free roaming and meds

[talesOfTybalt]

Tybalt’s off his post neuter bed rest and I’m now trying to free roam him in my room 24/7. My furniture’s arranged so that he can get on my dressing table and my dresser – is there any way I can block these off to him? I’m worried he’ll break my perfume bottles and hurt himself and I’ve had to move my cactus plants off the dresser bc he wants to eat them! …I’m honestly just considering rearranging the layout of my whole room now. Also any general advice/tips on free roaming in the same space welcome bc I have so much anxiety leaving my bedroom now lol

Now that he’s allowed on my bed he’s peed on it 3x (expected I guess) and I’ve cleaned it straight away but with his scattered territory droppings – do I put them in the litter box straight away? or let him do his thing and mark it and leave them for a bit so he knows we can share the bed? he had the whole floor of my room before his neuter and there haven’t been ANY poop pellets so I’m guessing he’s done branding the ground as his?

On a separate note, he has a mild URI and so he’s on Baytril and Metacam for the next week (hopefully it does the trick!) Does anyone have any general tips on administering the Baytril – I don’t want to have to wrestle him to make him take it, was kinda hoping on options of what I can mix in to make him take it down easier without overloading on sugary stuff. He’s on 0.35ml of both meds but Baytril is twice a day. Can I give him both meds together in the morning and then give the Baytril with sth sweet for the evening dose?

[Wick & Fable]

I use the following C-grip technique to administer medication: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N12eJ5vdo4w
…. coincidentally, I used it a lot to administer Baytril, haha.

It is pretty common and enduring for a rabbit to always poop and pee on a bed unfortunately. It is soft, vast, and smells a lot like you, so it’s a very tempting target to mark, so having hopes of training it out of a rabbit is difficult. Behaviorally, you can make an attempt to constantly supervise whenever he’s on the bed and make an aversive sound or shoo him off immediately when he’s about to pee. The poops are sort of unpreventable unfortunately. I know some people put a litter box on their bed as a method of dissuading marking.

Unless you put a barrier or intervene consistently, he will probably continue accessing the dresser area. It would be wise to clear out the area, as that is a part of rabbit-proofing for a free-roam rabbit. To an extent, if you make the area “boring” or provide a different area where your rabbit can perch, he may lose interest in going up there.

Slide and shuffle steps are key when sharing and space with a rabbit, haha. Just keep tabs and don’t make sudden step movements. At the same time, be forgiving if you accidentally, gently, tap your rabbit with your foot. Admittedly, I have kicked my rabbit on accident a few times and since we had smooth floors, he’d slide into a nearby wall or door… but he’s OK since I kept my steps light and small!

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.

[prince dorian the bun]

Medication I can’t give much advice on, I just put his stuff on a thin apple slice and hoped for the best when he was neutered. If it takes a bribe I generally don’t worry too much with meds though, it’s temporary and in the grand scheme of things it’s better they got the meds.

I am lucky that Dorian doesn’t leave any presents on the bed, granted he only has visiting privileges to my room so I think he realizes this is not his territory? His bad habit is getting underneath and chewing the boards.  He does have issues with the couch, which I just fence off. Same with my larger houseplants. I did recently put the ones on my deck on tall stools, which actually ended up working brilliantly as he can’t hop on them or have anything real for leverage. He also has his own plants, because he is spoiled rotten! I have not had great luck in changing behavior, unless it’s to give him something he likes better. I sort of use the toddler method of rabbit parenting :D. Basically remove them from the thing they shouldn’t do and distract them with something they can do. Yelling and punishment really don’t work well in either case in my experience.

[talesOfTybalt]

Thanks guys – Wick your video was very helpful!

We have had a few pee incidents but its been in the same place and I feel like he’s been spending more time on the bed without the need to mark it, he kinda just looks around and then sits for a bit and then gets off so I think we’re making slow progress. I think I will try an additional litterbox on the bed anyway

I spent last weekend moving my room around and although he was a little confused at first, I think Tyb likes it! I don’t need to block off ANYTHING now so i can just open his pen door and let him do as he pleases, he still has plenty of space to run around and things to jump onto. I think he just needed to explore and get it out of his system bc now he doesn’t go mad trying to get into my personal things, he’s been through it and realised it’s not of interest to him 🙂

I’ve definitely tapped tyb on the nose or his bum when moving around 🙁 he’s just so silent and I didn’t realise he liked following me around the room but I’ve made progress to keep my steps small and light now!

@princedorian – that’s a good idea with the plants! I moved my dresser so its free standing in front of the window – this way he has no chance to access it, and all my plants are either on the dresser or windowsill behind it so works perfectly for both of us!

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