Calcified Bladder?

[Butters1]

Hello everyone –

 

Our rabbit, Mangi, is kind of an old guy.  He’s almost 5, and lately has been having episodes of lethargy and lack of appetite.  We brought him to the vet in May for those symptoms – plus some really loose poops.  They gave him a dose of subQ liquid and put him on antibiotics—he had some spores in his stool. But the antibiotics seemed to do more harm than good, as he stopped eating. After a stressful episode of force feeding (stressful for us), he returned to his normal self. Although, he continues to have loose poops and leaves more out-of-the-litter-box presents for us. 

 

Last night, we noticed that he was lethargic again – not coming out of his cage, not even moving when we started to pet him.  After scooping him up, we noticed that he was making some labored breathing noises.  Not wanting to chance it, we brought him back to the animal hospital for an emergency call.

 

The vet that saw him was not an exotics expert.  She put Mangi on oxygen, took x-rays, and did a physical exam.  She saw what the other Dr. saw – a calcified bladder.  When we saw the x-rays, the entire bladder showed up as solid white.  She said she had never seen anything like this, but since she was not a rabbit expert, we still want more information.

 

Mangi ate this morning, chewed some cardboard, and seems to be ok. 

 

Has anyone heard of something like this?  The articles I am able to find online talk about bladder “sludge”, or bladder stones.

 

Any help for the little guy would be appreciated!

[Sarita]

Well I have and have had several rabbits with bladder sludge. I’ve never heard of a calcified bladder. Quite a few of my rabbits bladder look like this when x-rayed though – those with the bladder sludge problems.

Do you have a rabbit vet that you can go too? If not, if you can tell us where you are located we steer you towards some rabbit savvy vets.

[Beka27]

i can’t help you with this, but i really hope you get an answer soon.

[Butters1]

We’re in MA, and we’ve been taking him to Angell Memorial in Boston, which has been great – they have an exotics staff, but unfortunately, not on the overnight ER shift!

I actually just spoke to a Dr. there, asking more questions about his issue.  She said that this will be a chronic condition for him, and she’s recommending some different treatment options.  Has anyone ever done a bladder flush (or something similar to that)?  She explained that it’s when they cathetarize a rabbit to flush out what’s in his bladder, but it doesn’t always work.

 

[Sarita]

Oh good so you’ve spoken with a rabbit savvy vet now – that’s good.

I’ve never had bladder flushes done but I do sub-q’s – my vet recommended when mine were very sludgy to do this every other day for a week and then a recheck and I do sub-q’s at home as needed if my rabbits get sludgy.

Another thing is to try and get them active – my bladder sludge rabbits are not active at all but activity is supposed to help.

I have found too that this is a chronic issue with my sludgy rabbits as well.

I would be interested to hear her other options as well – can you please post what she recommends.

You might ask her about pain meds when they start having urination problems too. Sometimes too their uretha gets red and painful with bladder sludge and I sometimes do pain meds and antibiotics for this when they are having issues.

What kind of pellets if any are you feeding Mangi?

[Butters1]

We are feeding him the Timothy based pellets, and lots and lots of hay!

She said to push the fluids, and try to leave some water on his veggies to try to get some extra in him.

She talked about doing the sub-Q at home, but said right now it’s going to be important to monitor how much fluid he is getting. We’re going to monitor him for a bit and then think about a follow up appointment to determine if his kidneys are functioning. The Dr. said she would think about doing it soon, but that it wasn’t an urgent matter at this very moment.

Thank you for all of your help – I’m such a worried rabbit Mom!

[Sarita]

Keep us updated.

Bladder sludge has been an ongoing issue with some of my larger rabbits – most of my rabbits are over 5 years old but I’m not certain if this is an age related issue. It does worry me but I’m glad I’m able to give sub-q’s at home if I see they are having problems urinating to help flush their bladder this way – it is always best to try to get them to increase their fluid intake orally with water and vegetables though.

Has she suggested a urinalysis? Of course with tons of sludge it can be difficult to get a good specimen.

[Author]

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