7 1/2yr old unspayed doe, blood in urine, very worried owner

Hello,
I was wondering if someone could please give me some advice as I am completely lost and don't know what to do.
Please don't judge the decisions I've made until you understand my reasons.

My beautiful girl is nearly 8yrs old. I got her when I was 11, and I had no idea at the time that it was important for does to be spayed to prevent cancer.
About ten months ago she had an 'accident' and urinated in the kitchen. Everything was normal until she got to the end, where there were two or three tiny drops of what I guessed might have been blood. It was pink and looked fresh. To cut a long story short, I went online and went through the panic that i'm sure every owner on here knows so well when they think something is wrong with their best friend. I am almost 100% certain that is is not 'red urine' (i.e a plant pigment). The only thing she has even close to that colour is a bit of carrot.
I went through it with my parents, and we decided to wait to see what happened. After a while we thought it had cleared up. Since then we've seen it several times, gone through the same panic, and somehow it seems to disappear (or reduce to being hardly detectable in some cases).
I thought it was over until two nights ago, when I saw it again. It's only ever been about two or three drops, and it is always at the end - after urination has ended.

I'm sure you're wondering why she's never been to a vet. There are many reasons, but I don't know if any were the right ones anymore.
Number one, it was hard for me to even find a vet in my area who deals with more than just cats and dogs. Number two, she's never been vaccinated (I know, I know - but again, it wasn't until a year or so ago that I knew she should have been), and she is terrified of dogs (which there are loads of in waiting rooms ect) So many things have happened over the past few months that my parents have been too stressed to deal with it. Also, financially we cannot afford the expensive vets bills. I am out of work at the moment, so my parents are paying the bills.

As I've said, she is my closest friend, she means everything to me. Despite her age, she will race me around the house every night. She's so playful, active and caring that you'd think she was a young kit. I can't lose her, she means so much to me. But I honestly don't know what to do anymore. I'm terrified the vet will put her under for an x-ray or something, and she'll never wake up.
I'm sorry for the long post. I'm in quite a panic at the moment and I just don't know what to do.

For those who don't want to read my whole post, i'll narrow things down:
She is unspayed and uninsured.
She has fresh, pink blood at the end of urination. Only one or two drops.
Oddly enough the blood seems to clear up if she has a bit of parsley each day.
No abnormal behaviour.
She does seem to strain a bit while urinating sometimes.
I don't know if it's relevant, but twice now she has had what we think is at least a mild form of GI stasis, though we have no idea why as her diet is fine and does not change suddenly. We've managed to get her through both by massaging her ect and she has returned to normal.

Thank you so much for you help and I am so, so sorry for the long post. I'm just worried.
~ILoveMyBunny~

She may have a urine infection which requires antibiotics, plus pain relief. The previous episodes of GI stasis may be related to pain.

Or there is a risk that she has a uterine cancer, 80% of unspayed Does aged 5+ are likely to develop this.

Whatever the cause, she needs to be examined by a Vet to enable a diagnosis to be made and appropriate treatment given.

Jack's-Jane, thank you so much for taking the time to reply.
I'm hoping for an infection as it seems more likely to be curable. But is it likely to be an infection if it's still happening 10 months after it first appeared? Could it be something that's recurring for some reason, or has it always been there and gone unnoticed for months?
If it is what I'm fearing it could be, what are her chances if the cancer has been there for nearly 10 months?

Does anyone know of a good rabbit vet in on the hampshire/surrey border?
Also if anyone has any idea how much it's likely to cost to get the tests done, that would be great. I'm going to have to find a way to raise the money somehow.

Where abouts are you exactly? How far is J3 of the M3 from you?

~ILoveMyBunny~ said:

Jack's-Jane, thank you so much for taking the time to reply.
I'm hoping for an infection as it seems more likely to be curable. But is it likely to be an infection if it's still happening 10 months after it first appeared? Could it be something that's recurring for some reason, or has it always been there and gone unnoticed for months?
If it is what I'm fearing it could be, what are her chances if the cancer has been there for nearly 10 months?

Does anyone know of a good rabbit vet in on the hampshire/surrey border?
Also if anyone has any idea how much it's likely to cost to get the tests done, that would be great. I'm going to have to find a way to raise the money somehow.

