Urinary disease is common in pet rabbits and causes significant welfare harm, often linked to inadequate diet and housing that predisposes to calcium imbalance.
Urinary disease in rabbits causes chronic pain and discomfort that is frequently missed because rabbits hide illness effectively. Painful urination leads to urine retention, increasing the risk of bladder wall inflammation and infection. Perineal urine scalding from thick chalky urine deposits causes painful skin irritation. The primary cause - excessive dietary calcium from pellets and calcium-rich vegetables at the expense of hay - is entirely preventable through owner education. Many rabbit owners still feed predominantly pellets, which was the recommendation of a previous generation of rabbit husbandry advice that has since been superseded. Transitioning rabbits to hay-predominant diets dramatically reduces hypercalciuria incidence and represents a simple, high-impact welfare improvement.