Bladder sludge

[Griff]

Hi all

I noticed summer had a slightly wet bum (urine) this
Morning. Fortunately we were due at the vets anyway for her annual vaccinations.

Vet checked her bladder and squeezed etc and she did 3 very large wees within a few minutes. First two were absolutely fine. Last one was a bit sludgy (usual colour but definitely a bit thicker).
So looks like she has bladder sludge and vet wants to treat her quickly to avoid it getting worse or her having to have a bladder flush.

Now on baytril and metacam and vet asked us to syringe water also every few hours so she drinks more.
She does drink from a bowl and I think she drinks a decent amount anyway each day. She also eats loads of hay (all 4 of mine eat a lot but I think overall she eats the most)

I am cutting out any higher calcium food immediately. None of my bunnies have ever had bladder sludge and all have the same diet.

Can I ask others who have been through this how it went? How have to adapted diets and what low calcium vegetables and herbs would you feed.

She is fine in herself. Eating drinking and running around like a mad girlie. Not sure if vet is being over cautious but I don’t mind that.

 

[Omi]

I've not had this issue, but there's some useful information on this link

https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/articles/free-food-for-rabbits/calcium-and-rabbit-food

 

[Graciee]

Ah one of mine suffered with this. Dandelion root acts like a natural diuretic so I feed her that still because the more she wees the more it flushes out the bladder. We also used a human medicine for this too, my vet suggested it because after two bladder flushes (which were awful) I didn't want to put her through that again. This really worked but once her bladder was clear we stopped it and I've just maintained it by feeding her loads of wet veg twice a day tbh, even the stuff that is high calcium if its got loads of water in it, it's more beneficial. Basically the more water in her the better! She still eats loads of hay so it's not been an issue tbh. I hope you figure out a plan for you bun

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[Shimmer]

Getting them to move about more also helps to stop the sludge settling in the bladder and it is passed more regularly as it is all stirred up. Difficult to achieve, though.

Cutting pellets down / out can help. Any fresh veg can remain as it's mainly water anyway, but I've found that some rabbits are quite sensitive to cabbage and other brassicas and it just continues to make the sludge situation worse - so see how yours goes. You can always serve greens dunked in water, so there's extra fluid intake on the leaves. Putting a slpash of fresh apple juice in a bowl of water may also encourage more drinking.