Suddenly pooping on the couch

[Tam]

We got Charlie about 5 months ago and we have never had any problems with him being litter trained. He has never even marked outside of his litter tray until the past week. He is free in the apartment for most of the day and we just put him in his cage at the same time every night. He has recently picked up the habbit of pooping on the couch. Not just a litle bit of marking, but right out pooping. It is really weird for him because he has never pooped outside of the litter box before.

Any ideas as to where this new bad behaviour is coming from?

 

Frustrated Mummy

[bunnyfriend]

 How old is he and is he neutered? 

[Tam]

Yeah he is neutered. He is about a year old

[Monkeybun]

Couches smell strongly of us humans, being as we sit on them alot. So he is wanting to make it smell more like him. You can either keep him off the couch, or just wait til he is done marking

[lashkay]

At least it isn’t pee! Yuck! Poops dry quickly and become like little dried peas that you can just brush off into the waste basket or vacuum off. Beware of a return visit by him though and return markings!

[Tam]

It doesn’t seem like he is marking though. He is straight out piling. And he did pee a couple of times when we were away yesterday (luckily the couch is leather so it was easy to clean!). It is weird he used to come on the couch all the time and we never had any problems until a few days ago.

[lashkay]

My aunt used to use a plastic couch protector on her sofa to protect against guests’ spilled drinks, etc. If you’re concerned about your couch, that’s an idea although it’s not for everybody, I know.

[lashkay]

I’m wondering if since you just designated his ‘new’ litterbox after having recently removed all the bedding from his flooring, he is further claiming your couch that’s nice and cushy and smells of you as his second litterbox? it sounds it, because of the piling. Rabbits pile their poops – and pee too – in their litterpan area and if they successfully learn to use a litterbox, in their litterbox. I don’t think it would hurt to try using a solution of 50% water/50% vinegar on the couch, and see if he ceases using it as a litterbox. That’s what people wipe areas with that the rabbits pee on that they don’t want them to pee on anymore.

[avarismom1]

Yup, it is better than peeing – which is what Hoppers Hoppers has decided to do every single time I let him out – must run to couch and pee all over it I think I need a plastic couch cover!

[Tam]

It was a couple of months ago that we solved the litterbox/tray problem, but I will give that a try with the vinegar.

Apparently today it became an all-out war with my husband shooing him off the couch and him trying his hardest any way he could to get back on it. As soon as he left the room he jumped up, pooped, then jumped back down. It is just so weird that this behaviour has come on so suddenly.

[jerseygirl]

He sounds like a character despite this new habit of his!

Try think over what has changed or was different to the norm from when this started. Any visitors to your house? New noises outside. Your husband or you wearing new scent or using new product, laundry detergent? It might seem like it can’t be related but your bunny may be reacting to something. Even something seemingly benign as a new house plant positioned near the couch.

[littlemissflip]

Captain Danger used to ALWAYS pee on our couch… even after he was neutered and had stopped peeing everywhere else in the house, he would consistently jump up on the couch and pee… sometimes he’d mark with poo too, but urine is a bigger problem. It was so annoying!

Our solution was to barricade the couch anytime we weren’t using it. We’d push the coffee table up against the couch and block the sides off with pillows, so that he couldn’t jump up there. After about a year of doing this pretty consistently, he just got out of the habit of jumping up there, and now we no longer have to bother with barricading the couch.

[MayaConsuelo]

Mr. Bun-Bun did this too… first with the couch, then with the bed. Vinegar doesn’t deter him, if anything, once the area is wiped down with vinegar he immediately tries to mark it again to return it to “his” smell.
I would love to hang out with him on the couch and the bed. If he jumps up there I let him play around for a minute and then shoo him off. Any longer and there will be pee. Once they think of an area as their litterbox, that’s what it will always be. I’d advise to keep the couch blocked. Also, I had a leather couch (not anymore) and it was kind of old, but Mr. Bun-Bun started tugging at it and EATING chunks of it. Don’t have it anymore, so that problem is solved!

[Tam]

Yeah we have been blocking off the couch area for the past week so he doesn’t poop on it. It sucks though because we had just got him to the point where he was comfortable enough to lay down and chill on the couch with us (he did it once or twice), and now we can’t do that because all of a sudden he has got in this bad pooping habbit who doesn’t want their bun to chill on the couch with them? that would be so awesome! alas I think I will have to be satisfied with sitting on the floor.

[littlemissflip]

I know… I loved it when Captain Danger would jump on on the couch to hang with us, but we’d always end up getting doused with urine, so… yeah. Now I just sit on the floor with him instead.

[Author]

Messages