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Gingerbread and pasty urine, too much calcium!

Sammy&Patch

Warren Scout
Gingerbread is nearly 8 years old, we got him from the SSPCA when he was about 4. He has always had a problem tolerating grass, and most veg, he will have massive squidgy poo messes. Last year I got some advice on here, I took it right back to basics only and tried introducing things slowly etc to see which caused problems and which didn't. I found he can tolerate carrot, cabbage, fine beans, cucumber and kale without any poo issues. I limit the cabbage and cucumber more as I read these don't provide much benefit. Carrot also is limited due to the sugar. So kale he gets quite a lot of and I have been delighted he can munch away happily on his veg like my other bunny could. But recently I found a yellowish paste in his litter tray. I took a sample to my vets but didn't get to see my normal vet. He told me it was probably diet and to just reduce the pellets and give more kale and hay, grass etc. I had him back a couple of weeks later as he still didn't seem quite ok and was grinding his teeth a bit. I got to see my normal vet this time. She asked me to get a urine sample if I could in a syringe and let her check it and also a sample of the paste if he did more, she was a bit frustrated the previous vet didn't analyse the sample I took in already. She also checked his teeth and they appeared ok but his eye was a bit weepy. I miraculously managed to get a urine sample! That seemed ok. On Tuesday I was bringing him in to have his myxamatosis injection and took a paste sample with me that he had just done. The vet decided an xray would be a good idea so she managed to xray him without putting him under (you really ought to get your vet to at least try to do this without putting them under if they can as she has managed to do that to my old bunny and this one!) Luckily he sat still and she managed to xray his head to check teeth and also the bladder. There was no signs of teeth problems and no signs of bladder sludge or stones. A relief! He has eye drops for his eyes, he also had a wet nose, has been sneezing a bit and wheezing a bit but only on and off. She's hoping that's related to an eye infection and we will see if that clears up. The sample of the paste was very gritty/sandy. So she gave me advice on diet like giving timothy hay (which he already has), plenty of water, cut out kale completely (oh no Gingerbreads favourite!), limit his nuggets (he doesn't have many anyway) and choose veg that has lower calcium. She also said grass but I have to be careful with that for his poo problem!

So it looks like I will now be giving him the veg that's not supposed to be as good to make sure the calcium isn't too high, hopefully that won't cause other issues. I found a few lists so, from what I know he can tolerate poo wise, I think peppers, carrots, cucumber and cabbage. Am I right in thinking now I need to go for lighter cabbage leaves rather than dark which I would normally choose? I am maybe going to try sprouts and cauliflower if he can tolerate them too. His pets at home nuggets say they have 0.77% calcium, I don't know if that is high or low. I was going to be moving him on to Burgess excel mature soon which is 0.7% but I'm not sure that will make any difference to this problem. The hay is already timothy hay which the advice suggests. Does anyone know where fine beans features on calcium, I didn't see that on the list.

I am taking him back next Tuesday so the vet can check his eyes again and if he seems healthy enough he can then have his myxamatosis injection. But she also mentioned checking his kidneys so we might get that checked first and wait for results just in case there is an underlying problem. He needs the injection as he is meant to be going to bunny boarding the end of September when we are away but the vet doesn't want to do it if he is bit under the weather in case it makes him poorly.

Any help and advice is appreciated, thanks everyone :)
 
Tesco do a low calcium water which might help reduce the calcium input. Sorry - can't think of the name as I never go to Tescos.
 
Thanks everyone :) Does anyone know of a good water bowl which he won't get a wet chin from! I've given him a ceramic bowl so he can't tip it but he is getting a wet chin from it and even though he is cleaning himself after it is leaving his fur a bit matted looking. I don't want to give him a skin problem! I've tried filling it to the brim and not filling it much and both ways he still gets wet!
 
Maybe try a different size bowl? If he has a 'standard' rabbit size one, try a bigger 'dog' size one which has a bigger surface area. Any ceramic bowl will do, so you could try some different ones that you already have (eg cereal bowl, fruit bowl, ice cream tub) to see if any work better, then buy something similar just for him.
 
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