Misty'sMum
New Kit
Hello,
This is my first post so hopefully I do it right, and I'm sorry for the long post! I am quite new to bunny-keeping and currently own a 5 year old (approx) rescue Rex called Max. We successfully managed to bond him (yay!) with a lovely Rex cross called Flora and they have been living together for a few months now
.
The issue is with Max and I'm really hoping that you can give us some advice. He was neutered in October in preparation for meeting Flora and all went well but in the weeks that have followed he has become incontinent, leaking quite a lot of urine. Our vet (who is not specifically a bunny vet, but is really kind and seems to be very knowledgable), did a full exploration (bloods, scans, xrays, urine tests, worming treatment, baytril etc) so we are confident that there is nothing underlying (kidney issues, e cuniculi etc). The vet has concluded that it is loss of sphincter control following the neutering and drop in his hormone levels. We have put him onto Urilin 40mg - he is technically supposed to be able to have 2 or 3 drops twice per day but it REALLY upsets his digestion (which wasn't great before). We understand that it is a side effect of the drug but he has very sensitive digestion anyway (we have to really limit his greens and he can't tolerate the excel pellets very well) so we are down to 1 drop every 36 hours. This hasn't really sorted it as he is still alternating between urine wetness as the urilin wears off and then very mucousy/soft droppings (that make him very wet and dirty) when he has a fresh dose of the meds. He is currently on the protexin pro-fibre pellets from the vet (1-1.5 egg cups per day), a ton of hay (which he loves) and very limited greens (eg 1/2 a mange tout or a couple of basil leaves per day) but his digestion is not great at all.
His lovely Rex fur needs very regular cleaning around his bottom so he is about to go back into the vets for clipping as this helped last time with hygiene (although we are now experts at cornflour and bottom baths!!). We are trying everything we can with his husbandry to avoid sore hocks - cleaning their hutch out every day, change of all litter trays 1-2 times per day (carefresh litter). Soft hay for bedding/sitting on (foam matting in their run), sudocrem if needed on any sore bits etc. We love him a lot and it is getting us down a bit as we can think of what else to do In himself he is a very cheeky happy bun who loves having a girlfriend to live with (who happily is totally healthy and quite naughty) We are more upset than him I think!
Has anyone else experienced dodgy digestion in Rex rabbits? Or side effects like this from the Urilin/Propalin? Any suggestions for additionl dietary or husbandry changes? I was thinking of asking the vet if we can get a lower strength bottle of meds as I think less would still hold off the urinary wetness.
Thanks for reading and for any advice you may have!
This is my first post so hopefully I do it right, and I'm sorry for the long post! I am quite new to bunny-keeping and currently own a 5 year old (approx) rescue Rex called Max. We successfully managed to bond him (yay!) with a lovely Rex cross called Flora and they have been living together for a few months now
. The issue is with Max and I'm really hoping that you can give us some advice. He was neutered in October in preparation for meeting Flora and all went well but in the weeks that have followed he has become incontinent, leaking quite a lot of urine. Our vet (who is not specifically a bunny vet, but is really kind and seems to be very knowledgable), did a full exploration (bloods, scans, xrays, urine tests, worming treatment, baytril etc) so we are confident that there is nothing underlying (kidney issues, e cuniculi etc). The vet has concluded that it is loss of sphincter control following the neutering and drop in his hormone levels. We have put him onto Urilin 40mg - he is technically supposed to be able to have 2 or 3 drops twice per day but it REALLY upsets his digestion (which wasn't great before). We understand that it is a side effect of the drug but he has very sensitive digestion anyway (we have to really limit his greens and he can't tolerate the excel pellets very well) so we are down to 1 drop every 36 hours. This hasn't really sorted it as he is still alternating between urine wetness as the urilin wears off and then very mucousy/soft droppings (that make him very wet and dirty) when he has a fresh dose of the meds. He is currently on the protexin pro-fibre pellets from the vet (1-1.5 egg cups per day), a ton of hay (which he loves) and very limited greens (eg 1/2 a mange tout or a couple of basil leaves per day) but his digestion is not great at all.
His lovely Rex fur needs very regular cleaning around his bottom so he is about to go back into the vets for clipping as this helped last time with hygiene (although we are now experts at cornflour and bottom baths!!). We are trying everything we can with his husbandry to avoid sore hocks - cleaning their hutch out every day, change of all litter trays 1-2 times per day (carefresh litter). Soft hay for bedding/sitting on (foam matting in their run), sudocrem if needed on any sore bits etc. We love him a lot and it is getting us down a bit as we can think of what else to do
In himself he is a very cheeky happy bun who loves having a girlfriend to live with (who happily is totally healthy and quite naughty) We are more upset than him I think!Has anyone else experienced dodgy digestion in Rex rabbits? Or side effects like this from the Urilin/Propalin? Any suggestions for additionl dietary or husbandry changes? I was thinking of asking the vet if we can get a lower strength bottle of meds as I think less would still hold off the urinary wetness.
Thanks for reading and for any advice you may have!
