Super Sludgy Urine

[LittlePuffyTail]

Olivia just peed and I noticed there’s a huge amount of sludgy stuff in it. I’ve never seen this before but I’m assuming it’s bladder sludge. It’s all chalky, light coloured and sunk to the bottom of the puddle. The pee itself does not look or smell unusual. Usually I always have a potty out when they have run time but today I just put some newspaper since I forgot the potty downstairs, so I’m not sure how long this has been going on without me noticing.

She seems perfectly fine otherwise: drinking, eating, pooping, etc. Now that I think about it, maybe a bit less active lately. She’s super clean with her potty. I’ve never dealt with this. What do I do? Does she need to see the vet? (I hope not…I just got back from the vet with Bindi. Twice in under 2 weeks- his ears again). Can someone please tell me what needs to be done for my little Princess? She’s been eating a lot of higher calcium stuff lately; Dandelion greens, carrot tops, cilantro.

Should I be worried or is this something that may just clear up with less caclium veggies? How can I get her to drink more?

[LittlePuffyTail]

She’s actually laying down during run-time right now. Very unusual for her.

[Sarita]

Does she have any urine scald or any unusual urinating or straining or posturing to urinate? That is usually the sign of bladder sludge.

Bladder sludge is usually extremely pasty and thick, not necessarily chalky and light colored.

I would encourage more water drinking if you can get her to drink. Sure, you can cut back on calcium rich vegetables but that isn’t usually the problem with a true bladder sludge rabbit. Vets as a caution may have you change their diet but the real culprit of calcium is in pellets where it is more concentrated than in vegetables. It certainly won’t hurt to change up the veggies a bit.

[LittlePuffyTail]

It is pasty and thick. Now the urine has seeped into the paper and the sludge is still there. Thick almost like toothpaste.

How can I get her to drink more? I read fruit juice? Any suggestions.

I will call my vet in the a.m. Boy, they must think I’m some sort of hypochondriac. It’s insane how often I deal with them.

What I don’t understand from the reading I’ve done: Is bladder sludge itself something to worry about/treat or is it the problems that can arise from bladder sludge? If a healthy rabbit suddenly gets sludgy urine, what should I make of that?

I will check her over for any other signs when I groom her tonight.

[Sarita]

Here is a good post from Dana Krempel’s on bladder sludge:

en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/Cal…sludge.htm

I do think it’s a totally misunderstood condition from rabbit owners and some vets.  I know I hear lots of different views on bladder sludge.

It wouldn’t hurt to do a urnalysis. 

Try some unsweetened apple juice to see if that will get her to drink more.

 

[LittlePuffyTail]

Her fur is all clean and dry.

[Sarita]

It may just be calcium crystals then. And this is natural for rabbits to excrete those crystals.

I think give her a week and continue as is and see how you feel and then take her in.

[MimzMum]

Well LPT, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you that during Pip’s vet visit this a.m. we found out she has a UTI. She’s now on baytril for 2 weeks. I got the shock of my life when the vet turned her over and said, “Oh, she’s got blood in her urine…” WHAT?? X_X
Pip has been urinating inappropriately for some time, but I thought it was in direct response to me coming into her habitat. Every time I’d put my hand in to clean, she’d back up and pee. I hadn’t seen anything like that on her before today, so it was a bit shocking. The vet said her urine was pretty cloudy (they took the clean sample with the needle directly from the bladder) and she could just barely see the bacterial rods in between the cloudy material. Up till then, we were thinking she had stones or something.

Kinda scary. Sending vibes that dear Olivia doesn’t have anything more than a little extra crystal in her urine that will flush out with a bit of extra fluid. (((((((((((((((((((((((Olivia))))))))))))))))))))))

[BinkyBunny]

Jack’s urine would get sludgy, but when he drank more water, it would just have the white deposit — that when the urine dried up, it would turn to this light sand. His urinalysis after his bladder stone surgery always revealed he had sandy urine, but we were able to get it to an acceptable level. Dandelion greens are higher in calcium, but my vet still recommended them (along with large variety of greens), because dandelions are a diuretic and help flush out their bladder.

Jack always had a tendency to have some chalky urine every once in awhile, but later in life it became serious for him. 

What you will find from the article that Sarita recommended is that it is normal for bunnies to process out calcium, but some bunnies are genetically prone to have issues (a possible type of disease), that prevents them from processing calcium properly.   Jack may have always had that problem, but it just became more serious as he aged. 

[LittlePuffyTail]

Thanks for all the info. Don’t know what I would do without you guys!

This morning I got her to pee on some newspaper again and it’s not like it was last night. Looks a bit cloudy but no sludgy gunk on the bottom. I will take Sarita’s advice and just keep a close eye on her for a week and try to get her to drink more.

 

((((((Feel better Pip)))))))))

[MimzMum]

You know, LPT, when I first brought up this topic today, it tabled right atop your carrot tops thread…could she have had the sludgy stuff because of those?

[BinkyBunny]

Mimzmum has a good point.

I responded yesterday about that in the carrot thread as well. Carrot tops always made Jack’s urine more white/chalky and since he had problems with that to begin with, I stopped giving him carrot tops. 

[LittlePuffyTail]

hmmmm…it’s worth checking out. I will limit her carrot tops to every other day and see. This morning her pee was clear and normal again. Weird.

[Author]

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