A rabbit is a very clean animal: it makes room in its cage for a toilet and only pees and poops there. If a rabbit has a bladder problem, he or she often becomes unclean, pees all over the cage and sometimes even outside the cage. The urine also often has a different color as a result of blood admixture.
Causes of red urine
Urine can become red or brown in rabbits when pigments (colorants) are present in the urine. These colorants can come from food, or can be formed by the body itself. In addition to pigments, there are other causes of red urine in rabbits. There may actually be blood in the urine. This blood can come from the urinary tract, such as the kidneys or the bladder, but in non-sterilized female rabbits it can also come from the uterus. The cause of blood in the urine can have several causes. For example, there may be a bladder infection, possibly with bladder grit and bladder stones, a uterine infection or a tumor. If no abnormalities, such as a bladder stone, can be seen on an X-ray, then a tumor is also a good possibility as an underlying cause. A tumor can be demonstrated by means of an ultrasound or laparoscopy. In order to prevent a doe (female rabbit) from developing uterine tumors at a later age, we advise to have a doe (at a young age) castrated.
It is also possible that there is hemoglobin in the urine. This is the red pigment from red blood cells. When the body breaks down its own healthy red blood cells, this can become visible in the urine. However, we rarely see this in rabbits and we often see signs of anemia.
Uterine cancer diagnosis explained
Many people are unaware of this, but uterine cancer is the most common form of cancer in rabbits. The older a female rabbit gets, the greater the chance of uterine cancer (more than 50 percent of does over the age of four have uterine cancer). Usually the first thing you notice is that the rabbit is losing blood from the vagina or has fresh blood when the rabbit has finished urinating. Sometimes a doe does not lose any blood at all, but becomes thinner and more lethargic, and occasionally an owner suddenly finds the rabbit dead in the cage. If you catch it in time, the rabbit can be saved with an operation, but this operation is not without risk because the rabbits are often in bad shape when the disease is discovered.
