Bunny Gone Crazy!

[Hunny]

 My bun, Maggie, got spayed almost 2 months ago now. She recovered well, but her behavior seems to have gotten worse instead of better. One other thing that occurred not long after – maybe a week – after she was spayed was her play-pen area got moved. Its still in the same room – my bedroom – just in a different spot. And she has gone crazy! She shakes the cage bars vehemently every morning. And by morning I mean somewhere between 2 and 5 in the morning. She would do this relentlessly until we would wake up and let her out. She used to have no problems staying in her cage all night. She used to get out for about an hour in the morning while I was getting ready and then she would be in there for no more than 4 or 5 hours and be out all afternoon while I was home. She spent about 5 or 6 hours out of her play-pen everyday. But it seems like that wasn’t enough for her and she would only want to spend no more than about 3 hours confined to her play-pen and then protest until we let her out.

She has also picked up the habit of peeing on my mattress. A lot. I clean the mattress and change the sheets every time she does, but its getting to be quite a chore. I thought the marking behavior was supposed to go away when she was spayed, not get even worse! Her litterbox habits have also gone by the wayside. She used to use her litterbox about 75% of the time but now she very rarely uses it and instead does her business right next to the litterbox. We’ve tried moving her litterbox to where she was going, but she would just start going where her litterbox was before we moved it. 

She has started to have so many behavior problems, I am really unsure where to start. The only solution at this point seems to be to move her out of my bedroom permanently so she can no longer pee on my mattress and wake me up at 3 in the morning. I do worry that she will still continue to bite at the bars of the play-pen and shake it even when she is moved out of my room. I don’t want her to damge her teeth (which were given a clean bill of health at her last exam). I also really enjoy the time she spends on my bed with me (when she isn’t peeing) and I think its really good bonding time for us. But I won’t be able to let her come on my bed anymore if she keeps peeing on it.

[Dwarf Sparrow]

I can’t address most of the issues you’ve brought up, but my bun used to shake her pen a lot, any only does it rarely now. I’m not sure if it was because I never let her out when she was throwing a tantrum (okay, not *never* -but only once or twice!), or if it was because I re-arranged her setup so it gave her more room, or even a mix of these two things, but it’s much less of a problem now. I’ve also heard of people putting a blanket or sheet over the sides of the pen so the rabbit can’t see out. Of course, then you’d have to be careful she doesn’t eat whatever you use to block her vision- maybe cardboard “panels” outside of the play-pen could work if that becomes an issue?

In my wanderings of the forums I’ve seen a lot of threads mentioning buns peeing on the bed; I haven’t read them myself because I haven’t had that problem, but maybe someone has come up with a solution on one of them? A forum search might also help with the litter box issues, as far as getting her back on track.

Sorry I can’t be more help! I hope Maggie calms down for you soon!

[hannaroo]

Suri shakes bars whenever she wants my attention. Have you tried spraying a water/vinegar mix of the bars so they taste gross?
I think it’s because she associates shaking the cage with being let out so try and ignore her when she does it. (Trust me no know how frustrating it can be) If you have somewhere safe and suitable to put the cage other than your room move it until this habit stops and block off your bed. Unfortunately lots of rabbits pee on beds and sofas because it smells so much of human and not enough of rabbits!
Hope this helps

[Author]

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