Stop my spayed bunny peeing on the sofa!!!

[Bessaliah]

Someone must have an answer to this… my gorgeous new bunny is litter trained and uses her tray to poop and pee in however, recently she has taken to peeing on the sofa and occasionally on the carpet, now, this evening she peed on my daughter’s duvet!  Naughty rabbit! 

Can anyone tell me if there is anything I can put down on the areas she favours which will put her off doing this?  Say vinegar or some strongly scented essential oil??? Does that work – anything else anyone knows about?  It’s difficult to catch her at it because she only does it when no one is in the room – it’s like she knows we’ll be cross.

My bunny is roughly 2-3 years old she was a rescue rabbit so we don’t know for sure how old she is but I do know that she has been spayed.  We’ve had her around 6 weeks now and at first she didn’t do any of this. 

One other thing, why do blankets, cushions and brushes make her mad?  She scrabbles away at them like shes possessed!  Is it a game or is she trying to hump them?

Any info would be gratefully received!  Thank you.

[Balefulregards]

She’s claiming territory. Places like couches and bed smell most like you – so she is covering your scent with hers. She wants to let you know that she is top bunny and you shouldn’t forget it. Its happening now because she is starting to trust you all and realize she is living there, not just visiting, or being prepared for “dinner”.

Coco was excellent after her spay…for awhile, then went through a real tear with peeing on my bed…but only my husbands side and his pillow too.
It was purely territorial. She wanted him to know that the bed was HERS and mine, but not His. She also felt he wasn’t honoring her enough with attention, so he had to ramp up the nose rubs.

As to digging – I don’t have a digger ( I have a chewer) but it may be play. She may have been designated as “Prime tunnel digger” had she been in a warren with rabbits. They may also smell more like you. Coco does occasionally dug at my pillows, but it seems like she thinks something is back there that she needs to Clear out of the way in case of escape!

When you say brushes, do you mean like brooms? Because Coco was MOST aggravated at brooms for while. She would growl and chase them – until she just realized they weren’t trying to eat her, just sweeping up after her mess.

[RabbitPam]

You might have to limit her areas that she’s allowed out until she gets trained to go in her litter pan, and only that. Territorial peeing is the likely reason, but she still needs to learn that it is definitely not OK. The room might need to be off limits for a while, so the area she has use of is more manageable. Sometimes too much space at first leads to destructive behaviors. Also, try giving her an out-of-the-cage litter box so she can opt to go in that rather than pee where she is or have to go back to the cage. A safe little corner of the room might be helpful as a location for a spare pan. When you see her lift her tail while she’s out, put her in it and praise her if she goes.

[Bessaliah]

Great answers – thanks!  This would make sense as the sofa and duvet in question are both used a lot by my 10 year old daughter who gives our rabbit Bessie loads and loads of love and attention.  As a result Bessie follows her around and seems to favour her over anyone else.

Bessie also chases and bites brooms – they send her crazy!

Does registering disapproval – ie a shout – help when she’s done the deed?

 

[Beka27]

It may help to speak sternly to her right before it happens, it might stop her, but I’m not sure that she’ll connect it with peeing after the fact. Some people have also used plastic shower curtains on the bed or sofa when they weren’t available to supervise closely. What has worked for some was to “allow” the bunny to mark a blanket over the shower curtain for a few days so they know their scent is on the couch, and then when they are satisfied and stop marking, remove the blanket and shower curtain.

[PEPPA GEORGIE]

You could try picking her up without a word and putting her straight away then look at her and turn your back on her this is apparently in bunny language the sign you are really angry with her. Also as she will have lost freedom straight away because of it she should start to associate it xxx Also might just be a phase and she may just stop xx Good luck, peppa peed over my shoulder when i was sat on the sofa i was not happy xxlol

[MooBunnay]

I am one of the ones that used the shower curtain idea. In the end, I really just had to not allow my bunnies up on the couch or bed because they just loved covering up my scent with theirs Also, they were free roam and it was starting to get a little embarassing to be sleeping under a shower curtain….

[SirThumpsey]

Sir Thumps a lot tends to dig at my blanket when it hangs off the bed like he is possessed. It’s as if he is trying to move it but can’t figure out how. I’m pretty sure it is simular to digging.

He also started peeing on my pillows so hopefully we both can find a solution to this.

[Karla]

Karl did the same about 2 weeks after he was spayed. Suddenly he began to pee in the couch and other places…I solved it by removing the things he was marking and refusing him access to the living room for 1-2 weeks. I still get nervous ticks when I see him on the couch, but he has been well behaved since then.

I think it is a phase. So I think you should remove access to these things for a while.

I don’t know why cushions should make your bunny mad. If it is my pillow he finds on the floor, Karl will just lick it for hours, while other cushions will also start some kind of digging and chewing madness – I think Karl is just doing it for entertainment. I am sure your bunny feels the same.

But I would also guess that maybe your bunny thinks the things are in her way. If Karl is annoyed with something on the floor, he is quite good at lifting and moving it. And that does entail some chewing and scrabling as well. If I move it somewhere else, then he doesn’t care – he just doesn’t want it RIGHT THERE!

[Shashiefee]

Thanks for all this info.  I have a house bunny (a mini lop) who is now 8 months old. She is called Dixie.  She has a cage but has the roam of my living room and is completely toilet trained. She goes back into her cage and uses her litter tray whenever she needs. However lately she has realised she can now jump onto the sofa next to me and is having great fun exploring the sofa. She takes a run and jump then dives onto the sofa, jumping on and off my lap. But every time she is up there she pees and today pee’d on me! I read here that is is terrotorial which makes sense. I’ll try the technique of lifting her up straight away when she pees, lift her up and stare at her then put her back in cage and sit on the toilet.  Maybe if I keep doing that she will stop…

[Beka27]

Shashiefee, welcome to BinkyBunny. 🙂

We ask that members do not reply to older threads (older than 1-2 months old). This thread is from 2009.

You’re more than welcome to use the search function and READ old threads for info/advice, but if you’re having an issue, please start a new post with your info in the appropriate section.

I’m going to lock this thread.

[Author]

Messages