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Perhaps put up a thread asking ie a title could be Recommended vet wanted in Surrey/Hampshire.
Hope shes ok.xx

I am currently seeing John Chitty with my bunny. He does a clinic in Basingstoke. I don't know how far that would be for you? I travel for 45 mins with my bunny to see him in Salsibury... :? http://www.jcexoticpetconsultancy.co.uk/openings.html

~ILoveMyBunny~ said:

Jack's-Jane, thank you so much for taking the time to reply.
I'm hoping for an infection as it seems more likely to be curable. But is it likely to be an infection if it's still happening 10 months after it first appeared? Could it be something that's recurring for some reason, or has it always been there and gone unnoticed for months?If it is what I'm fearing it could be, what are her chances if the cancer has been there for nearly 10 months?

Does anyone know of a good rabbit vet in on the hampshire/surrey border?
Also if anyone has any idea how much it's likely to cost to get the tests done, that would be great. I'm going to have to find a way to raise the money somehow.

Click to expand...

If a rabbit has calcium sludge in their bladder (my Artie being an example) the sediment gathering in their bladder means that the urine that gets behind the sludge goes stale and caused an infection by being against the bladder wall, the stale urine can't escape because of the sediment blocking it. The bleeding occurs as the bladder wall is infected. This could be a reason why the last bit of urine is blood stained, because that's the last bit to leave the bladder. It would be extremely painful if untreated and would cause bouts of anorexia. Artie had to have surgery but I'm guessing it would be possible to just express/flush out the sludge in some cases. Diagnosis would be by x-ray. She would then need antibiotics, painkillers etc.

I've no idea re tests and more specific symptoms for uterine cancer but I've always believed you don't get much time between first symptoms and it being terminal. I'm making a guess that this suggests it's more likely a bladder infection.

I hope you are able to get answers and treatment soon.

CazScho said:

Where abouts are you exactly? How far is J3 of the M3 from you?

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We live in Farnborough.

helennnnnn said:

I am currently seeing John Chitty with my bunny. He does a clinic in Basingstoke. I don't know how far that would be for you [/URL]

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Sadly it looks like he's about an hour away, which would be a bit too far really with the cost of petrol now. But thank you anyway. I will keep it in mind just in case I have no success finding another vet.

Bunny Buddy:
I haven't seen any sign of sludge. She's eating, drinking and exercising as normal, and is neither under nor overweight.
I'm desperately hoping for an infection or something that sounds more curable. The idea of uterine cancer is terrifying me. As is the idea of them having to put her under anesthetic

Bunny Buddy said:

I've no idea re tests and more specific symptoms for uterine cancer but I've always believed you don't get much time between first symptoms and it being terminal.

Click to expand...

That's what terrifies me. But surely after ten months (when I saw it for the first time), it would have gotten worse? And parsley seems to stop the bleeding, which surely it wouldn't do with cancer.
That's just what i'm hoping anyway .


Thank you all so much - you've all been really helpful. I've asked on other websites and people have been too quick to tell me i'm a bad owner ect.
I love my bunny. She is my whole world. I would give anything - anything - for her. But I don't pay the bills, so it's out of my control. She's always been so healthy, and I never expected anything like this.
My parents wanted to wait a week to see if it cleared up on its own, but I just don't think it's a good idea. I need her to see a vet as soon as possible. I will make a separate thread as Yvetter suggested, but will keep this one up in case someone has anything else to suggest.
Thank you all so, so much.

Oh, something I meant to ask in my last post. If she is in pain, would it just be when she urinates, or all the time? Is there something I can give her to relieve it until she can see a vet? I have heard Willow wood is good, but I don't have any at the moment.
If it will help her, though, I will go out and buy some.

I don't know about the medical side I'm afraid but here's a list of topics with "surrey" in the title, quite a few of them are about vets, maybe there's a recommendation that would be useful to you:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/search.php?searchid=7103581

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/search.php?searchid=7103591

(Post the new thread anyway though, the more ideas the better)


Sending lots of vibes for your bunny and hoping whatever she has can be easily sorted out x

Clutterydrawer, thank you so much, that's great. I will take a look at them now.
It's so nice that people on here are so kind and helpful.

Thank you all so much (from me and my bunny )