it still may be something to try yourself and discuss with your vet.

If you can, try to post a picture of the urine.

 

[Bear]

I’ve tried to attach a photo, but it says it doesn’t allow the file type?
Does this link work?

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&ik=19919b3be8&view=att&th=1406cf90695976a6&attid=0.0&disp=inline&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P_PF5RuOqs1bvfEihWmQ6Y2&sadet=1376217889651&sads=1L-ZspnHy2zesNPljuzWzi0wJK0

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&ik=19919b3be8&view=att&th=1406cf90695976a6&attid=0.2&disp=inline&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P_PF5RuOqs1bvfEihWmQ6Y2&sadet=1376217934495&sads=RdTzapOf-am6hDGsSGOiyq6P2uo

The last one is of what we think is his anus, we checked again after calling the vet and the big red buldge had dissapeared as if he sucked it back inside himself.
Very confused! 

[Bear]

I’m also currently trying to obtain a urine sample off of him to take to the vets tomorrow morning, just waiting for him to empty his little rabbit bladder!

[Bear]

Update!
So I’ve been to the vets this morning, urine sample, photos and bunny in hand.
Basically, he is having GI tract problems and the blood in NOT in the urine but coming from his anus.
This is paired with difficulty pooping.
His feces has been sent off for testing for parasites and I’m yet to be given an antibiotic, depending on the results of the feces test.
Will keep you all updated as it progresses.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I hope that it’s something that can be treated easily. **Fingers crossed**

[Bear]

UPDATE

So the vet concluded that there was a build up of bad bacteria. She never specifically said ‘GI Stasis’ and what else she told me is hazy because I was quite unwell myself on the day of the vet visit.

She’s prescribed Bear 1ml twice daily of “Cotromoxazole” for 10 days which seems to be working & she’s given me a pro biotic to feed to him to keep his digestive system in balance while on the antibiotics. Apparently they come in tablet form for cats/dogs so they had it compounded for me to give in liquid form and added apple flavor to it, so he loves it!

It’s day 3 and there has been no sign of blood (except for the end of day 1).

His energy levels have picked up, his poops are looking healthier and he’s drinking MUCH more water and eating MUCH more hay which is a big relief.

His stomach is making weird gurgling noises when he goes to the toilet and I don’t know what that’s about, it’s possible the antibiotics are still doing their thing.

He’s still weeing in the centre of the tray, over the top of his poop so it’s possible he’s still straining.

It’s still early days so we’ll see how it goes. I hope this thread helps anyone with a similar problem..

[LittlePuffyTail]

Thanks for the update. Wishing him a full and speedy recovery.

[Author]

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