1st time keeper of the giant

[voodoomtl]

My husband & I are 1st time “keepers of the giant”. We adopted Fletcher form a Rabbit Rescue. He was taken away because of hoarding & abandonment. He lived for 4 months w/ a foster family, as the Rescue does not house rabbits, but places them till they can be adopted.

He is a giant Flemish/loop eared 15 lbs bun. They think his is around 2 yrs old & is recently neutered. He is completely litter trained & we have had for just over 6 weeks. My problem is in the past week he has started peeing on my couch sometime during the night. I tried to place a blanket on the area to deter him, but that didn’t seem to work. My cat sleeps on the couch & this am, when my husband got up, he said the both of them were sleeping on it. An hour later when I got up…. pee all over the couch (and yes it is the bun).

Any suggestions???

[Sarita]

Unfortunately this is very common – you will see posts about rabbits (yes, even altered ones) peeing on couches and beds because they are soft and they smell most like their “people” and the only recommendation is to keep them off those places. Some rabbits will eventually stop this behavior but until or if that happens you can only keep them off the bed and couch. It has nothing at all to do with being litter trained.

[voodoomtl]

thank you. will now block off access to the living room at night.

[Eepster]

I know this wasn’t your question, but is the “flemish/loop eared” just a guess by the rescue, or based on something? He looks like a fairly well bred pure french lop to me. Though that is just based on your avatar.

[Sarita]

I think he’s a French Lop too Eepster. Maybe the rescue isn’t familiar with the French Lop breed or got French and Flemish mixed up…

[Standard_Procedure]

Posted By voodoomtl on 10/23/2014 10:44 AM

thank you. will now block off access to the living room at night.

No need. Hide some onions in the sofa’s. Rabbits run away like their nose has been violated once they sniff onions. You only need a small amount, and change the onions once or twice a week to keep them fresh.

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By Standard_Procedure on 10/25/2014 12:28 PM

Posted By voodoomtl on 10/23/2014 10:44 AM

thank you. will now block off access to the living room at night.

No need. Hide some onions in the sofa’s. Rabbits run away like their nose has been violated once they sniff onions. You only need a small amount, and change the onions once or twice a week to keep them fresh.

That depends on if your rabbit dislikes the smell. My animals want to eat onions … weirdos.

You can block off the couch though if your buns mark it, without blocking off the whole room. NIC grids, just putting boxes or something on the couch so they can’t jump up, a cover that makes a lot of noise (my two HATE if what they touch makes a lot of noise on them, so the crinkly industrial paper is how I block stuff from them sometimes), etc. 

[Sarita]

I would not put onions in my sofa – that is just odd and I don’t want my furniture to reek of onions either.

[Eepster]

Porky loves onion grass. I can always tell if my kid has been feeding it to him b/c he gets onion breath.

[Standard_Procedure]

Try crushed red peppers in a plastic bag with holes hidden inside the sofa. The human nose probably can’t smell it if it’s only a small amount, but rabbits will smell it and run away. I can only think of onions and red peppers.

[Flopsie]

Knowing that buns eat their poop, I’m pleasantly surprised that her breath doesn’t smell like death. However the idea of onion breath cracked me up!!! Lol

[CojoCinder]

^ LOL me too!! They eat their poop, but we’re worried about onion breath?!? Do they even exhale enough to SMELL their breath?

(I have no sense of smell, so I’ve asked my husband what Boris’ breath smells like… but he refuses to try to smell it. And calls ME the weirdo. )

[Eepster]

The onion breath becomes very very obvious when he is grooming my eyebrows.

[Megabunny]

Please. NO ONIONS! They cause hemolytic anemia in cats and dogs. I don’t know about rabbits, but I’d be SUPER concerned with that. I saw a cat almost die from consuming a large quantity of onions that was fortunately saved by the vet working the case.
And yes, Cojo, you can smell poop on their breath…trust me. I don’t like to get kissed unless I check my guy’s breath first

[A Flying Brick]

Also Riley LOVES vinegar and chilli, since I tried both to keep him from chewwing. I found cheap body spay/perfume seem to do the job. He disslikes bth the smell and the noise the can makes. I never spray it at him, just near him, just on the area I want him to leave alone.

[emm_renn]

Yeah I would have to agree with everyone else. Your rabbit does look like a french lop.

[Megabunny]

You are so lucky! I’ve heard fabulous things about French lops!!! And I absolutely LOVE the black and white combo.

[manic_muncher]

I’m really jealous right now. I am planning on getting a french lop one day in the far away (I hope) future, but that hasn’t stopped me from checking the rescue websites for a broken french lop within a reasonable travelling area that might need a home.

[Megabunny]

Hey, Manic. If there’s a french lop on this coast, I call dibs!
I want a french lop, angora, fuzzy lop and a Jersey Wooley. I had three buns at one point, though, and it was a bit much, so guess I better take one at a time. And, yes, they can be broken. Heck, I was looking at Japanese chins on Petfinder yesterday and saw a 12 year old whose tongue hangs out that needs a home. I told my husband to beware. I’m getting the itch for something to add to my low numbers of one dog and one rabbit. But after Gus’ monumental bill recently, I’m not in a huge hurry to have too many pets at one time.

[manic_muncher]

So glad it isn’t just me that gets the itch. My husband starts freaking out when I start talking about animals or birds, fish, reptiles… anything non-human. I am also not allowed to enter pet stores alone.

[Megabunny]

Smart man you married!!!

[Eepster]

Posted By A Flying Brick on 11/02/2014 2:21 AM

Also Riley LOVES vinegar and chilli, since I tried both to keep him from chewwing. I found cheap body spay/perfume seem to do the job. He disslikes bth the smell and the noise the can makes. I never spray it at him, just near him, just on the area I want him to leave alone.

One time I was cleaning something with white vinegar on a paper towel.  When I put it down Porky hopped over and started eating the vinegar soaked paper towel.  

Interestingly, this is the same bunny who will only eat one particular type of hay.  Bunnies are weird.

[Megabunny]

Ha ha. That explains why Gus wasn’t bothered by sticking his face in a cup w/ vin and water and upending it on himself! Good thing I was there to get it off! Never dreamed a bun would go near such a stinky thing. Yeah. Gus doesn’t like Basil. What hay does yours eat?

[Eepster]

Oxbow organic meadow grass. It can’t be bought locally, even though I live in a dense suburb surrounded by numerous pet stores. It must be ordered off the internet.

[Author]

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