bloody butt!

[heatherr]

My rabbit Einstein is bleeding from his butt! Whats wrong?! This happend once a few months ago but it only lasted one day. This time its been about a week. His behavior is completely normal, but i’m still really worried.

[Alicia Conklin]

I honestly don’t know what it could be…but I would absolutely contact a vet ASAP if you haven’t already done so?  I can’t think of anything that would cause a rabbit to bleed from the butt without it being very serious.  I don’t mean to scare you, I would just contact a vet ASAP. 

[Scarlet_Rose]

Einstein, were you able to take your rabbit to the vet the last time for a diagnosis? I know it happened just one day last time and now it is longer, but maybe it is time to take your rabbit to a rabbit savvy vet.  I am wondering though if this might be red urine and not blood.  If it is red urine, it is actually normal but can really freak a rabbit owner out if they don’t know because it can and does look very much like blood.  If it is truly coming from the anus, you really should take your rabbit in for a check-up right away.

Here is some info on red urine:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-1/red-urine.html

This is good to have on hand too – FAQ’s on Medical Concerns:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/medical.html

Here is information about blood in the stool:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/2008/10/Blood-rabbit-stool.htm

I hope Einstein is O.K. and please keep us updated with his condition.  Poor fella.

 

[heatherr]

No i didn’t take him last time. I figured it was natural and if it had gotten worse (like now) then i had planned on calling around. I tried to today but for what ever reason no vets are  in service over weekends. And thanks for the links. I have my fingers crossed that it is merely red urine! 

[Scarlet_Rose]

Me too! I am sorry you can’t get a hold of a vet. Approximately where are you located? Maybe we can help find one for you, but being Sunday there probably are not a lot, if any bunny-savvy vets open. I would for sure call first thing in the morning.

[Alicia Conklin]

Oh! I didn’t even think of red urine!  Tucker had that a few months ago.

To try to tell whether it’s that….how do you see that he’s bleeding from the butt?  Is it on the fur or do you see it in the litter box or something?

[heatherr]

I live in Mesquite, TX. And its on his fur and he leaves a little trail when he runs around in my room and in his cage. Its not a lot but its still enough to worry a person.

[Alicia Conklin]

Is it dark and opaque or lighter red and translucent?  When Tucker had the red urine I noticed if I took a tissue and wiped it up when it spread out it’d actually be orange based.  That’s how I knew it wasn’t blood. 

[Beka27]

do you have a regular exotic vet? i know they will sometimes have a message for after hours on who they suggest for emergencies. if you don’t have a vet, i would do some research on who is in your area today, so you can call first thing in the morning. 

[heatherr]

I just wiped it up and it is a brownish/orangish color. Im starting to feel optomistic about this…

[Beka27]

oh good. have you checked the litterbox? i think when it is red urine it’s all that color. if it is blood, then it will be more swirly. what kind of veggies are in his diet the past couple weeks?

[heatherr]

Well I recently started mixing his regular rabbit food with some mouse type stuff that has various seeds, dried fruits and peanuts(which he LOVES), i also give him apples, spinach, and lettuce but he hasn’t had any of that for about a week, and of course lots of timothy hay. And he doesn’t use his litter box anymore.

[BinkyBunny]

Diet can play a big part in urine and poo changes. But you also say it’s on his fur and he leaves trails behind him, and he no longer uses his litterbox. This sounds like it could also be a urine infection. So though the color may not be really an issue (could be from the spinach), the other things you mentioned do sound like something is going on and so you should seek out a vet for that.

Here are some tips about how to find a rabbit savvy vet, along with a US list of vets – http://rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html

Regarding his diet – stay away from seeds and nuts, and be very careful with how much dried fruit you give. It’s all very high in sugars and/or fats. There will be healthier things you can find that he will love. A rabbit’s system isn’t meant to take in so much fat and sugars and in time this can cause digestive imbalances that are very serious. His regular pellet should also be free of that stuff too.

