intermittent bladder sludge

About 3 weeks ago one of the buns left a definite sludge pee on the tile floor. I penned each of them in one at a time until they peed but they all peed clear. Tonight there was another sludgey pee and i don't know how to work out who it belongs to without penning one of them in for weeks at a time. All are eatting well and no signs of pain or anything.How serious is it if it only happens once in a while and do I need the vet to look at them all? What will the vet do or I just need to change their diet . They currently eat excel pellets in the morning unlimited meadow hay and floret bagged lettuce/ parsley / coriander/ broccoli in evening. Advice appreciated.

It is sometimes possible to feel bladder sludge on palpation of the bladder. So a Vet check of all 3 Rabbits may pinpoint who has the issues.

It is possible for the actual passing of sludge to be intermittent. Sometimes the Rabbit does not fully empty their bladder, so the sludge gets left behind. This can then start to cause more issues as it irritates the bladder wall giving rise to the possibility of cystitis and infection. Or sometimes an individual Rabbit's metabolism of calcium will lead to a variation of how much they excrete in their urine.

I would cut out the Broccoli and Parsley for a while as both have quite a high calcium content

All pelleted feed has added calcium and in general this is not a problem. But a Rabbit with known bladder sludge issues may do better on a hay/grass/forage/low calcium veg diet, with no pelleted feed at all.

Encouraging a good water intake and making sure the Rabbit is as active as possible will also help

Hi Jane, just wondered if you know if there is a high / low calcium vegetable/herb list somewhere? I don't think I have seen one on the forum. One of my girls had a wee with a slighty sludgy edge the other day. I have been feeding them parsley too and they have had some brocoli as well.

My lovely tillie had bladder sludge really badly and needed major surgery.

I would take all to the vets as it can be detected by the vets.

It may be only mild and so just cutting back calcium may be enough. Alfalfa is really high in calcium so if you use any alfalfa products I would stop or certainly decrease.

I used to syringe water into till, massage her bladder and make her run up and down the stairs twice a day so when she did a wee it came out rather than settling in her bladder.

Watch which one goes in the litter tray a lot. A sign is hopping in and out frequently and straining to wee. The bottom comess up and the tail sticks out at the same time.

It is a difficult illness to treat as it can be just one of those things and is not all diet related.

Feel free to pm me if you want to chat about it.

Hope it's nothing major. X x

Kirotea said:

Hi Jane, just wondered if you know if there is a high / low calcium vegetable/herb list somewhere? I don't think I have seen one on the forum. One of my girls had a wee with a slighty sludgy edge the other day. I have been feeding them parsley too and they have had some brocoli as well.

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The general rule is that leafy green stuff (including herbs) has higher calcium (the darker the green, the higher the calcium normally), and the root veg has least.

If it were me, I'd just want to reduce the veg down rather than switch the veg around too much. It's not a luxury you get with guinea pigs, whereas you can with bunnies.

SarahP said:

The general rule is that leafy green stuff (including herbs) has higher calcium (the darker the green, the higher the calcium normally), and the root veg has least.

If it were me, I'd just want to reduce the veg down rather than switch the veg around too much. It's not a luxury you get with guinea pigs, whereas you can with bunnies.

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Oh they do have parsley and coriander a lot. And things like rocket and watercress too. Only two handfuls between them though and a small handful of pellets. If anything I thought I was being stingy with veg already! They were 1.8kg when weighed a month ago but I think they have grown and the vet thought they would probably just hit 2kg. I didn't think rabbits could eat root vegetables, but thinking about it carrot is a root vegetable! Things like parsnip? My two are up for eating anything! But I introduce slowly obviously. They've had no problems with any new food so far.

If it were me, I'd stick to the leafier stuff (ie the higher calcium), but feed less. And if a rabbit was really struggling with calcium, I probably wouldn't feed veg at all, and reduce pellets right down.

Thanks everyone for u helpful advice. Think I will take all 3 for a bladder feel / manipulation. I will also stop the parsley and would it be ok to slowly introduce romaine ?? I hear yes and no about this sometimes. My buns love their pellets but the vet had mentioned that there's a low calcium pellet I could get would that be a good idea to change to that?? They only get a small amount each morning tho. I will also watch out for straining too.

Here's one list with the calcium content of several veggies and herbs.
http://rabbit.org/lowering-blood-calcium/

Jbun said:

Here's one list with the calcium content of several veggies and herbs.
http://rabbit.org/lowering-blood-calcium/

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Thanks that list is helpful. Looks like coriander is quite low actually and they like that, so I'll stick with that and cut down on the parsley.

nickybunny1 said:

Thanks everyone for u helpful advice. Think I will take all 3 for a bladder feel / manipulation. I will also stop the parsley and would it be ok to slowly introduce romaine ?? I hear yes and no about this sometimes. My buns love their pellets but the vet had mentioned that there's a low calcium pellet I could get would that be a good idea to change to that?? They only get a small amount each morning tho. I will also watch out for straining too.

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Romaine lettuce is definitely safe but I know some people still don't feed it. My girls eat it with no problems but I don't feed it that often and not in big amounts. Probably depends on how sensitive your bunny is, my two haven't had problems with any new foods.