Peeing and pooping all over cage... :(

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 9sd replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 8 months ago by luvmyhunybuny.

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- 07/25/2011 at 1:50 PM
  sparrow
  Participant
  3 posts
  I recently adopted an altered girl bunny (Maisy, 1 year old) as a companion for my altered boy bunny (Sherman, 3 years old). She started out having her own room, with a cardboard box on its side containing her litterbox, water bottle, and food dish. She occasionally left territorial poops around the room, but nothing too bad.
  
  Then as the bond strenghtened, I moved her & her cage/box into her own exercise pen inside Sherman’s room (my bedroom). The territorial pooping increased, especially around the perimeter of the pen, but their bonding sessions continued to go well, and both buns were frequently seen grooming each other through the pen.
  
  Then I left the pen open so Maisy still have her own “space” but each bunny was free to mingle at will. Sherman was most interested in going in Maisy’s “cage” and Maisy was most interested in going in Sherman’s (and being quite messy about it, peeing and pooping everywhere inside it.)
  
  Eventually, Maisy seemed to lose interest in visiting her own “cage” anymore, so I moved her litterbox, water bottle, and food dish into Sherman’s. (Sherman’s cage is HUGE and has plenty of room for two litterboxes with room to spare.) Maisy has ceased to leave territorial poops around on the floor, which I’m happy about, but the cage they share is getting disgusting, even with my cleaning it twice a day. She insists on peeing and pooping all over the middle of the cage, as well as in the litterboxes. I normally keep a towel on the floor so their feet don’t slide on the plastic, and that way I can shake it out and launder it. But sometimes she’ll jump in there while I’m cleaning and pee while the towel’s out. It’s clear that she wants her scent to be all over the place so that Sherman knows it’s hers. I feel bad for poor Sherman, though, who is normally so tidy and used to his cage being neat. Any suggestions?
  
  I don’t know how to keep her from doing this without keeping them separated, because as long as she can get in the cage, she wants to leave her mark. Neither bunny is aggressive with the other, and they both seem to enjoy each other. Do you think this will pass? I’ve had Maisy for about 1 month.
- 07/26/2011 at 7:13 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Littering and marking can get pretty intense during and after a new bond. Much of the time it does improve. Her being with you only a month so far, I think there is hope it will improve.
  
  Did Maisy have towels down in her own area when she was better with her habits? Just wondering if absorbant surfaces cause her to mark more on not.
  I think you just have to keep on cleaning up the poop and putting it in the boxes and encouraging her to use the box more. Maybe hide a healthy treat in the boxes.
  
  Unfortuantely with my male-female pair, her habits never came good again. It’s been difficult for me to work out why but I don’t think my girl is marking against her mate. They’ve been bonded 2 years now. I actually think it’s her way of marking against anyone else. So it’s like “this is our space”. She is terrible in the area I have set up for them yet I can let them free range through the house without huge problems. Much like you’ve noticed Maisy has stopped marking the room but it’s their space that’s still being heavily marked.
  
  I can’t really advise anything else other then waiting for that improvement. I’m keen to read what others have done to manage this though!
- 07/26/2011 at 7:38 AM
  SugarbearNPepper
  Participant
  310 posts
  So very interesting…I’ve noticed my newly bonded pair lost their litter habits as well. Like jerseygirl, my girl poops everywhere. My boy is starting to do the same although he was very good at using the litterbox (it was only bad a month or so before his neuter). I also let them free range through the house without any problems, just inside their cage.
- 07/26/2011 at 8:48 AM
  Elrohwen
  Participant
  7318 posts
  Yep, a newly bonded (or bonding) pair will make a mess. It should go away once they live together fully for a while.
- 07/26/2011 at 8:51 AM
  sparrow
  Participant
  3 posts
  That’s a really interesting idea, jerseygirl… that Maisy could possibly be marking the area as “theirs.” I’ve noticed when I do try to clean it up, she usually hops inside and sniffs what I’m up to with a “What are you doing? This is my work of art!” kind of body language. Then rushes to replace what was cleaned. Haha. That theory is actually kind of cute.
  
  I will keep hoping for an improvement. Perhaps as Maisy gets more comfortable with me as well, it might die down a bit. In the meantime, I’ve been laying down newspaper in the middle of the cage for easier cleanup and disposal. But I really appreciate both of your comments. I’m interested to hear if anyone else had this experience and whether it got better.
- 07/26/2011 at 9:22 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  It may be cute but sure is frustrating for us to constantly clean.
  
  Something else you can try is do the cleaning when they’re not around supervising you. See if that makes a difference.
- 07/31/2011 at 6:36 PM
  MimzMum
  Participant
  8029 posts
  I’ve been wondering if this isn’t Pip and Mimzy’s problem currently, that they may be marking against one another-odd for two bunnies who were supposed to bond originally.
  I will be interested to see how Maisy and Sherman finally set up house and settle down. Hope things get better soon!
- 08/01/2011 at 2:19 PM
  luvmyhunybuny
  Participant
  475 posts
  Tillie is doing the same thing. Sigh. At first I had Tobie’s cage in another room and they were kept seperated (with no intent to bond them until after Tillie was spayed). However, she had a different plan. Needless to say once she started going into Toby’s cage she started to leave poop everywhere (she was 100 % litter trained). Then I noticed she had started peeing in his cage. I can handle the poop, but the pee I am not so crazy about. They started to hang out more near Tillie’s cage, so I took Toby’s down. Now she is peeing and pooping all over her cage (and even on the piece of fleece that Toby lays on near his litter box).
  
  Does anyone know how long this will last after a new bond?
- 08/01/2011 at 3:48 PM
  Monkeybun
  Participant
  10479 posts
  With her not being spayed, its not likely to stop until she is.
- 08/01/2011 at 7:07 PM
  luvmyhunybuny
  Participant
  475 posts
  Well, she needs to get a bit older before we can spay her.
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