bladder control

Question
QUESTION: I have a rabbit who was litter trained that had the hallway with carpeting when I was away at work.  One day after work I noticed he couldn't hop and was dragging his hind legs.  X-rays showed no fractures.  He was given steroids,and another met and confined his movement.  Luckily his mobility is returned about 90+%.  The problem is he is no longer litter box trained in fact lies in his dropping and no longer can control his urination (possibly)  I express him 2-3 times daily.  If i don't urine will be expelled anytime he does anything active or if his bladder gets to full. When this happens he never cleans himself and it is but bath time.  How is rabbit urination controlled.  In humans I know it is the pelvic floor.  Obviously he is not free roam he gets an hour or two after I express him before i worry about urine all over the floor.  Do you think perhaps he has lost sensation or the bladder or do you think it is muscular.  Any hope for controll in the future?  It has been about 5 months.

ANSWER: Dear Barbara,

It's lucky your bunny got his mobility back after the steroids, which suggests that the problem may have been due to trauma.  Other causes of urinary incontinence and hind limb paresis can be reviewed here, and I'd recommend this, since it's still possible that your bunny may be showing early signs of Encephalitozoon cuniculi infection:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/paresis.html

Your bunny evidently has some damage to the innervation of his bladder.  This could be due to the trauma he may have suffered, or still could be due to E. cuniculi, or even to a different urinary tract problem, which you can read about here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/urinary.html

I would recommend you get him to a good, rabbit-savvy vet and ask about E. cuniculi, and whether it would be wise to put your bunny on Panacur (fenbendazole) or ponazuril to halt the progression of this pernicious parasite.  

To keep bun clean and comfortable in the meantime, please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/buttbath.html

To save your carpet, you might want to spread 100% cotton, traction-backed mats (great variety and prices at Marshall's, Target, etc.) so he'll pee on those and not your carpet.  They're also more absorbent than carpet, so will keep him more dry and comfortable while the situation is being medicated.

I hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Do you have any good recommendations what I could read to learn more about rabbit anatomy especially the urinary/nervous system?

Answer
Dear Barbara,

There aren't many books out regarding general rabbit anatomy that are not lab manuals for dissection or just veterinary textbooks and reference books.  Most are expensive.  If you're willing to spend some money, here are a few good choices:

The Biology of the Laboratory Rabbit (Manning, Ringler and Newcomer):
http://www.amazon.com/Biology-Laboratory-Rabbit-Daniel-Ringler/dp/0124692354/ref

Textbook of Rabbit Medicine (Harcourt-Brown) http://www.amazon.com/Textbook-Rabbit-Medicine-Frances-Harcourt-Brown/dp/0750640

If you want more of an overview, some of the web sites here might help:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rabbit+anatomy&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

and

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rabbit+urinary+tract&btnG=Search

Hope this helps.

Dana