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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BEHAVIOR big problem bad situation :( (bunny pees on carpet, used to be litter trained)

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    • mishmash
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        sorry this is a little bit of a long explanation coming up but im in a little bit of a weird situation.

        my rabbit (mishka, 2 years old, spayed) now lives with another rabbit (nano, also 2 years old, spayed). 

        she used to live at home with me for over a year, and moved in 6 months ago to a friend’s house, in an entirely different state from my house.

        long story short, my previous household is abusive and i absolutely had to take mishka with me or she wouldnt be taken care of. i dont have the option of rehousing her with anyone else except my current location with this second rabbit.

        they lived separated for a few months and went through several bonding sessions.

        at home, mishka never peed on the floor. ever. she always used the litter pan and generally, id say 80% of all poops ended up in there as well. 

        when she moved in here and was separated from the other rabbit, she would poop id guess maybe 40% in the box and peed outside the litterbox occasionally. not every time, but more times than it just being a mistake here and there. it was becoming a problem but was at least manageable. 

        i live in a dorm not in this friends house on weekdays and live in this house on weekends. either way, the house of my friend’s is my only place to keep her. but that does mean my friends mother has to take care of both rabbits, so she found it really inconvenient to have to clean two cages and built a condo for them. 

        they get along 90% of the time but sometimes nano chases or tries to hump mishka, and it scares her really badly. she now pees on one part of the carpet every time. we put down a mat with a lip so it doesnt touch the carpet, but its still a huge problem and still a huge inconvenience to my friends mom whos hosting me & my rabbit very kindly. 

        there are two litterpans inside the cage itself and the other rabbit pees in them and poops in them somewhat, but both of them poop all over the cage floor and the outside floor. 

        is there any hope that mishka will stop peeing on the floor? at this point it seems like she strictly pees on that area, and if a litter pan is placed there, she will pee next to it instead, or if boxes are put to block the area, she will pee next to them as well. the mat seems to be helping because she will pee on it but again, its still a hassle and inconvenience.

        and that kind of thing might lead to me having to send her back home with the possibility of her being neglected or have to give her away…. which is sending me into a panic and tears in my eyes just thinking of it lol….

        so if theres any advice at all id really really appreciate it  thanks for reading all of this……


      • mishmash
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          anyone? ;_;


        • Megabunny
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            Oh my. I just came across this. So sorry we’ve overlooked it somehow, let’s see if we can get some ideas going. I’ll start a new thread for you and see if anyone has an opinion. The pooping sounds territorial to me and the urine, I’m guessing, is a behavior thing as well, but I’m not sure what to tell you, I’m wondering, though, did these rabbits just get out together or did you go through some sort of bonding process? It really sounds like your bunny is upset and letting you know with this behavior. Is it a different litter? Do you put hay in the boxes?


          • LBJ10
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              It could be territorial. Do the two buns live together 24/7 then? What’s their setup like (aside from having 2 boxes)?


            • JackRabbit
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                Once a bunny pees on a certain spot he/she will continue to pee there because it smells like the right place to “go”.

                Try cleaning the area where she’s peeing with vinegar and water (I normally use 50/50 mix). Spray, let stand, then wipe. If she pees outside the litterbox, wipe up the pee with a paper towel and put the pee covered paper towel in the litterbox so the pee smell is in the litterbox and clean the spot where she went with the vinegar/water mix. When you clean out the litterbox and refill with fresh litter, put a bit of the used litter back in the litterbox to retain the pee scent. Repeat the above until she gets the idea. Two of my bunnies just knew where to go, but Marlee took two or three days to get the message.

                Poops work similarly. Put the stay poops in the litterbox.

                Megabunny will think this is funny, but I’m a firm believer that the bunny needs to see you put the pee papertowel and the poops in the litterbox and that you must have the “potty talk” with the bunny while you’re doing so. “Peepee goes in the potty” “poops go in the potty”. Bunny should not be around when cleaning with vinegar though — vinegar itself is bunny safe but the strong smell could irritate little bunny noses.

                BTW, good for you for getting out. No one deserves abuse or neglect, including a bunny.

                Good luck! If you need any more help, please don’t hesitate to ask.


