dumblepaws
Mama Doe
So after this http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?422363-Is-my-vet-correct and this http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?422447-Bunny-Wee-Pictures-Please I was still very confused. I looked at lots of websites e.g. medirabbit, asked on other forums, emailed the RWAF, spoke to lots of bunny people and still wasn't totally sure if it (sediment in urine) was ok or not.
Today I spoke to a vet called Matt Brash at Stoneleigh Pet Show about it, and he was really really interesting. He was saying about how rapidly knowledge of bunnies is growing at the moment, and how now bunnies are off carrot and muesli diets, questions like mine about bunny calcium are coming up and being researched, and whilst it's still not fully understood, my bunnies are ok. He was telling me about some research that had been done on roadkill wild bunnies - they'd been x-rayed and they all had some calcium sludge on natural wild bunny diets. He said it's normal and the calcium stones only really form when there's a urinary tract infection or the bunnies have a superbad diet or are ill.
He was then explaining about the calcium/phosphate 2:1 ratio in animal food, and it's 'cos if you have too much of one, it prevents the other from being absorbed - so (e.g.) dogs on meat only diets don't get enough calcium and ti damages their bones.
Obviously I googled him after, and apparently he's a TV vet from Zoo Vet at Large (90s?) and is a proper exotics vet with loads of experience from zoos and flamingo land and the RSPCA and with badgers and local wildlife and elephants - and he seemed like he kept really up to date with vet research.
Next time i go to a petshow, I will be more prepared and ask lots of questions about pros and cons for worming, and what other research is going on and probably about elephants and badgers....I just didn't look at the website in advance or realise pet shows had vet experts!
Today I spoke to a vet called Matt Brash at Stoneleigh Pet Show about it, and he was really really interesting. He was saying about how rapidly knowledge of bunnies is growing at the moment, and how now bunnies are off carrot and muesli diets, questions like mine about bunny calcium are coming up and being researched, and whilst it's still not fully understood, my bunnies are ok. He was telling me about some research that had been done on roadkill wild bunnies - they'd been x-rayed and they all had some calcium sludge on natural wild bunny diets. He said it's normal and the calcium stones only really form when there's a urinary tract infection or the bunnies have a superbad diet or are ill.
He was then explaining about the calcium/phosphate 2:1 ratio in animal food, and it's 'cos if you have too much of one, it prevents the other from being absorbed - so (e.g.) dogs on meat only diets don't get enough calcium and ti damages their bones.
Obviously I googled him after, and apparently he's a TV vet from Zoo Vet at Large (90s?) and is a proper exotics vet with loads of experience from zoos and flamingo land and the RSPCA and with badgers and local wildlife and elephants - and he seemed like he kept really up to date with vet research.
Next time i go to a petshow, I will be more prepared and ask lots of questions about pros and cons for worming, and what other research is going on and probably about elephants and badgers....I just didn't look at the website in advance or realise pet shows had vet experts!
Thanks for sharing 
