Beaumont peeing the bed

[LizzyBunn]

Hi!

I got Beaumont and Parsnip a couple months ago and have been working with them on litterbox training and it’s been mostly successful. In the living room they poop/pee in their cage as well as a large litter box in their favourite spot near my book shelf. Parsnip is very good at always peeing just in her boxes and only occasionally leaving a few poops around the carpet in front of her box. Beaumont has been slightly more stubborn and really wants to poop and leave teensy weensy little pee spots in a close area to the box. Right now I have newspaper down in those area and that seems to be helping direct him to the more comfortable box.

However, Beaumont will find times when I’m not looking to sneak up onto my bed and leave 1-2 large pee spots and little to many poops.
It is not every time that he is out running around but it is nearly. If I am keeping a look out, nothing happens. But if I go to the bathroom or prepare dinner, these are his sneak times. How do I remedy this? help! I’m doing way too much laundry lately.

 

[usagi]

Yep, I’ve seen a lot of talk about bed wetters on here.

Are your buns speutered?

Lemony does the same thing – we tried towels, we tried mattress covers… And none of it worked. So we blockaded off the bed with pillows, but sometimes he still manages to jump up. He’s started to change his behavior a little, though. I think he gets he is not allowed up there, so he will just sit on my fiance’s chest and get a good rub. He knows not to climb all over the place.

I think the best bet would be to blockade the bed for the time being. You could use those grid things you get at target, and make a removable wall around the bed, so that you can move it when you sleep. Maybe eventually Beaumont will start “to get it” after you restrict the bed area – then you can start to give him a little bit of freedom at a time. The bed is your area, not his, and maybe you need to gently show him that. I am terrible at this – I make my fiance do it. Good luck!

[Elrohwen]

I agree that blocking off the bed or not letting him into the bedroom is probably the best idea – at least if you can’t supervise. Peeing on beds is very very common.

You could also try putting a shower curtain over the bed so that if he does pee, at least it’s not on your blankets.

[usagi]

Is he a bedroom bunny?

[LizzyBunn]

Oh, i should have said! I live in a Studio. (Also, they were both speutered a week before I adopted them.) Everywhere is the bedroom and the living room. I’ve been keeping my bed on the floor (i know i know, it’s bad for your back…) but maybe it’s time I bought a proper frame. That would probably deter him a little.
Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping there was some trick other than keeping him off that would work but it looks like I’m just going to have to be tough.
Thanks!

[Elrohwen]

Oo, that’s tough then! I was hoping you could just lock them out of the bedroom.

Putting your bed higher may deter him, but most bunnies don’t have a problem with jumping up on even high beds.

I would work on keeping him off and also put down a shower curtain in case he does get up there and pee. I find keeping them off is hard. My new bun loves to get on the dining room chairs. She knows that “down” means get down and does it immediately, but still, every time I check on her she’s back up on the chairs. She gets the “down” part, but not the “stay off in the first place” part 😛

[usagi]

I live in a studio too, that’s why I asked. Maybe an xpen for when you are not in the room is another option? We have one of those around his cage area to expand his hopping space, and if he is going to be unsupervised for a bit, we just shut the xpen.

My bedframe is a good 2 / 3 feet off the ground, and Lemony can still make the jump. Maybe yours are smaller, but never underestimate the power of the hind legs!

Also, you could try blockading the bed with pillows or boxes or cardboard, just to give the distance from floor to bed more height. We have used this method from time to time, hehe.

[usagi]

If you do put down a shower curtain / waterproof something, be careful, because it doesn’t absorb water like the sheets do. Once Lemony peed on the waterproof sheet cover that we had on the bed, and it puddled all around him and got him soaked. And then, he did the little flicky thing with his paws to clean himself, and the pee shot everywhere. That was the last time we willingly let him up on the bed.

[Elrohwen]

Lemon, very true about the foot flicking. Though sometimes this teaches them not to go there because they don’t like sitting in their pee. It’s tempting to pee on an absorbant surface, but not so much something waterproof.

Though there’s a bunny at the shelter who pees on the cage floor *the second* I pull up the newspaper. Clearly he doesn’t care about the lack of absorbancy! Haha

[usagi]

Hmmm, “the sitting in the pee” incident was the last time he was really up there without being on a human’s belly or lap. Maybe it’s time to try again! We would love him to be able to have the freedom to hang out on the bed. Thanks for the info, Elrohwen!

[Elrohwen]

Yeah, give it a shot. He may remember how unpleasant it was to sit in his pee and not do it. Or he could be like the bunny at the shelter and do it just to spite you 😛

[usagi]

Hehe, he would totally do it, just to see me clean it up! ;P He thinks it’s a big game. He binkies every time we nudge him off the bed.

We will take it slow, I think.

Thanks for the help.

[usagi]

Hehe, he would totally do it, just to see me clean it up! ;P He thinks it’s a big game. He binkies every time we nudge him off the bed.

We will take it slow, I think.

Thanks for the help.

[LizzyBunn]

I feel like Beaumont is also doing it just to spite me. Parsnip loves to burrow in my bedding and it’s so cute but I feel bad letting her on and keeping him off.
I’ll try the shower curtain and see if that works. I’d really like to let them have as much room as possible but I don’t think I’ll sacrifice me bed…

[Elrohwen]

They like peeing on the bed because it smells so much like us humans that they just *have* to claim it as their own. There are a lot of couch peers for the same reason.

[Andi]

I have 2 that are bed/couch pee’ers, one is not litter trained though, so that could be something to do with it. I have had to just not allow them on those areas, and if they are it’s with me and for only small periods of time. When i find someone going into “i’m guna pee here” position i say no, pick them up and put them in the closest litter box, if they pee in the box they get praise and a treat!

[LizzyBunn]

I bought a shower curtain this afternoon for a couple dollars and so far so good. Thanks for the idea!

[Balefulregards]

When Coco had her “Bed marking” phase, I also scrubbed the heck out of the spots with Baking soda and vinegar to make sure there was no smell of her urine. I also got very good at the “spot the slight tail lift which means that she is about to pee” movement and would make a loud noise and shoo her off the bed to the litter. Sometimes ( if she was annoyed) she would pee on the carpet instead.

Having two, I have found that she is BY FAR the more territorial marker. She is also the one who is more apt to let me know when I have offended her by expressing herself in urine. My other one NEVER has used anything BUT the litter box – but she is far more “vocal” about her domain than he is…

Sounds like Beaumont wants everyone to know that He is Top Bunny in your place, or at least that he is attempting a coup!

[LizzyBunn]

baleful, I think that is exactly right, he is very much that way. I have hope that he will learn or at least find somewhere else to own with peeing!

[LizzyBunn]

I just wanted to update and thank you soo much for your feedback! I’ve been putting the shower curtain on my bed every day before I leave for work and when I get home no poops or pees! I can take the curtain off while I am in and I’ve noticed that they mostly avoid the bed unless I’m in it now (bunny face rubs to wake me up in the morning).
Also, I read a suggestion in one of the other threads  about shampooing the carpet and letting it dry before the bunnies are on it again. Doing this has completely solved the little tiny pee spots all over the area in front of their litter box.
My bunns have been free range for a week and we’ve had no potty accidents. Thank YOU!

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