Couch bitten, poos everywhere and pulled out fur

[ConfuzedBunny]

I had a Bunny and he was perfect – figured out toilet training really fast, liked to give kisses, never ate anything around the house, great behaviour. Then the time came to introduce a bun friend. They bonded perfectly. So they now both free roam around the apartment BUT……

The new bun started pooing all over the apartment and my old bun copied. The new bun poos a lot near the potty but never in it. I have put his poos inside potty and made sure a lot of hay in potty but it doesn’t work, he only pees in potty. There are poos EVERYWHERE.

Then they started having sex (old bun neutered but still loves sex and the new bun not neutered as of yet) but it was all fine. They are both boys by the way (I know this isn’t the most ideal pairing but its how things ended up) But now I have started to find fur when I wake up so now I worry that it is not fine and at night they get rough with each other.

And today the worst thing of all happened, the leather sofa has been eaten. It looks awful and my partner is furious at the buns as it was expensive and money is very low right now so we cannot get a new one…plus if we did, they would probably eat that too.

What should I do about the poop issue, the fur issue and the sofa issue?

 

[Wick & Fable]

Most importantly, the fur issue is likely a sign the bond is not a bond and they are fighting– that’s a safety issue for both rabbits.

The fact that the second bun is not neutered is likely the culprit for all your problems.

One rabbit being hormonal (i.e. not neutered) means:

1) the “bond” he has with a fixed rabbit is likely not stable, which is why there are signs that the bond is not true
2) he is hormonally-driven to enact territorial and more destructive behaviors, like pooping everywhere and chewing things
3) his presence can actually bring about hormonal behavior in a fixed rabbit, which is likely why your other rabbit is also pooping/peeing everywhere. Separate from this, the “poop wars” is common and expected in two rabbits who are new to each other, as they are trying to establish claim over the space. This is actually an indication that they are not bonded, if they are still trying to mark over each other constantly.

My recommendation is to invest in re-arranging the space so that they are separated from each other for the foreseeable future, as well as so they are not free-roam and cannot destroy your things when they cannot be supervised. This can be an x-pen or two for each of them, and they take turns being out in the free-roam space. Based on the current signs, it is not safe for them to be together unsupervised, and potentially even supervised, as rabbit fights can go bad very fast and in large spaces, it can be hard to stop them. The next step is to get the other rabbit neutered, and from there, you would need to go through the bonding process, which you can read about in the RABBIT INFO section of this website.

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.

[ConfuzedBunny]

Hi Wick and Fable,

Thanks so much for the advice!!!!! 🙂 I think the pooing explanation is a good one!

The reason I thought they were bonded is because they have been together for many months now and I am at home 24/7 in the same room as them and we play all day together all day and evening and all they ever do is groom each other, sleep together, follow each other, copy each other, play together, and basically everything together. Everything is really peaceful and sweet. It was only the recent days I come out of the bedroom in the morning (which is the only time they and I are ever apart) and there’s a small piece of fur. I do not believe it is fighting but rough sex. But of course I do not want this rough sex to get rougher OR turn into fighting because I am aware of how bad rabbit fights can be.

I am worried though because now they are used to free roaming I would feel bad to encage them…and they are seriously best friends so I doubt they would like being parted either…plus the apartment isn’t big enough for 2 cages, so I might have to choose one to be caged and one not to be, which I am not sure if is fair? Would be fair to let good old bun roam and new bun to get re-penned up?

I do wish to get new bun neutered but I am waiting for the age the vet told me would be the best for the surgery.

[Wick & Fable]

If your second rabbit is that young (inferred by your vet asking to wait until a particular age), it is actually more likely that the ‘bond’ you’re seeing is what is known as a “baby bond”. Young rabbits will get along very easily with other rabbits because there is an absence of hormones. Once they reach puberty, many baby bonds will dissolve rapidly because hormonal territorial and dominance behaviors are naturally pretty aggressive towards other rabbits. The escalation in humping (it’s not sex; rabbit humping is a dominance behavior) is likely a sign that hormones are ramping up and now is a good time to separate. Not all baby bonds dissolve, but when you see signs that things are getting more tense, then it is safest to separate them, as fights/injuries are likely to create grudges that will make it challenging to bond them in the future, when they are both neutered.

You can have them separated by a pen wall so they can still interact, but they cannot chase and get into a big tussle. In some cases, sharing a pen wall can be dangerous as some rabbits still badly injure another through just a wall, but you can observe if that’s the case quite quickly, in which case you want a gap in between.

Is it unfair for a rabbit who was once free-roam to be put in a restricted space? Yes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it might not be the best thing to do right now. I’m reading signs of potential relationship tension between your rabbits, and relationship tension for you as a result of things going on. You are part of the equation too! I would recommend not just letting one be free-roam all the time (the “good” bun) and the other stay pen’d up– they should rotate.

Would you have space for one larger x-pen, and then swap them part way during the day, and then just at night or times you cannot supervise, set-up a second one temporarily so they are both put away safely?

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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