What is going on with my bunny?!

[Puddles]

About a month ago I took my bunny  to the vet. He was drinking excessively and was peeing in large amounts. I found out that he had crystals in his bladder so the vet flushed his bladder with fluid injections. After that, he was still drinking and peeing a lot, and his pee started to vary. He was peeing from tiny amounts to normal/large amounts. The vet said he could be drinking a lot due to a sudden change in food. When he was getting his bladder flushed, I stopped giving him pellets. Once I started giving him pellets again, his drinking was back to normal. BUT his peeing is still odd. He doesn’t pee in large amounts, but he still does tiny ones here and there, and he also does normal ones. I’ve also noticed that he’s holding his pee in until I get home to let him out of his cage, and he always pees in the same spot on my floor. He eats (yes, I give him Timothy hay and pellets), drinks and poops normally, and he still still very active. I called the vet, and she said that she wants a urine sample and a radiograph or ultrasound. 

Does anyone know what’s going on? He’s only 1 1/2 years old. :'(

[Beka27]

Was he given a course of antibiotics when he was at the vet before? Does the vet think it could be a urinary tract infection (UTI)?

[Puddles]

He wasn’t given antibiotics. Only fluid injections every day for a week. 

[Beka27]

Ok. That behavior sounds like it could be a UTI then…

[Eepster]

One aspect of that is sort of normal. Bunnies usually do choose a specific spot to pee and then always pee in that one spot. It is why they are pretty easy to litter train for pee if they don’t feel a hormonal need to mark.

If the urine sample and blood sugar both com back normal, just put a litter box in his spot, and an xpen around it so he has regular access.

[Megabunny]

I don’t know what the latest thinking is on ultrasounds, but I was advised to get one on a dog probably 5 years ago and at the time the vet said something like, “It could give a false positive, or if it’s negative that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”
We decided to skip that $350 procedure and she did fine without it.

[Puddles]

I took a urine sample in and he has more crystals

[Megabunny]

It’s been a long time so I did some quick reading and it does look like crystals can be found in normal rabbit urine. I believe it depends on what kind of crystals and how many they are finding. Are they concerned? Is it improved over the last time you went? Is your bunny behaving normally now?

[Puddles]

The vet is concerned. She said she was going to call me today to talk about what to do, but I haven’t heard anything yet. :/ It has improved, but not much. But his behavior is still normal. He’s still eating, drinking and pooping normally. He’s still active too.

[Author]

Messages