Bunny pees himself while he sleeps?

[BlackSunlight]

Recently I have made the transition to move my bunny into my room, I have been free-roaming him in my room (With his x-pen, it’s just the pen door is always open. I have the pen in there so hopefully he will soon be acclimated to my room, and I can remove the pen and have him free-roam without it.) During the night he will move between his bed and my bed, often I find him sleeping at the foot of my bed. He has been litter trained for practically 2 1/2 years, and had never peed or pooped on my bed when he has a litter pan in the vicinity. However this morning I woke up and there was pee on my duvet, and I think I might’ve woken up right after he woke up. I am not sure why he did this since it’s out of his usually potty behavior. I’m thinking maybe he had a nightmare and peed himself?

I heard bunnies have intense dreams and I can attest to this because I’ve seen my bunny twitch and move while he sleeps. Does anybody know why he did this? I would assume it’s because he wants to claim my territory but he has never done this.

[Bam]

A rabbit can pee in his “sleep” if he’s super comfy and resting and being pet, ie in a stste of deep relaxation. My bun Bam could do that sometimes, especially when he was lying in my mom’s lap -he jumped up on her lap himself, so he wasn’t restrained or stressed in any way. He could also sometimes pee on my couch when he and I were cuddling.

Many rabbits pee on soft surfaces like beds, couches, pet beds, pillows etc.

If a rabbit pees himself in his sleep Id be worried though. If they are unwell they can sometimes wet themselves, but it’s rare. It happened with one of my buns once.

General incontinence (peeing small amounts of pee all over or dribbling pee) can be a sign of a UTI or e cuniculi.

If he seems otherwise fine, no signs of illness or disconfort etc, I guess all you can do is see if he’ll do it again. If he does, he probably will make a habit of it, so you’ll need to block him from accessing your bed.

I’ve had two buns who slept at the foot end of my bed and didn’t pee in it, although one of them I think peed in the bed just the one time. I’ve also had 2 buns that were completely hopeless on soft surfaces. I suppose it just varies between individuals. One of the non-peers wasn’t even neutered (health reasons).

[LBJ10]

Peeing on soft surfaces certainly isn’t unusual by any means. Why he suddenly decided to do it though? I don’t think anyone can say. He could have been really comfortable. Or he could have smelled a new smell and thought, hey, I need to pee on this. If this was a full pee, then I wouldn’t be overly worried health-wise. As Bam said though, dribbling is a sign of incontinence and it should be addressed.

[BlackSunlight]

Thank you guys, are there other signs of rabbit incontinence I should look out for?

[Bam]

Another sign could be if the bun is straining to pee but only pees a tiny amount or no pee at all. On repeat, through the day.

You as a rule see an increase in water consumption and as a consequence a larger total volume pee than usual.

[Author]

Messages