1 legged rabbit now incontinent

Hi there,

Hope you are all well. I have a little rabbit who will be 6 years old next month! He is the cutest little thing, also very boisterous!

Early 2012 he broke his back leg and it had to be amputated, he came back home a few days later and was on the road to recovery but fell into a bit of a depressive state for a few months after. Previous to the amputation he like most rabbits didn’t enjoy being held at all but now he is very cuddly. Anyway, fast forward to 2014, in the recent weeks he has been experiencing what I believe to be incontinence. But he is well litter trained and has been since we brought him years ago, so I really don’t think it is intentional. He is un neutered, but I really don’t think he is spraying. I’ve also noticed his litter tray gets full a lot quicker than it used to.

What could this be? I will be making him an appointment later on today but just wanted some guidance from other rabbit owners. He has a bath once a week because he gets messy in his hind quarters, (don’t worry, he enjoys his baths).

Also any advice for what to put down that is easily washable. He normally sleeps in his litter tray.

Sorry for the ramble, hope to hear from you soon! :wave:

Hello,
Sorry to hear that your bunny is poorly. If his diet is all good then I'd mention the possibility of arthritis to the vet. It may be that you rabbit is uncomfortable going to the loo as normal and can no longer stretch around to clean himself?
Hope you get some answers from your vet. Good luck x

He might have a urinary tract infection - they seem to wee everywhere with them. You say the litter tray gets full quicker these days - is he drinking more than usual?

Vet bed is really nice to put down. It's very soft, washes well and dries quite quickly. There again, hay is nice to sleep on, and you can just throw that away and start again when it's wet

Good luck at the vets - let us know how you get on.
xx

A UTI is a possibility. So is 'bladder sludge', something 3 legged Rabbits can be prone to. The Vet will need to establish if there is a bacterial infection and if so is it a 'stand alone' condition or is it secondary to 'bladder sludge'. If the latter then both issues will need addressing.

Arthritis in his lower spine/hip of remaining leg may also be an issue due to 'wear and tear' which will be more pronounced due to him only having one back leg. Curvature of the spine can also occur in hind leg amputees. This can cause pain and in some cases nerve damage resulting in a loss/partial loss of bladder control.

Have you noticed that he is drinking more than usual ? Any unexplained weightloss ?

Have you noticed any testicular swelling/lumps ?

Old towels could be used as bedding as long as he did not chew/try to eat them.. They would need to be secured in place as he may have trouble getting about on them if they were to slip out of place as he moved around.

Thank you so much for the replies! I have managed to book an appointment for this evening.

He eats pellets and fruit and veg. To be honest I haven’t noticed him drink more than usual, even when he wasn’t disabled he didn’t used to drink water that much.

No unexplained weight loss recently either, (he lost a lot of weight when he had his surgery). No lumps.

I have a vet bed from the time he had his surgery so will put a puppy pad underneath it so the floor doesn’t soak through. Thank you for the suggestions. I’ve tried towels but he gathers them up and then chews them.

I’m really nervous now, hopefully it's something minor, will let you know later on today! At least I have an idea now of what I could be dealing with.

Thanks again for your help.

Does he eat much hay? A messy backend can often be a diet related issue and adjusting his diet for extra fibre may lessen or resolve it completely. It would be something worth looking at once you've investigated his current problem

Tamsin said:

Does he eat much hay? A messy backend can often be a diet related issue and adjusting his diet for extra fibre may lessen or resolve it completely. It would be something worth looking at once you've investigated his current problem

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Just the odd nibble, not as much as he used to pre surgery. Will look into that, thank you!

Might be worth cutting back the fruit and veg and try to focus on high fibre pellets and very tasty hay.

Maybe try a bale from timothyhay.co.uk

Out of interest, what veg/fruit and how much/often do you feed it?

UPDATE: I took him to the vet earlier today and they said he has nerve damage and most possibly UTI. That’s a relief, I was given two meds so hopefully that should clear it up.

He has a mixture of fruit, depends on what we have in. Cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes (he loves!), spinach, coriander, cherries, grapes, apples, bananas etc. I give him a handful of leaves and the rest is a few slices.

I’ve purchased timothy hay in the past and alfalfa and he wasn’t interested. I’ve also brought him the dandelion packs and he ignores that too. Basically anything in store targeted for rabbits like the seed snacks etc he completely ignores. I think he might be a little fussy, is there any other way I can add fibre to his diet? What are your thoughts on bran cereal/ weetabix.

alzalfie said:

UPDATE: I took him to the vet earlier today and they said he has nerve damage and most possibly UTI. That’s a relief, I was given two meds so hopefully that should clear it up.

He has a mixture of fruit, depends on what we have in. Cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes (he loves!), spinach, coriander, cherries, grapes, apples, bananas etc. I give him a handful of leaves and the rest is a few slices.

I’ve purchased timothy hay in the past and alfalfa and he wasn’t interested. I’ve also brought him the dandelion packs and he ignores that too. Basically anything in store targeted for rabbits like the seed snacks etc he completely ignores. I think he might be a little fussy, is there any other way I can add fibre to his diet? What are your thoughts on bran cereal/ weetabix.

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Maybe cut out the fruit side of things, they're really high in sugar and probably not the best things to give in regards to bunny with funny belly!

Have you tried lots of grass, bramble, dandelion heads/leaves? More natural the better :thumb:

Also, try this http://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/taster-selection-sample-pack.html as it gives you a few different options so you don't waste money/hay.

Has a vet looked at his teeth? There may be some pain there which is stopping him from eating his hay.

Freakinfreak said:

Maybe cut out the fruit side of things, they're really high in sugar and probably not the best things to give in regards to bunny with funny belly!

Have you tried lots of grass, bramble, dandelion heads/leaves? More natural the better :thumb:

Also, try this http://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/taster-selection-sample-pack.html as it gives you a few different options so you don't waste money/hay.

Has a vet looked at his teeth? There may be some pain there which is stopping him from eating his hay.

Click to expand...

I agree with this.

When I read the title I was trying to visualise a rabbit with one leg ... what you mean is a three legged rabbit I realised as I read on. :lol:

Apologies! Yes I meant 3 legged rabbit.

Just an update, today is his last day on medication he was given Loxicom and Baytril. He is still urinating outside of his litter tray, I think his meds total a weeks long course.

Any thoughts on what I should do? (I didn’t expect the first bill to be as high as it was if I’m honest) But I really think he should go back.... Or do you think it’s just old age?

Nope, the vet didn’t look at his teeth. He squirms quite a lot. His teeth are fine apart from one where it meets the other it has a small chip, maybe a mm in size.

If the course of antibiotics doesn't resolve it then yes, I'm afraid it's back to the vets again.

In terms of diet, as it sounds like he likes his fresh foods, I would try and swap some of those out for higher fibre options. Fresh dandelion, bramble/blackberry leaves, apple leaves, thistle etc. are all very high fibre and most rabbits that like fresh veggies also like fresh forage. You could also try fresh grass instead of hay (introduce gradually but once he's used to it then it can completely replace the hay portion of the diet). You might find you need to cut out fruit to get him to change as it's very sweet so they'll eat that in preference to other foods - like kids eating sweets!