Rabbit orange mystery liquid

Question
Hello Mr. Meyer, Pumpkin my mini rex doe is a year old in February. I have recently noticed some sort of orangy/red liquid staining her underbelly and nesting area. This has been going on and off every couple weeks. Her sister doesn't seem to have this issue even though they share their hutch. They are also show quality with no problems anywhere in their pedigree history. I'm new to owning rabbits and am very concerned. Any help is much appreciated.

Answer
Hi,

the pigment of whatever you're feeding her is in her urine.  Carrots in particular.  

Lots of times urine staining like this occurs because the rabbit is overweight.  I am a mini-rex owner and you have to be extremely careful about diet and calories with mini-rexes, they are genetically able to put on weight faster than any other breed.  It is very easy for rexes to become overweight without you even noticing it.  The problem can manifest itself as urine scald because they have too much fat around the belly and hit themselves when they go to the bathroom.

The other time this can happen is if they have leg/back injuries and can't lift themselves up enough to miss the urine stream.

As she's one year old, she's now an adult and will have stopped growing.  If she's on anything alfalfa that needs to end and she should only have timothy hay products from now on.  High calorie items like carrots and other sugary fruits and treats need to be pared back a lot.  Anything with sugars as ingredients need to be stopped.  Natural sugar items need to be decreased greatly.  It would not be so drastic if she wasn't a mini-rex but they tend have to have less amounts than others because of their ability to put on weight.

I call my rabbits 'punkin', or 'pumpkin' as a general term of endearment, among others.