Case File

Ruby is a 6-year-old rabbit who came to see us early this year because she was passing blood in her urine.  Initially she was treated for cystitis, but the blood didn’t stop coming, so further examinations were performed. The abdominal palpation which was initially unremarkable progressed to being a little bit uncomfortable, and then eventually we were able to feel a tubular structure in her abdomen. At this point, we were concerned about cancer in her uterus.

Uterine adenocarcinoma affects up to 80% of entire female rabbits over the age of 3 and it commonly spreads to other body parts if left untreated.  The lungs are one of the most common organs affected by metastasis (cancer spreading), so along with imaging of the abdomen we performed chest x-rays to make sure the disease hadn’t spread yet.

Abdominal x-rays and ultrasound confirmed the presence of two enlarged tubular structures suspected to be the two horns of the uterus, and luckily the chest x-rays were clear. We went ahead and performed surgery. During the surgery we were able to confirm that the uterus looked abnormal, and so it was removed.

Ruby recovered quickly from surgery and now eight months later she is still her happy bunnyself.