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Forum DIET & CARE Is he sick or am I just worrying?

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    • rhianna
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        Recently I’ve noticed a few behavior changes with Bear. First of all, he’s finally about 90% litterbox trained (yay) but he does still pee beside the litterbox sometimes. I’ve read that this is a signal of a urinary problem but I’m not sure if he’s just doing it because he’s still not fully trained. Second, when I see his pee on the floor beside the litterbox, I notice that it ranges from a milky yellow to an almost red color. I found that this means he’s getting too much calcium and iron in his diet. Lastly, the past few days I think he’s been drinking more than usual. It might just be because he has just recently gained free range of my bedroom so he get more exercise now?

        He’s about 1 year and 4 months old, he’s average weight for a lionhead (3lbs 4oz). His weight has decreased very slightly since I got him 3 months ago (his initial vet visit he weighed 3lbs 6oz) but since that time he’s been switched to less fatty food and given hay (he wasn’t given hay before I adopted him). He’s fed on Oxbow Bunny Basics T adult rabbit food (timothy based), has free access to timothy hay which he was fussy about in the past but he’s been eating it a lot more in the past month or so. He doesn’t get veggies regularly because he has a “funny tummy”. He gets one Oxbow Multivitamin tab per day, and for treats I give him the leftover pellets from his old food (kaytee fiesta) and the occasional carrot, dry fruit, or fresh fruit. His litter box is lined with cattle quality hay which contains mostly timothy hay with a small amount of oat hay and alfalfa, and he will nibble on it here and there, but I really don’t think it’s enough alfalfa to significantly affect his calcium intake, is it?

        Hopefully I’m just worried over nothing but I definitely want to make sure he’s alright. He’s my first bunny so I’m not very experienced with rabbit illnesses and things other than what I’ve read online. 

        He’s completely healthy any happy otherwise; very energetic and still has plenty of an appetite. 


      • Bam
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          The colours of bunny-pee are many. What you describe is NOT worrying. Rabbits eliminate excess calcium via the urine. That’s why their pee sometimes is chalky. It’s normal, all animals eliminate excess calcium but most do it via the feces.

          Orange, reds, yellows are caused by various plant-pigments. F ex dandelion greens give very bright orange/red coloured urine. Rabbits can also suddenly expel porphyrins for “unknown reason”. It’s not abnormal or bad.

          Chalky urine is ok, sludge isn’t. But all this and more is found in f ex this article: http://www.rabbit.org/health/urolith.html

          What causes him to pee outside the box I don’t know. Some bunnies are easier to litter-train than others. Are the walls of the litter-box high enough? Bunnies can pee surprisingly high. I had that problem with my bunnies, but it stopped when I got them proper cat-litterboxes with fairly high walls and tops that sort of bend inwards. I use wood stove-pellets as litter, they absorb the pee quickly. Yesterday’s news is good too.
           


        • rhianna
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            Thank you so much for relieving my worries. I haven’t seen sludgy urine, just the colors I described. Though he hasn’t had dandelion in quite sometime so I’m not sure where the reddish orange colored urine is coming from..

            His litterbox is a deep dish pan, about 6 inches tall. When he does pee in it then it stays in there, the walls are quite a bit taller than him. I’ve actually caught him “in the act” of peeing beside the litter box a few times. I guess he’s just being a brat though! I also use wood pellets for his litter, though they’re marketed as cat litter, I’m sure they aren’t much different than the kind you use. I do find that they are very absorbent.

            One thing I just thought of and I should’ve mentioned in the first post, is he used to have a second smaller litter box next to the main one. When he had that second box he was 100% litter trained, but I moved it to outside of the cage so he’d have one when he’s free roaming and now he’s peeing next to the litter box in the cage, where the second one used to be. Do you think he doesn’t even realize that it’s gone? I’m considering getting another litter box to put there and see if that was the problem.


          • Elrohwen
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              Sounds very normal! Bunny pee has a wide range of colors and a milky yellow isn’t a cause for concern.

              Could he be peeing over the side of the box? Is there something absorbent he’s peeing on? Maybe he’s eating hay from the box without being in it, and then just pees because eating hay = bathroom time?

              My two are almost perfect with their litter habits and never go anywhere in the house, but they both go right next to the litter box. My solution was to put the litter boxes into a plastic pet store cage, where it is easy to wipe up.


            • Bam
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                I think it’s very likely that your bunny pees where his old box used to be. In my experience, f a bunny decides it’s time to go to the bathroom and the litter-box is being cleaned or for some other reason moved away, the bunny goes to the bathroom where the litterbox normally is. It’s like the place is more important than the actual litter-box.

                When I litterbox-trained my bunnies I let them choose their bathroom places first, then put their boxes in those places (after cleaning up, obviously). A bit gross, but if a bunny has decided where the toilet is, a human has no business changing the location of his toilet =)


              • rhianna
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                  I definitely think the reason he’s peeing there is because it’s where the other litter box was. He does still use that litter box where it is now but he also pees where it used to be. I’ve just been wiping it up and putting the paper towel in the litter boxes as I did when I originally litter trained him, though if he doesn’t stop in the next few days then I’ll likely get another litter box for that spot. Or I may use the base from my rats’ old cage as a litter box for him instead (it’s about twice the size of each of his current litter boxes). That way it’ll cover the whole area but there won’t be the hassle of having two separate litter boxes in the same place. My only concern is that it really took up a lot of space in his pen to have two litter boxes, since I moved him to a smaller pen once he gained access of my room (he’s only in it at night). I’m afraid that with 1/3 of the pen being litter box, and another 1/3 being his “bedroom” area with fleece and a hidey house, there won’t be much room for toys and food dishes! Well I guess I’ll just have to try it out and see how it goes Thanks for all of the help!


                • manic_muncher
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                    I’m gonna chime in here! Must agree with the spot being their decision. I do not like the spot Bumpy has chosen! I have been very VERY slowly sliding his litterbox over to where -I- want it. This has been going on for 3 months now. I have managed to successfully slide the box almost 16 inches!

                    I’ve been set back twice due to my own impatience. 6inches in one go is TOO much, and I have had to start over from the beginning. I also was set back another time because when I clean his box, he doesn’t want to use it, so choosing to also slide it over 3 inches right after cleaning was just asking for failure, which yes, I successfully failed! LOL

                    It’s very hard to have the litterbox SO CLOSE to where I want it to be and not just be able to slide it over. Need to clean his box later today sometime. I think I will try to push it over another 3 inches and put something heavy next to it. Another 6 inches to the wall to go, then to rotate 90 degrees and we’ll be set! Maybe I’ll get it there by summer?


                  • rhianna
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                      Thanks a good idea, manic_muncher! I could definitely imagine him being angry if you aren’t extremely careful though
                      Last night I switch his cage litter box with the large cage base, and in the 9 hours or so of him being in there through the night, there’s not a single puddle outside of the litter box! I really think that it was just a matter of that spot being where the old litter box went.
                      Usually what I’ve done when moving his cage or switching him to a new one (we’ve been through that several time trying to find the right setup for him) I’ll put him in the cage while I’m putting things back in, such as toys and stuff, and wait for him to pee somewhere. Then I’ll wipe it up and put the litterbox there, placing the paper towel I used for wiping it up into the litterbox. Of course this probably wouldn’t work for territorial bunnies who don’t like you messing around in their cage!
                      If I ever decide that I don’t like where he’s chosen, I’ll use that idea of sliding it slowly to my chosen spot!

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                  Forum DIET & CARE Is he sick or am I just worrying?