              • LBJ10
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                  Is that like the time you expected them to spit fur they were chewing on out into your hand, JR? =p


                • Megabunny
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                    Yeah. The potty talk. Not sure I believe that one. Gus paid no mind to it. I think yours are just mind readers JR. Thanks everyone for stepping up. We hope this helps miss mash. Keep us posted how it goes this weekend


                  • JackRabbit
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                      No LBJ, that was a mother instinct flashback!

                      You guys laugh all you want about the talks I have with my bunnies, but I’m fir whatever works! Hmmm. Maybe I just have smart bunnies? (And do not bring up Moshi and the doorknob!) Seriously though. Marlee has been such a snit lately biting Moshi’s butt so tonight I tried something new. Whenever she’d go for Moshi’s butt, I say her name, she would stop, and I’d tell her to be a good bunny. If she then gave Moshi kisses then I’d tell her what a good bunny she is and if she didn’t I wouldn’t say anything. After a half hour, she had thoroughly bathed him, including his feet. So there. LOL!


                    • Megabunny
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                        You make this stuff up don’t you? Ha ha


                      • JackRabbit
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                          I am not making this up! Its hilarious to watch. Now I never said she’d do it again another day! Hubby thought the same thing until he saw Kieko’s reaction when she heard hubby and I talking about bunny nail trims. She was shaking the crap out of her condo ready to come out until she heard it then hid in the back corner of her condo and wouldn’t come out. Other than Kieko and the nail trim conversation, I’m sure the rest has *a little* to do with voice pitch and body language!

                          I guess you all don’t believe there are bunny whisperers either? Catching Kieko and picking her up is damn near impossible, but my son’s ex-girlfriend can walk into the room and pick that bunny right up. Its like Kieko just melts. She can hold Kieko vertically against her chest walking, standing, sitting, and Kieko just snuggles her. She’s even had on one of my son’s dirty sweatshirts and Kieko still acts the same way. Even the M&Ms love her.


                        • mishmash
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                            the bunnies do live together 24/7 now. there was indeed a bonding process and lived separately for a few months, but the inconvenience was so much the mother hurried up and moved them together.

                            and actually they do get along pretty well for the most part, they eat together fine, lay down together, etc. they dont even fight, my mishka will just run away from nano as she tries to chase her around and hump her. i have NO idea how to stop nano from doing this, we just break them up whenever it happens, and it stops nano from chasing until she chooses to randomly and really completely randomly (not related to food or anything) chase mishka.

                            i actually do clean the carpet up with vinegar, but it hasnt made her want to stop going there at all >_<

                            but yes, she is now using a different litter from before. we cant get the same litter here though, and shipping is ridiculous for heavy bags of things like litter even if the litter itself is cheap, so thats not really an option… hopefully the other things will work.

                            right now we have at least managed the problem by putting down a plastic mat with a lip on it and she pees on that so its easy to wipe off… i cant keep letting her ruin the carpet, because this has been going on for weeks, also it takes significantly less time to clean since its wipe up-able and and not have to scrub it out of the carpet fabric.

                            i often move poops into the literbox when theyre on the floor, but it doesnt really encourage them….

                            ill try the hay and putting used litter into the pans when changing them, but i cant put the pee papertowels into the litterboxes and so the litterboxes wont have any smell of mishka’s pee so i dont think that will solve that problem. (she is crazy about papertowels and will rip them apart…last thing we need is shredded pee papertowels all over the floor LOL)

                            but thanks for the suggestions!


                          • JackRabbit
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                              I didn’t realize it was carpet she is peeing on. I doubt the vinegar/water is removing all the pee smell. If her pee is soaking into the carpet, you may just be getting the surface of the carpet clean with the vinegar. I don’t know if this will clean any deeper, but we’ve used Nature’s Miracle products on carpet before with pretty good luck. Our bunnies have never “chosen” a pee spot that was on carpet before, but they haven’t returned to “accident” pee spots after Nature’s Miracle either. It might be worth a try — most pet stores carry their products.


                            • LBJ10
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                                Even bunnies that get along beautifully can still have poop wars. Just ask Leopold and Wooly.

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                            Forum BEHAVIOR big problem bad situation :( (bunny pees on carpet, used to be litter trained)