Do I have to spend the rest of my life soaked in rabbit urine?

[MayaConsuelo]

Seriously, since Mr. Bun-Bun got fixed he has been peeing outside of his litter box AT LEAST once per day – in the prior 3 months it never happened! I’m hoping it’s just residual hormones or his body readjusting or whatever. I’m doing what the FAQ recommends – keeping the litter boxes clean, hay in the litter boxes, cleaning up his accidents right away, etc. I can’t use a water spray bottle because he thinks it’s fun. I also can’t catch him in the act, he doesn’t seem to give off any visual cues, I don’t notice until he’s peeing!

Today he hopped back in his cage and was making the little bread loaf shape with his ears back, like he does when he takes a nap. Then I see he’s peeing a puddle RIGHT NEXT to the litter box. I wiped it up and put the towels in the litterbox, then nudged him in there so he could smell it in the proper place. It’s just aggravating. If I have to clean up rabbit pee forever I will… but I swear he knew how to use his litterbox before, I can’t think of anything else to do!

[Beka27]

His recent behavior makes me think something else might be going on. My mini rex “loafs” in the litterbox when she’s not feeling well. A vet visit might be in order.

[MayaConsuelo]

I hope not! He seems all right otherwise, eating a ton and running around like a little freak. My sister thinks it’s because I’ve been letting him out of the cage far more recently and he’s expanding his territory, as she put it, “now he thinks the whole apartment is his litterbox.” He wasn’t crouching in the loaf position very long either, just while he peed, then ran off. Thanks for the advice though, I will definitely keep an eye on him. Right now he’s sleeping so cute!

[mocha200]

he hasn’t been straining when he goes has he? maybe thats why he gets in the position.

[bunnymum16]

my bunny too has started to pee right outside his litterbox.it is so stressful cleaning it up and watching him just in case he does it again.

i hope your bunny is just being stubborn instead of being sick.

[MayaConsuelo]

Well now that I think about it he spent the first year of his life in one of those too-small pet store cages where the whole bottom is covered with bedding and hay, so the whole thing is a toilet. He favored two corners of that cage, and I have litterboxes in the corresponding corners of his much larger cage now, but maybe he’s not totally used to it and thinks just peeing in the general vicinity of the corner is good enough? Several times he’s peed outside the cage, but sitting right next to the litterbox, or in the cage but also close to it.

I know his previous owner let him out quite a bit so I assumed he was totally litter trained, but maybe her house was covered with rabbit pee, who knows? I think I just need to be more vigilant, continue letting him out for shorter spurts, and see how it goes. He definitely wasn’t straining when he peed on my friend!

[Lintini]

Have you recently changed the type of litter you are using?? Bun refused to use woodstove pellets when I switched to those. Miss Princess Booty wanted her carefresh back!

[jerseygirl]

Ditto Lintini’s question.^ Peeing next to the litterbox in his cage does sound like a protest about his boxes.

While his loss of habits would be a lot to do with him just being neutered, your friend has a valid point I think. He may be becoming too comfortable in his kingdom. So “back to basics” litter training wouldn’t hurt him. Confining him to smaller space until his habits improve.  Also, how is he currently getting on with the cats?  Binky Bunny has mentioned some of her rabbits would temporarily be bad with litter box after her cat had been thru the bunny room.  Intruder!

[MayaConsuelo]

Hmmm, I feel like the cats are still more freaked out than he is. He gets into “play mode” and bounces right up to them, it seems to me that he wants to play with them. He usually runs up to them when he’s playing with me too, tossing his head and being all hyper. The cats are not into it at all and I have to make sure Bun-Bun is always within my line of sight because the whole apartment has always been open for the cats to go everywhere (not even my bedroom door gets closed because then the cats immediately want in or out.) There may be something territorial going on, who knows what’s happening in their little brains. Bun-Bun is able to peer down at the cats from the third level of his condo, which I’m sure they find extremely annoying.

Anyway today has been pee-free so far! Fingers crossed… I’m letting him out in shorter spurts, I also started refilling his water bowl only right before he’s about to be in his cage for awhile (he does have the hanging water bottle so I know he won’t dehydrate.) He tends to chug the whole thing (it’s not a very big bowl) and then if he’s out for a couple hours ends up peeing it out somewhere in the apartment. He has two litter boxes (I almost changed bedding but didn’t!) and I change them every two days, maybe I should change just one each day so there’s always a fresh box? That seems annoying but it might help… hmmmm.

[MayaConsuelo]

Good news, Mr. Bun-Bun has spent two entire days without peeing out of his boxes even once! Bad news, he apparently decided he likes cat food now I know it’s very bad for rabbits but I didn’t keep it out of reach because he has completely ignored the cat food for the last couple months. Now all of a sudden this morning I see him helping himself and munching happily on the food… Argh! I thought he previously ignored it because it’s one of those high-end cat foods with quite a fishy smell, but I believe also has sweet potato and rice in it. Guess I’m going to Target right after work for a baby gate… no more kitchen access for Mr. Bun-Bun!

[Sarita]

LOL – glad he is using his litter box again. For some reason, rabbits don’t always know what’s not good for them though.

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