Peeing on HARD surfaces

[mango]

One of my bunnies loves to pee on HARD surfaces.

She beelines straight for hard surfaces and pees. The plastic tray in the bottom of her condo is covered with a rug, but its exposed when I’m cleaning it and she’ll go right for it. Likewise with small areas where the laminate floor is exposed, not covered by the rug, outside her condo during playtime. Likewise with some spare tiles I placed in her condo in case she ever wants to lay on a cool surface. Also, come to think of it, on a plastic drop sheet I had on the exterior perimeter of her condo to catch any accidents, which she had access to during playtime outside her condo. Which is not a hard surface, but definitely a non-absorbent/non-soft one.

I’ve been able to create barriers to deter her from peeing where she shouldn’t, but I’m just wondering… Why? It isn’t absorbent and it can’t feel nice for her when pee gets into her fur on her paws and bum? Has anyone had a bunny like this?

PS – She is 5 months old and was spayed a few weeks ago.

[Autumn's Dad]

I also have a doe, she sometimes still pees where she shouldn’t even over three months after spay. she has never been all that clean, unlike most rabbits she tends to pee in random places all over her litter tray/ food even though she is 24/7 free range. when she was young, she had a nasty habit of drinking her own pee which she’d drink after going to the toilet and she did this up until 6 months old. thankfully she’s grown out of that, but your rabbit may be still in that phase and peeing on a non- absorbent surface may support the habit. I tried everything to stop her doing it but it seems its something that has to be grown out of, by my experience. Good luck 

[jerseygirl]

Hi Mango

You mentioned wood pellets in your other thread? Does this rabbit pee out of the box more often then in it? Just wondering if she has an aversion to the feel of the pellets.

It seems like she is trying to keep her surrounds clean, backing up and peeing where it won’t soil the floor covering. In a way, I think she’s trying to be neat!  Her age indicates it might be hormones and the drive to mark perimeter of their territory.
It’s funny, as a lot of rabbits like to pee on absorbent surfaces.

Have you tried putting additional boxes in their area?

[mango]

Thanks all!

Neither of my 2 buns has flat out rejected their litter boxes. The wood pellets were only a trial for a few hours one evening before I took them away. I’ve been using Carefresh or Boxo over top of Yesterday’s News for a long time (and of course lots of hay at one end which they spread around). Then I went without the Yesterday’s News. This was just to try to find what works best for *me* in terms of costs, odor, and mess. They originally had 2 litter boxes in their condo of 18″ L x 15″ W x 5″ D. Then I swapped those for 2 huge Tupperware containers at 22″ L x 16″ W x 5.5″ D. I placed one of the smaller retired boxes in a corner of my bedroom where I could not seem to dissuade them from pooping. I change them all every few days.

So the doe, Mars, uses her litter box but has *also* had these weird peeing habits. I’m thinking she might take well to a plastic grate type of litter screen (if I can DIY something larger), given her affinity for hard surfaces.

Since we’re on the topic though, in addition to peeing in her litter box and bee lining for non-absorbent surfaces when available, she certainly does territorial marking (poo and pee) around her litter box, perimeter of her condo and perimeter of the bedroom. I didn’t originally post about this simply because I didn’t find it to be a mystery like the hard surfaces.

I believe the reason I hear more often about females being more challenging to litter train is because spaying is a more invasive surgery and therefore delayed later than neutering of males. Hence, her hormones kick in and these behaviors have time to get ingrained prior to surgery, unlike males who can be neutered promptly.

She was spayed one month ago and is still territorial marking, which is driving me batty. The interesting thing I noticed is that if I don’t promptly clean the stains out of the carpet, these problems seem to subside. Its like she is satisfied that the area is sufficiently marked with her scent. But as soon as I clean it (vinegar and baking soda), she promptly starts marking again. Once she actually came over and peed ON MY HAND while I was scrubbing the carpet clean. Its like she’s saying “hey, stop removing my scent, I have to put it back now!” Brat! Thankfully, she is not spraying though. (On the other hand, the neutered male, Reese, is very well behaved with only the occasional “oops” dropping or dribble.) I intend to confine her to a smaller area with her litter box and restart the litter training process by gradually expanding her area again. What a headache! *fingers crossed*

[jerseygirl]

It is the female rabbits that have stronger territorial tendencies, I find. In a warren group, apparently it made up mostly of females and their is a matriach. I dont recall where I first read that.

Oh, and Tans… They are just so intellegent which also means challenging! Hopefully you’ll start to see an improvement as more time passes post-spay. And as she matures.

[Author]

Messages