Caring for bunny with urinary incontinence

[marinabunny]

Hey all,

So my rabbit still has urinary incontinence issues and is constantly getting urine scald. As some of you probably know I had tests done (urinalysis, bloodwork, x-rays) but vets couldn’t find out what was wrong… I even tried her for metacam to see if it was the way she postured or some arthritis issue but that wasn’t effective either. Since she constantly has this on-off issue where she gets urine scald one week, is fine the next, & then gets it again i feel like I’m going to be dealing with this for a long time. I need some help from people who have disabled buns or buns with similar issues.

 

Right now I give her butt baths when the urine scald gets really bad but I’m never able to get it all off. I use this antimicrobial skin cleanser called GERMI-STAT and im wondering if its safe?… The vet sold it to us & said its safe but could’ve been just cuz they wanted money. All i know is that its used at vets for cleaning & disinfecting the hands prior to performing surgery:

http://www.drugs.com/vet/germi-stat-4-can.html

The active ingredient is 4% chlorhexidine gluconate. Other ingredients are: water, isopropyl alcohol, poloxamer, n-dimethyl-1-dodecylamine-N-oxide, hydroxyethylcellulose. If anyone knows can they tell me if its safe?

 

Also I heard that you’re supposed to apply a cream to protect the skin & soothe irritation after butt baths. What rabbit-safe cream can i use since she licks everything off?

 

If anyone has any other advice/suggestions on how to give her a bath(usually hold her under running water, its the only way she’ll stay still) or anything related to diet (I heard to limit pellets during urinary issues?) it’d be greatly appreciated!

[LBJ10]

I found this on safety: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/2008/8/Sterile-aqueous-solution.htm

Do you think she would chew on a pee pad? Perhaps if the pee is being soaked up right away, then she won’t be sitting in it for very long. I had heard of people with rabbits with similar issues using puppy pee pads.

[LBJ10]

BTW, I’m sorry to hear Fluffy isn’t doing better. It seemed like arthritis was the likely culprit.

[marinabunny]

Hey, Im using puppy pee pads for her right now and they are excellent for not allowing pee to reach the surface underneath but not so much for keeping her dry :/… they also get kinda expensive because their disposable. But i put that in her cage where she doesnt spend much time anyway, the bigger problem is the area around her cage. Her setup is a dog cage (where i put the pee pad) and a fence type thing around so its kind of like a front yard where she has an area to run around the cage… Well in this area especially right near her litterbox, there is always TONS of pee and i think thats what she sits in. For some reason she pees a bit in the litterbox and then decides to let the rest out and urinate right outside the box. Anyways, she constantly gets extreme urine scalding and i need a permanent solution for keeping her clean & dry.

LBJ10 do you think its arthritis? Because I don’t think it is…she was given metacam for 14 days and there was no improvement. Also, her posture seems to be fine its more excessive urine output. This has been going on since May *sigh*

[LBJ10]

I had thought it could be arthritis before, but you said the metacam didn’t seem to help.

[marinabunny]

Unfortunately. Did you know of a safe cream i could apply on her? She has a big bald patch down there because of the urine scald.

[LBJ10]

This page provides a list, plus some other useful info:
http://www.disabledrabbits.com/urine-scald.html

[marinabunny]

I just saw a pinkish-red spot in her cage… I’m worried now.

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