rabbit thirst and urination problem

Question
Hi,
I have a 4 yr old Rex who suddenly started drinking excessively ( his whole water bottle as soon as it is filled) and it is very hard to keep the cage cleaned with all this extra urination.  WE have tried limited his water but he always seems very thirsty.  Any ideas?  THanks alot!!


Answer
Dear Jill,

Whatever you do, do NOT limit his water availability!  If he is suffering from what I think he has, witholding water will kill him--and possibly very quickly.

Excessive urination and excessive drinking (or polyuria/polydypsia (PU/PD), as your vet would call it) can be a sign of a very serious ailment:  renal disease, or even renal failure.  The only way this can be accurately diagnosed is via bloodwork to check the bunny's B.U.N. (blood urea nitrogen), creatinine, and some electrolyte levels, which will be abnormal if the kidneys are failing.

If your bunny is in renal failure there is no cure.  But if the blood values are very high, subcutaneous fluid therapy may help get them down to a manageable level.  My own preference is to let the bunny manage his/her own fluid intake for as long as possible, and give only the subQ fluids necessary to keep him comfortable.  Aggressive fluid therapy can throw all kinds of other physiological values out of whack, and can sometimes hasten the onset of terminal symptoms.

You can find a good vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope the bloodwork comes back normal, and bun is just drinking because he's bored or hot.  But this much water (anything significantly more than about 100ml/kg per day) does sound suspicious.

I hope this helps.

Dana