Blood in urine?!

[The P Squad]

I use newspaper to line the litter boxes. As I was rolling the newspaper up while cleaning the litter box, I noticed a bunch of large red spots. I haven’t seen this before. My bunny was acting just fine today, eating as always, pooping as always, and even binkying a bunch. He’s been eating green and red leaf lettuce recently, and a few blueberries, carrots, or kale sometimes as treats. Is this blood, and should I be worried? I’ll attach a photo.

[Doodler]

I wouldn’t be worried at this point. This is a common occurrence in rabbits, especially with the diet you mentioned. What you are most likely seeing is just the plant pigment from the food. I know it’s very alarming the first time you see it! Typically if it was true blood it will have a slight tinge of red that can sometimes be hard to even see. Depending on the cause of blood it may be easier to see or you may even see clotting. Of course your vet will have a dipstick that can test for blood in the urine if it becomes necessary but if your bunny is acting normally and going to the bathroom fine I would say that they are just a normal bunny with normal bunny pee.

[Bam]

As Doodles says, red urine isn’t abnormal in a bun. Here is an article on the subject:
http://rabbit.org/journal/3-1/red-urine.html

If you want to test bunny urine for blood, you can drip some hydrogen peroxide on it. If it foams a lot, tgeresblood. If it doesn’t foam, it’s just red pee. Forum leader Jerseygirl has tried this test and it works.

[The P Squad]

Thank you both! I’m so relieved. I already tossed the old litter, but if I see it again, I’ll try the H2O2 trick!

I forgot to attach the pic last time, but here it is:

[LBJ10]

I think it’s just the way it soaked through the newspaper. Otherwise, it looks like normal reddish pee to me.

[Author]

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