Check out the Diet section to get more information about a healthy rabbit diet.    Important NOTE: Whenever you make a diet change, do so gradually, even when you are weaning off an old pellet or diet, to a new healthier one.    If your rabbit hasn’t been used to a variety of leafy greens, add in one at a time every few days. 

Keep us updated!

[Beka27]

i’m also curious about that, how long since he stopped using the litterbox, did it correspond with the red ruine, or was it before? no pee OR poop in the litterbox? how old is he and is he neutered?

[kralspace]

Yikes, that would freak me out! glad to meet another Texas bunny slave. Luckily you’re not too far from City Vet and Dr. Effie. I was referred to her by the North Texas Rabbit Sanctuary when I needed to get my Pringles spayed and I loved her. Although it’s an 1.5 hour drive from here, if we ever have a problem more than my local vet can handle, we’re straight up to her.

[heatherr]

No he isn’t neutered and I’m not too sure exactly how old he is. 2/3 years. My boyfriend got him for me for valentine’s day from some people who used him as a show bunny. He hasn’t been using his litterbox for about 4 or 5 months and that was before the first time. He started “going” outside of it and lounging in the box instead. So I started putting his timothy hay in the box and the aspen outside and thats been fine. But I’m thinking about doing away with the litterbox all together and just getting him a hay feeder that way there won’t be a risk of him contaminating what he eats. And I have a 5 pound bag of regular rabbit food and the other stuff I mixed it with was only a half a pound so theres not a lot of it by any means.

[heatherr]

Awesome. What city is she in?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

^^ on the food you mentioned, dried fruit nuts and peanuts are not very healthy!! They like it because they have sweet teeth but your food should actually be plain old rabbit pellets timothy based.

I saw the title and was really alarmed!! It sounds like rainbow urine though not blood so that’s a relief!!

[Beka27]

i agree, that is a relief. i’d still recommend that you contact an experienced rabbit vet sometime soon and get him in for an exam. it’s good to do this once a year (just like for dogs and cats and people!)

 

regarding diet:  BinkyBunny already gave you the link to the Diet section on this site… binkybunny.com/Default.aspx

another article i really like is by Dana Krempels (rabbit expert).  this article not only explains what you need to feed and what you don’t, but why it is important.  you will see that a rabbit’s health is directly linked to their diet and their fiber intake.  link below.

from the article:  http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

A good quality rabbit pellet DOES NOT contain dried fruit, seeds, nuts, colored crunchy things or other things that are attractive to our human eyes, but very unhealthy to a rabbit. Rabbits are strict herbivores, and in nature they rarely get fruit, nuts or other such fatty, starchy foods. The complex flora of the cecum can quickly become dangerously imbalanced if too much simple, digestible carbohydrate is consumed–especially if the diet is generally low in fiber. The result is often “poopy butt syndrome,” in which mushy fecal matter cakes onto the rabbit’s behind. This a sign of cecal dysbiosis, which can foment much more serious health problems.

 

like KokaneeandKahlua said, they do like these things, but they are very unhealthy for them.  a better treat would be a healthy sprig of mint, a couple matchstick (sliver) carrots, or a couple raisins 3x a week.

with our first rabbit, we used to buy those honey seed treat sticks from the petstore and the bunny would finish one in about a day.  i didn’t know back then how bad they were, and my bunny died prematurely.  i can’t say it was a direct result of the bad diet, but i’m guessing it did not help.  with our new rabbits, my husband wanted so badly to get those sticks again (“because stephen LOVED them”, he says) but i had to put my foot down and tell him, that it’s just not the right thing to do.  we all learn from past mistakes and can make new choices everyday based on what we’ve learned.

finally, the House Rabbit Society has a detailed Diet FAQ… http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

 

please review this info and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.  this “bloody butt” scare is really a lucky occurrence if it means that you can reevaluate his diet and get him on a better regimen. 

 

[Sarita]

I just emailed you the information on Dr. Effie.

[Author]

Messages