My bun is marking all over!!

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 11sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 5 months ago by Beka27.

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- 10/01/2010 at 3:25 PM
  Nibbles_NZ
  Participant
  751 posts
  Lately Baxter is wanting more and more attention. He is getting to the point of demanding it. lol Anyway, the other night I was in the living room and he was at the baby gate begging to come in so I let him in. He hopped around and sniffed a while. I went into the kitchen for maybe 5 minutes and when I came back there were atleast 30 poos all over the place. He is marking like crazy!!! It’s not even in a certain spot. He made sure he covered his ground! I really want to let him into the living room for a couple of hours per day but how do I get him to stop marking everywhere?
- 10/02/2010 at 3:19 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  That’s pretty typical of territorial pooping, being scattered everywhere like that. Now that he’s marked the area you should find he’ll do this less and soon stop. Well, fingers crossed that he will.
  
  You mentioned in another post he now resides in your kitchen. Was he formerly penned in the living room?
- 10/02/2010 at 3:47 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Wasn’t Bella/Billy penned in the living room before? He might be marking against the residual scent…
- 10/02/2010 at 9:22 PM
  Nibbles_NZ
  Participant
  751 posts
  He was in the living room and Billy was too. They both had xpen bottoms and ceramic tile in there. The carpet has been shampooed several times since then but I guess he could be smelling him and billy in there. We left tonight to do some shopping and eat and we accidentally left the baby gate open. Oops. Baxter took full advantage of that of course. When we came home we saw that he had marked up the living room again and he went into my girls bedroom and marked in front of their bed like crazy. It was an easy clean up and he did no harm other than chewing on my daughters book. I will be cleaning my carpets again tomorrow.
- 10/02/2010 at 10:05 PM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Was it just droppings? If so, you shouldn’t need to clean the carpets and if he picks up on his scent next time, he’ll be less likely to remark.
- 10/03/2010 at 12:06 AM
  Monkeybun
  Participant
  10479 posts
  It could be the fact that he DIDN’T smell him or Billy, and wanted to make it his again.
- 10/03/2010 at 6:57 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Monkey might have it right… Gross, I know, but if it’s just hard pellets, can you leave them as is for a day or two?
- 10/03/2010 at 7:01 AM
  GrumpyBun
  Participant
  643 posts
  I agree with JG and MB – if it’s just poops don’t wash the carpet. If he can smell himself he’s less likely to mark. If he does pee at all I would be inclined to spot clean the pee patch rather than the whole carpet for the same reason.
  
  As JG says, once he feels its well marked he’ll hopefully stop. I have read that it can help to put a litterbox in the room and collect the poop and put them in there – so rather than the poops disappearing, he can still see he’s marked the room. I haven’t tried it but if you’re happy to have a litter tray in the living room it can’t do any harm to try.
- 10/04/2010 at 8:10 PM
  Nibbles_NZ
  Participant
  751 posts
  My carpets really need cleaned anyway or I wouldn’t. I have little kids that are potty training and do have accidents on the carpet so maybe he smells that. That is the reason my carpets need a good cleaning. Spot cleaning wasn’t good enough for that mess. I am just hoping he doesn’t feel it’s necessary to mark it every time he can’t smell himself in there (when I clean my carpets). I can’t leave my carpets dirty. I don’t think the litter box will work in there. He is territorial marking. His purpose is to mark everywhere until he is satisfied. He is very well litter trained otherwise. I will put one out just in case….fingers crossed. On a good note he is not hormonal or destructive anymore so he is a great house rabbit and will be even better once he realizes he is the king of his castle.
- 10/05/2010 at 9:35 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Adding another litter box might help but I can see why you’d be reluctant with little kids about.
  
  “No, that’s bunny’s potty, don’t touch, no, no….”
  
  If his zone is just off this room, he could easily go use his main box. Hopefully this is just some marking behaviour and usually (fingers crossed) this stops fairly quickly.
- 10/07/2010 at 7:03 PM
  Nibbles_NZ
  Participant
  751 posts
  I don’t really want to add a litter box in the living room because one of my 3 year olds has Sensory Integration Disorder and she eats non edibles constantly. She can’t help it. Bunny poop is one thing I have pulled out of her mouth. The living room is right next to the kitchen where he lives. I know it is just marking and I am happy to say that the second time he did it (yes, we forgot to close the baby gate and he escaped) he didn’t mark the living room nearly as much as the first time so hopefully he will stop. Not to mention, he begs to be let into the living room and when he marks I put him back into the kitchen…something he feels is a punishment because he was having attention in the living room.
- 10/08/2010 at 3:22 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Another option would be to cage in a litterbox with grids, with an opening just big enough for Baxter…
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