new to rabbits

[mdoerge]

My son just got two adorable Holland Lops yesterday. Both appear healthy to my uneducated eye. My question is about urine color. My son had them out hopping around and the male peed. The urine was a cloudy/milky yellow/gold. I guess my concern is that it wasn't clear. Is this normal?

 

[1stepcloser]

Yup. Our rabbits always had cloudy (and stinky) pee. LOL

 

[mdoerge]

Thanks!

 

[txchickie]

Totally normal!

 

[chinbunny]

its just calcium n the urine.its normal.

 

[Mrs.Doolittle]

Hi, glad you've got some bunnies - I've had quite a few over the years (no buns at moment though). They do have cloudy pee - watch out for your carpet if they come indoors! You know you can easily train bunnies to use litter trays just like a cat - they will use it more for peeing than pooing, but all you need is a dustpan & brush to sweep up the droppings. Lots of people have house rabbits. One of mine used the cat-flap in the back door to come in & out, & liked to lie down on the sofa with me & my cat & nod off to sleep. Very cute. I had a little Netherland Dwarf called Hamish who lived quite happily in a big enclosure with my Guinea-pigs & chickens. He liked snuggling up with one of my chickys - Hyacinth - & I even saw her put her wing over him once! Sooooo sweet!

Hamish had a deep box of earth which I gave him to dig in - he loved his "diggy-box".

Please, please, please be aware of the dreaded 'fly-strike' in summer. If you've never had bunnies before you may not know about it - but apologies if you have. I'll mention it anyway, if only for others to read. I'm sorry - I don't mean to put the dampers on your new-found joy as a rabbit owner, but so many rabbits, guinea-pigs etc. must die unnecessarily because people just don't know about it. I suppose it could happen to chickens too, I don't know.

In summer flies can lay eggs on soiled fur around the rabbit's bottom. The eggs hatch into horrid little maggots which start eating into the flesh - if not spotted & dealt with early enough it can be disastrous. The best thing is to keep your bunnies' hutch really clean, make sure your bunnies have got clean bottoms - clip the fur if necessary! You can get some anti-larval powder from the vet or farm suppiers (they use it on sheep cos they can get fly-strike). The stuff I had was called Negasunt, but don't know if it'd be the same in the USA. I used to powder their bums with it & it was good stuff. I could tell just by their different-to-normal behaviour if one of my rabbits had fly-strike - it has happened despite my best efforts. They look uncomfortable, nervous, sitting awkwardly & keep turning round to bite/scratch the irritation. When Lupin had it I sat her up on my lap so I could get a good look. Some newly-laid eggs (little clusters of creamy-white things, like mini grains of rice) could be easily removed - you've got to be be absolutely sure they've all gone. When I discovered maggots, I had to take her indoors & put her in the bath with warm salty water which made most of the maggots drop off. Then I got the shower head, & with my huband's help, sat her up against the side of the bath & blasted the remaining maggots off with copious amounts of warm water & used a cotton bud (Q-tip) to hoik out maggots from folds of skin.

It was all very unpleasant for us & Lupin, but it had to be done. So, just enjoy your bunnies, they will bring you lots of pleasure, but make sure they've got clean bums!

 

[chinbunny]

Also a good org to get involved with is www.arba.net they have a lot of good rabbit information to share. They also promote showing, 4h, and lot sof other things involving rabbits.