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Blood in urine?

Sara0099

Sara0099

Young Bun
Late Friday night just before I was heading to bed, I said goodnight to the buns when I noticed a red patch of liquid soaked up by wood shavings in their litter tray. I immediately took them to the emergency vets - 15 miles away. I don't think rabbits are her specialty however she gave them the once over, checked temperature etc and suggested taking them to my vets in the morning for a urine sample/test, as it could be stones. I didn't get to see our regular vet plus they didn't pee on command - obviously! So am taking them back on Wednesday. Both eating, drinking & pooping normally. Both being their usual (cheeky) selves. I've read that pigmented urine can happen sometimes? In 6 years I've never come across this.. bit of a shock! Has anyone experienced this? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Attached a pic - sorry if it's TMI.

TIA.

10702170_10152650464106826_6829316893976079734_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
Pic isn't working for me :wave:

Do you know that it was definitely blood?
Different foods can cause rabbits urine to change colour. I discovered that after giving my girls spinach for the first time :lol:
 
tashp90 said:
Pic isn't working for me :wave:

Do you know that it was definitely blood?
Different foods can cause rabbits urine to change colour. I discovered that after giving my girls spinach for the first time :lol:
Click to expand...

Thanks for your message, can you see pic now? Think I uploaded wrong the first time. It was red - my first thought was blood. I honestly don't know. Both are still in happy moods, they had kale beforehand - as they usually do, I don't know if that would've caused it..?
 
Looks fine too me, having certain foods can def make my buns urine that colour. I'm not sure if kale is one of the veg that can do it, could well be, I know carrots definitely does.

I've been in a panic over this before and it is hard to distinguish whether it red or really dark orange. I think if it was blood it would be more streaked with blood rather than completely red if that makes sense (I could be wrong though).
 
Sara0099 said:
Thanks for your message, can you see pic now? Think I uploaded wrong the first time. It was red - my first thought was blood. I honestly don't know. Both are still in happy moods, they had kale beforehand - as they usually do, I don't know if that would've caused it..?
Click to expand...

I can see it now yeah.

I just found this:
http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-1/red-urine.html

After reading that my instinct would be that it's not blood, but I am still fairly new to rabbits.
If your instinct is still that it's blood then get them checked out :thumb:

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along and give an opinion.
 
Janey said:
Looks fine too me, having certain foods can def make my buns urine that colour. I'm not sure if kale is one of the veg that can do it, could well be, I know carrots definitely does.

I've been in a panic over this before and it is hard to distinguish whether it red or really dark orange. I think if it was blood it would be more streaked with blood rather than completely red if that makes sense (I could be wrong though).
Click to expand...
Agree with this.

I would have thought that blood in urine would be spots/streaks.

The edges of the urine in the picture look more orange to me.
 
it looks more like an orange/red to me, which will be from food. blood tends to be more pink/red. although i know bladder issues can cause darker urine so best to get it checked like you did :wave:
 
That could very easily be normal urine, especially if they had had food that can impact their wee colour such as carrot or dandelions.

But if you have had them 6 years and this in new personally I would rather get them checked out. Especially if either of them are unspayed females as one of the first signs of uterine cancer can be blood in urine!
 
It looks unlikely to be blood. However, I note that the fecal poos are very small and dark. This can indicate that there is reduced gut motility. That in combination with unusually (for the specific Rabbit) concentrated urine does ring alarm bells. I would be looking at trying to increase your Rabbit's hay intake and also try to increase their water intake. If the GI tract motility remains slow then more problems can develop-'gut stasis'.

I would offer your Rabbits water in a bowl if you do not do so already. Rabbits drink more from a bowl than from a sipper bottle. Maximising water intake should rehydrate the contents of the GI tract, increased fibre intake (hay intake) will improve gut motility and the poos should improve in size,quantity and texture. The urine should become less dark orange too.
 
Thanks all, they hadn't eaten carrots/dandelions etc beforehand. Their poop is small and dark? Really, I hadn't noticed any difference than usual - thanks for that, I'll keep an extra eye on the litter tray! Both vets they saw felt around their stomach area and said everything felt normal, so I'll see what our usual vet says on Wednesday. They eat a ton of hay, drink well, both are spayed. I'll try water in a bowl instead - thanks again x
 
Going by your picture mine have this discolouration every day. I think it's the wee reacting with the woodshavings, to be honest, coupled with what they eat. If they eat a lot of dandelion, for example, this will change their wee to a reddish colour. Someone on here once advised me that blood dries brown, not orange or red, so unless mine show up as brown I don't worry about it. They give me enough to worry about without that too!! It's probably something yours have eaten, as I say, reacting with the shavings. I use shavings too and depends on what brand I buy also affects the colour!
 
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