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  • Case Report
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Urinary abnormalities in a mini rex rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Lab Animal volume 42, pages 283–285 (2013)Cite this article

This case report involves a privately owned, 9-y-old, neutered, male mini rex rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). The rabbit was presented to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. It was housed indoors in a wire-bottom cage and had a litter box filled with aspen shavings. The rabbit's diet consisted of timothy hay ad libitum; 3 tbsp of a commercial alfalfa-based pellet daily; a slice of banana, a slice of carrot and some parsley offered twice per day; and water ad libitum. The rabbit received no additional vitamin or mineral supplements. Weighing 2.42 kg, the rabbit was clinically obese with a body condition score of 4 out of 5 and was not well groomed.

Differential diagnoses for the radio-opaque material in the urinary bladder include cystic calculi or hypercalciuria. No distinct cystic calculi were evident on the radiographs, so this was ruled out. (Though not performed in this case, ultrasonography can also aid in ruling out a diagnosis of cystic calculi.) We identified the mineral opaque material in the distended bladder as calcium carbonate sludge. Taken together with our finding upon physical examination that the rabbit passed brown, sludgy material in the urine, these radiographic findings indicate a diagnosis of hypercalciuria, commonly called 'bladder sludge'.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: Radiographs of distended urinary bladder in a male mini rex rabbit.
Figure 3: Urine collected via catheterization under general anesthesia after flushing the bladder with sterile saline.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

    Bridget B. Baker &  Christopher S. Hanley

  2. Animal Health Department, Saint Louis Zoo, St. Louis, MO

    Christopher S. Hanley

Authors
  1. Bridget B. Baker
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  2. Christopher S. Hanley
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Correspondence to Christopher S. Hanley.

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Baker, B., Hanley, C. Urinary abnormalities in a mini rex rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Lab Anim 42, 283–285 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.189

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