Bunny is peeing everywhere after having another bunny friend

[Elad]

Hi everyone,

I have a (male, neutered) bunny that is now celebrating 1 year. He walks freely at home, and almost never have poop/pee issues.

A few months ago, we brought him a new (male, neutered) friend (now celebrating 6 months). The young one was first litter trained, and then slowly bonded with the “adult” bunny. It seems that they are very good friends, and while each one is having its own litter box and food bowl, they don’t seem to care from which bowl they eat and where they poop.

However, the younger bunny also peeing around the house. I tried several times to retrain him, by giving him a smaller private space, but he still peeing outside his litter box, mainly around the fence that separates him and his bigger bunny friend. When I tried to retrain him in a separate room, he was ok and peed only in his box, but this room has no windows and I’m afraid keeping him closed there for a long period. Moreover, a few days after he united back with his friend, he started peeing around the house.

Can anyone give me advice on how I can littler train him permanently?

 

Thanks,

Elad

[Louiethebunny]

My bunny’s foster owner claimed he would pee out of his box, but once I took him home I didn’t notice any problem. her litter box was very small, mine is for a large cat. I would make sure your litter box is large enough. Since peeing is a territorial behavior, make sure when you wipe up his accidents you place the used paper towel in his litter box and deodorize the area to discourage marking territory. I would also place him in the litter box when you know he’s about to go to encourage. Does he have hay in his litter box? that often encourages good litter habits.

[Elad]

Indeed, I’m doing all of the above. He has a pretty big litter box – its width is twice his size, which contains hay and many paper towels with its pee. This doesn’t seem to stop.

[Louiethebunny]

hmm, maybe one rabbit is feeling more territorial hanging around with the other one?

[Hazel]

It does sound like territorial marking. Their bond might not be quite solid yet. You said they each have their own litterbox and food bowl, does that mean they don’t live together 24/7?

[Louiethebunny]

Hmm I do think it is related to his bunny friend.

[DanaNM]

Agree with Hazel, I’m a bit unclear on their set up. When you say they were re-united, where they separated for some reason? And do they live together 24/7?

There is a “bonding template” pinned in the bonding section. It would be super helpful if you could paste the form in your reply to give us some background on what you have done already to bond them. I have a suspicion they are not fully bonded (but are likely close to it).

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Elad]

They both move freely at home. We have two litter boxes and two food bowl, in two spaces of the same room, which once was owned by each bunny. Now they can both access the same resources, and they don’t seem to care which is which.

[DanaNM]

Is there a reason the area is still divided?  Do they ever share the litter boxes at the same time? Referencing this quote,

“he still peeing outside his litter box, mainly around the fence that separates him and his bigger bunny friend.” 

Can you restrict them both to the main room where their boxes are for a while? Sometimes giving rabbits too much space too quickly can cause marking. This also is a relatively new bond. Sometimes marking does continue for a bit in newly bonded pairs, but should get better over time. Most bonded bunnies do share a litter box, or some have two boxes side by side. I’m wondering if by keeping things more or less as they were, with two sets of everything, if he is still trying to stake a claim to one area?

Most people who give bunnies roam of multiple rooms put a box in each room, so you might try that if marking is mostly happening far away from the main box. Perhaps you could keep one big box in their main area, and move one to the other room.

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Hazel]

I second what Dana said, the bonding template would help a lot.

[Elad]

Thanks, Dana, I will try your suggestions.

Just to clarify what I meant: They are usually not divided, but as the peeing continuous, I tried to divide them several times, for a few days, with no success.

They know each other for more than 3 months, I don’t know if it still considers a new bond.

[DanaNM]

I see! The dividing might have confused them a bit. Yes I think 3 months is still pretty new.

I won’t repeat my suggestions above as they still apply but let us know if those things help. 🙂

Last thought, what are you using to clean up the pee? Vinegar can be good, but I had one bun that kept remarking carpet that I cleaned with vinegar. I switched to using Nature’s Miracle carpet shampoo and she stopped. So if he’s peeing on the same areas every time, that might be why.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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