Pellets and papaya tablets questions

[Otti]

 Hey everyone,

So I brought Sammy to the vet about a week ago for a checkup and discussion about neutering, and I was told that he’s still probably only 4 months old (I had been previously told he was 4 months, about 2 months ago…. lol).

Apparently he grew so much in the meantime that the vet now thinks he’s probably still only that young, and was about 2 months or so when I last brought him in.

I had bought a bag of oxbow 15/23 pellets for him that I was going to return under advice from someone here (I forget who) and exchange for the adult pellets, but once I found out he’s still this young, I decided to mix the young bunny pellets with his kaytee adult pellets I had been giving him.

Since I started doing this (working up to half and half of each pellet now) it looks like his litter where he pees has some chalky white stuff on it… which I’m guessing is that sludge thing I’ve read about sometimes on here. Could that be due to the higher calcium in the young bunny pellets I’ve combined to his adult ones? Should i switch back to just kaytee adult pellets and then switch him to oxbow adult pellets once the kaytee ones are finished?

I also had a question about papaya tablets. I think I read that bunnies aren’t supposed to eat fruit until they are about 7 months. Would it still be okay for them to have papaya tablets as treats? I give him about 1 or 2 raisins a day already… is that okay as well even if he’s only 4 months?

Also, the neuter will be happening very soon, maybe even this weekend. He has turned into bunzilla as of two days ago. No longer can be left out for long periods of time due to a sudden incessant urge to chew anything and everything around him! Say bye bye to your testicles Sammy lol

Looking forward to everyone’s advice! Thanks!

Ottavia

[Andi]

I would talk to your Vet about the pellets and the sludge. It is normal for rabbits to have some calcium in their urine, and i would guess that would definetly go for younger bunnies who are eating alfalfa. So the white in the urine you are seeing may not be an issue, but it’s probably something best to ask the Vet. If the calcium is a normal amount, stick to the alfala based a little longer, no harm mizing with a timothy based pellet.

Papaya tablets won’t hurt your little guy, you just want to make sure they don’t have sugar in them. I think the 7 month fruit comment may b because a baby’s sensitive tummy may not be able to handle all the sugar and water in fruit, and could cause the bunny to have messy poops. Papaya tablets don’t have the water, so it shouldn’t be a big deal, I wouldn’t feed more then one a day unless suggested by your vet.

Good luck with the neuter, though i find boys recover so quickly, hours after they wake up lol (Lucky bums)

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

The new thoughts on sludge is that it’s not caused by calcium. Chalky white pee is pretty normal-in fact their pee can be bright orange or red too! Sludge is actually quite thick http://www.rabbit.org/health/urolith.html and usually has stones. White/chalky pee is pretty normal. I’d just reduce the baby pellets when your done the bag, and mix it like your doing now.

As for the papaya tablets-those are fine. IN fact as soon as a rabbit starts eating solid food it’s ok for them to have veggies and fruit I think it’s a bit of an old wives tale to wait until six or seven months. Now they can be more sensitive to pesticides, so choose organic fruits and veggies-or wash carefully..but they can certainly eat veggies and fruit -and papaya tablets

{{Easy neuter vibes and good healing}}

[Otti]

Thanks for the advice! Yeah I think from what you guys said the chalky white pee is most likely fine, but I’ll be sure to double check with the vet. I’ll still mix his pellets but reduce the baby ones a bit.

I still need to schedule his neuter, but they’re usually pretty open so within the next few weekends it’ll get done.

Sammy will be very happy to learn he is allowed fruit I’m sure, so thanks from him lol

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