Bladder Expressing Part 1

I first position Cocoa with his hind legs in a squat under his abdomen as naturally as possible. This helps with bladder muscle contraction. I then place my hands between the end of the rib cage and the hip bones with my fingers spread and reaching beneath the hips downward encompassing the bladder. I then press my fingers together gently, starting with slight pressure then increasing the pressure gently.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• disabled
• rabbit
• bladder
• urine
• expressing
• elderly

[cocoa3c]

Hi Evelyn, from what you're describing, it sounds like your rabbit's urine is sort of thick, a bit chalky? When it dries, is there sort of a powder left behind?

Usually it is diet related...it isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can indicate that your rabbit is excreting excess minerals in his diet...mainly calcium. Rabbits tend to pee out what their body doesn't need. It can irritate the bladder my scraping the bladder wall, or sometimes rabbits can get bladder stones.

[cocoa3c]

Reducing calcium in their daily diet can help decrease the "sludge" as it is called, though some rabbits can be sludgy no matter how much you cut down...it's still something that people don't totally understand.

What type and amount of pellets are you feeding? Alfalfa based pellets are high in calcium and once a rabbit is full grown (seven months and up), they don't need that rich or as much of that pellet.

[cocoa3c]

Amounts should be rationed 1/4 to 1/3 cup pellets per five pounds of rabbit per day. You could gradually switch to a timothy pellet. Is Lucky getting greens daily? Some have more calcium: kale & dill are higher. Make sure your rabbit's drinks well. Water crocks are better for drinking than bottles. Exercise is important too. They need two good hours of running around each day. Early morning/evening are the natural times for rabbits to run around. My boy loved to spend some time outdoors.

[DREAMDachshunds]

Great job.

[cocoa3c]

Thank you!

[nefertt]

really good video... we had to go to the vet to figure this one out, and that seemed overly expensive.

this is such a good resource for people!

[cocoa3c]

Thanks...glad to be of service. You'll get the feel for telling whether or not the bladder is full.

[Evelyn2Cute1]

Hi I have a question, my rabbit,Lucky, is 1 year old and it's urine is yellow like paint (not translucent or even transparent) is this normal? or is it because of the food it eats or because it's sick?

[nefertt]

our bunny was paralyzed a year ago and we thought we were going to have to put her down (the vet told us if she didn't pee we would have to put her down because that was "no life for her") so we cried all day and held her tight, then thought, hell they must be able to put in a catheter or something!

we ended up finding a small animal vet that showed us basically this, but it was a lot of hassle and tears until we did.

hopefully others will see this video before traumatizing themselves too much.

[roslynlamb]

It's a different group The Natural Rabbit.

Thanks

Ros