Concern over colour of urine

Hi all

We're a family with a first time rabbit. He's a 9 week old small fop eared rabbit. Good health it seems, growing fast but today I noticed what I think was orange coloured wee on the kitchen floor which is very different from the opaque yellow stuff he's been doing. He has fresh water in his drip feeder although unsure what exactly he's drinking, usual pellets and fresh greens. Anyone know if there's a problem and what I ought to do? Thanks.

At 9 weeks old, unless he'd been fed it with mum, is too young really to start feeding a young baby bun greens, between 12-16 weeks is best as a rule.

What greens have you given him?
Has he had any carrot or dandelion leaves? These are known to pigment urine with their colours.

He may be better off with a water bowl, as its much more natural for rabbits to drink out of those than from a spout where they can't get enough water often unfortunately.

Hello there. No need to worry about orange wee or even almost red wee, it is perfecly normal. Rabbits do different coloured urine!

tonibun said:

Hello there. No need to worry about orange wee or even almost red wee, it is perfecly normal. Rabbits do different coloured urine!

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Thats not necessarily true. Yes, it can differ per bunny, but very red wee is indicative of feeding something that isn't necessarily good for bunny.

tonibun said:

Hello there. No need to worry about orange wee or even almost red wee, it is perfecly normal. Rabbits do different coloured urine!

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Not always, some things do change wee colours but especially in older un-spayed does it can be a huge warning sign of ovarian cancer.

In this case though I wouldn't worry, just cut down on the veggies and give the bun a water bowl. The big dog ones are good and hard to tip, or I use one of the topsy turvy water/food feeder thingies!

Hele said:

Not always, some things do change wee colours but especially in older un-spayed does it can be a huge warning sign of ovarian cancer.

In this case though I wouldn't worry, just cut down on the veggies and give the bun a water bowl. The big dog ones are good and hard to tip, or I use one of the topsy turvy water/food feeder thingies!

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Hi there. Are you suggesting a bowl instead of a bottle because you suspect the rabbit with orange urine isn't drinking enough?

It's normal for urine to vary in colour.

Red urine is usually diet-related but can also be a sign of stress or dehydration. It can be hard to distinguish red-pigmented wee from blood in the urine though (and the latter might indicate uterine cancer or a urinary infection).

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-1/red-urine.html

If bunny has been used to eating greens from a young age, then it's fine to carry on feeding now. Otherwise I would wait a few more weeks as already suggested.

tonibun said:

Hi there. Are you suggesting a bowl instead of a bottle because you suspect the rabbit with orange urine isn't drinking enough?

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I am no expert, and certainly no vet so I am not saying that a rabbit with orange urine is def not drinking enough, but I think it could have something to do with it. Also as my two were using a bottle recently they were certainly able to drink, they were drinking almost the whole thing every day. However since giving them a bowl they both drink a lot more. (Enough that I actually worried about it and started a thread about it :lol

I have seen the view that it is much harder for buns to get the required amount of water from a drip feeding bottle. GrahamL stated the same thing in this thread for example. And I'd hate to have to fight to get every single drop of water too!

I felt that I had to comment on a statement stating that different coloured urine is fine and not a problem, especially if it is an anomaly for that rabbit as I have previously lost a rabbit to ovarian cancer (we rescued her un-spayed and overweight, so had to wait for her to lose the weight before we could spay her, she got cancer before we could) and were asked by the vets if she had had any bloody or orange coloured urine as this is an early sign. She had but we hadn't recognized it as a problem and by the time we knew better she was past saving. However as this is a baby, and a male I didn't think I needed that much detail!!!!

For all I know a rabbit with orange urine just had a huge carrot!