rabbits urinating blood

Question
Our older female rabbit has been passing small amounts of blood when she urinates.  She was adopted from a pet store, so I don't know much about her.  I didn't think rabbits came into heat showing blood.  Is this a major urinary tract infection?  How would you treat it?

Answer
Hi Shannon,

several things to mention.

First, are you sure it's blood?  Often dyes in the foods they eat color their urine orange or orange-red.  Many times when people/rabbits pass blood in the urine, you can't even see it and it can only be confirmed by a lab test.  

Second, if she truly is spotting blood, it signals a real medical problem for her.  It could be a urinary tract infection but more likely something is wrong in her uterus - you do say she is still intact.  If she is older, she may have uterine cancer.

Regardless of what it is (excpet if it's dyes in her food) you will want to get her into your normal good rabbit vet immediately.  If she does have uterine cancer, she will need to be spayed to save her pain and to prolong her life.

If she's in good health otherwise, and your vet is a good rabbit vet, she should be able to pull through the operation okay.  I'd try to get her scheduled as soon as possible, though, as the longer you wait, the weaker she'll become and her strength reserves will be taxed because it will be impacting her health.  She'll need as much strength she can have to recover well from the operation.  So don't wait very long.

If you don't have a good rabbit vet go to:

www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society-recommended vet in your area.

Lee