Feather

Well I went and spent a fortune today on some urinalysis test strips to check Feather. The results have left me a bit confused. I was expecting a result suggesting diabetes or kidney failure, but I got neither. He's negative for ketones, glucose and bilrubin. His urobilinogen and protein levels are normal (at 0.2/dl and 0.3g/l respectively). pH is at 8.5. The only abnormal reading was for large amounts of blood, which well, you can see when he pees anyway.

None of that explains the weight loss... His cage mate (Fortinbras) is as fat as ever so it's not an environmental issue, and neither is territorial about their food bowls.

So I still have no idea. Though the tests did make me feel better. If it was kidney failure or diabetes his symptoms would place him at the end stage which would show up clearly on the test strips.

The Ural is having some affect, he's still showing pain when he pees but it's a lot less then it was. Also now that there is no sign of kidney damage he's on pain medication. According to the probabilities this is more then likely a UTI, at eleven months old Feather is very very young to develop bladder/kidney stones but they aren't out of the range of possibilities.

So we'll get him through today and tomorrow and if there's still blood he's off to the vets on Monday, probably for an ultrasound and a course of baytril. It's times like this I am ever so grateful for the savings I have that are specifically for veterinary bills.

Weight wise Feather was 827g yesterday morning and rose to 840g by eleven at night. This morning he was 825g at 8am but now at 11 is closer to 840g. Which shows that he is still eating which is really the important bit.

Edited to Add: I forgot (again) that we have seven day vets up here. So Feather's booked in for tomorrow morning at one of the bigger vet centres. They apparently have a rabbit expert there which is a lot close to pigs then a dog expert but still. Anyway I'll post up how it went. Poor lil guy.