HELP!!! Covered in rabbit pee . . .

[Cindy]

I love my little bunny very much, but I am beyond frustrated with litter training her! We started her off in a cage when my husband found her abandoned near a parking lot. Slowly she learned to use a litter corner in her cage, and started venturing out of her cage for longer and longer periods. Eventually we set up a litter box for her in the living room, which she started using exclusively, never really getting back in the cage once she was comfortable exploring the apartment. She still had a few accidents here and there, but started going a few days in between accidents. We then had her spayed, both for her health and in the hopes it would stop the territorial marking. The worst was (and is) her habit of hopping up on our bed and peeing! We then got rid of the cage and replaced it with the litter box in the bedroom, which she did ok with but did start having a few more accidents in the living room as she got used to it. We also had two small children stay with us a few days, and though they left her alone, the noise and commotion probably threw her off. Now we have settled into a calm routine again, and her peeing seems to be getting worse! She just peed all over the bed again, and then after I cleaned it up, she hopped over to me, saw I had no treats for her, and peed right next to my foot. She seems to do this most often after searching for treats and not finding any, and it sure seems to be on purpose! I would love to continue letting our little girl have free run of the house as our cats do, but enough is enough! I am moving her litter box back out to the living room, and keeping the bedroom off limits from now on, though I know another change will probably throw her off again. It has only been 2.5 weeks since her spay, and I have read it can take a month and a half for the spay to kick in hormonally and reduce the need for territorial marking. I read advice for another poster on this site to rub a cloth with her scent over the areas she is marking, will try that. After reading the house rabbit handbook, I really want to give her the same freedom that Herman had, but I am at my limit with rabbit pee!!! Any advice or tips from you bunny experts would be greatly appreciated.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Sounds like you’ve had quite a few changes-the spay, the kids, the change in litter boxes etc.
Block off access to your bed, I have no idea why (we can guess but we don’t know) but they pee on soft nice beds. Add a shower curtain to the top of your bed, it will protect it and deter her.
Give her some time to adjust, in the meantime clean the pee really well and add poops and the pee paper towel (from cleaning) to her litter boxes.

[Cindy]

Thank you, it’s nice to know that the peeing on the bed thing is common for rabbits, and the shower curtain is a good idea. We blocked off access to the bedroom with some cardboard boxes which has worked thus far, but I am pretty sure she could hop it if she had a mind to, so will have to think of something more permanent (are baby gates high enough to deter a rabbit hop?). So far so good on the new litter box location, fingers crossed, no accidents since this morning at least.

[luna1243]

I had the same issue with my bunny peeing on my bed. Whenever Luna would pee anywhere I would clap my hands, firmly say “no”, and put her in her litterbox. If she did it more than once in a short period of time I would put her in her cage and close the door for bunny time out, which lasted about 5 minutes. Bunnies really enjoy their freedom so I think the time out really helped. Luna is perfectly potty trained and uses her litter box 100% of the time now, the entire process only took about a week. I would set her cage back up for the purpose of time out until she’s potty trained again. Hope this helps and good luck!

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