Calcium, older rabbits and bladder stones.

HI, I'm new here.
Have 4 six year old house rabbits. Around a year ago, I thought one of them, Cathy, had blood in the urine. Took her to their wonderful vet who sent a sample off for analysis. I was told Cathy was fine but had way too much calcium in her urine and that could cause kidney/bladder stones. She said it was a problem for older rabbits. So I stared giving them all far more root vegetables than the high-calcium dark green veg they were used to.
But the rabbit pellets as so so much their favourite food that I don't have the heart to cut it from their diet although I try to reduce it. Does anyone know of a low calcium rabbit pellet?

Firstly, you have my sympathies. This is a hugely difficult problem to manage.

My French lop suffered terribly with this. I did a huge amount of research on low calcium foods and this problem in general.

Ultimately, it was found that he had a kidney tumour although, do not fear, that is not always the reason for sludge/stones.

What I did find out though is that a low calcium diet isn't necessarily the complete answer. The rabbit can leach calcium from their bones if they don't get enough so you really shouldn't remove it altogether.

Poor Dylan lived on the following:

Chicory
Carrot (not the tops)
Fennel
Celery and leaves
Parsley
Basil
Burnt toast
Apple
Pak choi
Oxbow Timothy hay based pellets
Timothy hay

Best of luck finding the balance.

Calcium and stones

.....Best of luck finding the balance.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for such well researched information. I heard vitamin C can counteract the calcium and add orange segments now and again to their food. Cathy is also half French-Lop. Very loving happy and energetic. Sorry to hear about your bunny Dylan.

Jenny

Hi,
I cant add much more to the diet. My Tillie had it really badly. She had major surgery which she survived - the vets had never seen so much sludge! She never showed signs of illness and it was only through a routine checkup it was found. For the next 13 months I syringed extra water into her, massaged her bladder and made sure she ran up and down the stairs a lot so it didnt settle as much. It was stressful and we do believe that is what we lost her to in the end (although I cant be sure) but it can be managed - it is a dificult illness though and very rarely in the ' how to look after your rabbit' kind of books!

Hope Cathy is ok though xx