Cloudy pee?

[GayleMG]

Ophelia and Hamlet both have cloudy pee. I’ve looked it up and I’m reading both that cloudy pee is normal in rabbits, they’re eating too many pellets, and that they might have urinary infections. I’m wondering if it is because of the young rabbit pellets. They are getting plenty of Timothy hay and they get veggies every night.

[Bam]

Cloudy pee is normal in rabbits. It’s not a sign of a urinary infection. It should be intermittent though, if it lasts a longer while, you can adjust the diet. Contrary to most other mammals, incl humans, rabbits absorb all dietary calcium, then expel excess calcium via the kidneys, as you probably have read. This is a peculiarity of the species. If you get chalky residue in their litterboxes/ cages, it’s easily removed with vinegar and water that you let sit for a few minutes.

What we dont want to see in our buns is bladder sludge, which is thick and pasty and almost resembles fine wet concrete. Here’s a link with good pix of both normal and abnormal rabbit pee:
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Uro_gen_diseases/generalities/Sludge.htm

If Hamlet isn’t underweight, you could give him less pellets , although with Ophelia there’s still the possibility of a second pregnancy + she’s still recuperating after having had babies, so I’d keep her on the junior pellets for now.

[GayleMG]

Thanks for the info! I’ve ordered 4 books from the library to read up on house bunnies. This forum is a huge help. I’ve forgotten some of what I knew about bunnies.

[Author]

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