gretta forgot

[rabbitman]

Hello all:

    I’m totally new to this rabbit thing, but my wife has had a rabbit for awhile now and the rabbit was house trained to a tee. But here lately good ol gretta decided that going in the cat box or her box in the cage just wasn’t doing it for her anymore. Well she decided to start using the the rest of the house to potty in, which means we can’t let her out of the cage which is where she seems to not want to go to the bathroom. We both love to watch her run and pester the cats and get the dog to open doors for her but until the coco puffs are put under control she will be limited to walks outside.

   I would love any input to this matter, (since the wife can’t seem to hunt for a solution) so we can have our rascally rabbit back doing what she does best.

 

thank you very much.

 

rabbitman

[MarkBun]

A few questions:

How long have you actually had Gretta?
How old is Gretta?
Is she spayed?
Have you introduced any new animals into the home?

Without this info, it sounds to me like Gretta is marking out her territory for some reason.  It may be hormonal (as in she’s reached puberty) or it could be that she smells another animal about the house.  Since she’s just poopin’ and not peein’ outside of the litterboxes, to me it means that it is more of an intentional behavior and not an accidential one.

I still get the stray poop from time to time with Dono but since they’re easy to pick up with a handheld mini-vac, I don’t mind so much.

[rabbitman]

Hi:
thank you for your reply, she is nine months old, she has not been neutered, no new animals, we’ve had her for six months. Nothing new in the house just one day she sat on the rocks by the fireplace and peed and pooped like crazy. The wife can’t recollect if there was anything special about the day or of things being changed.

thanks

rabbitman

[Beka27]

welcome here! i applaud you for going looking for an answer. the answer is… *drumroll* getting her spayed. lol. but seriously, it’s time for her to be altered. have you found a rabbit savvy vet yet?

[rabbitsmba]

Yup, she’s hit her “teenage phase”! Spaying will help this tremendously – whereabouts are you located? Perhaps someone can recommend a rabbit-savvy vet for you…..

[Liza]

Hello rabbitman,

I’m new to all this too, so no real advice from me, I leave that up to the pros on this forum but I would like to add one thing: the benefits of getting your rabbit spayed. The likelihood of her developing tumors is reduced a lot after being spayed. I strongly recommend that. My friends who have had many rabbits agree that spaying helps with litterbox habbits.

This site is very helpful, I hope you will stick around! Nice not to be the only newbie here… Welcome to you, your wife and Gretta!

[rabbitman]

Hello and good morning:

Thanks this is all great news, I was just informed that last night she turned her, in cage litter box upside down, her pee smelled terrible and not so many coco puffs were manufactured. We have company over for the week and we had to move her upstairs then she did this. Could it be these changes also along with puberty?

I live in washington state, 50 miles south of seattle in a little unincorporated place called “Graham”, we have vets all around, I’m gonna start calling today since i have vacation all week it’ll work out well for the spaying adventure.

I sure don’t want her moved outside and forgotten, THANK YOU ALL

Rabbitman

[Beka27]

it is very possible she did not like the move. buns are very very set in their ways (even at an early age) so changes like that are upsetting, some more than others. the strong icky urine smell will decrease greatly after spaying. many of us with one bun can go about 5-7 days before changing the litterbox… there’s just very little smell. you will definitely notice a big difference.

have you checked out the House Rabbit Society yet?   http://www.rabbit.org/

since you’re doing some research, this site is a MUST-READ!!!  there is even a section that has rabbit savvy vets listed by state….  http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html   and an article http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html that some questions you can ask to MAKE SURE the vet really is experienced with rabbits.  not all vets who see rabbits are “experts” and that can be more frustrating than anything else.  especially when you are doing research and it seems your vet is just not up-to-date.  (for example, another of our members told a story not long ago about a rabbit vet who was instructing people to just euthanize their sick buns and buy another one b/c “they’re so cheap at the store”!!!!!  UGH!)

[COOKIE'N FLUFF MOMMA]

WELCOME TO THE FORUM RABBITMAN!  I’M SOMEWHAT OF A NEW BUNNY OWNER MYSELF AND THIS PLACE HAS HELPED ME SOO MUCH THANKS TO ALL THE EXPERTS!  PLEASE STICK AROUND AND ASK ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE. IT REALLY HELPS OUT EVERYONE THAT READS THESE POSTS.

[rabbitman]

Yea! I’m on the track of finding a vet, reading articles and becoming rabbit savvy,, hee hee. I’ll post a pic of the little night stalker shortly.

rabbitman

[rabbitsmba]

Oh yes, her being moved to a new area and the added stress of company can dictate that sort of behaviour. She’s unhappy that someone else is in her territory! I am sure once your company leaves and she returns to her normal routine – and she gets spayed – you will see much improvement in her behaviour. Good luck!

[rabbitman]

well she’s on her way thursday to get spayed and to hopefully a calmer exsistence

rabbitman

thanks once again all.

[Gravehearted]

aww, I am so happy to hear you’re getting her spayed – it should really help with the box training and stinky pee!
If you still have problems post spay – make sure to check the litter training guide on here – since it is very helpful.

[Liza]

Good luck with the surgery!!!
Spaying bunnies is so very beneficial! Spoil her a lot after the surgery and you will see, in no time she will be a much nicer bunny girl! No more PMS!!! YIPPIEE!!!

[rabbitman]

well she came back inside yesterday, and we put her back in “her” spot even with company here. She wants so bad to come out but alas we will keep her in her cage until after the surgery. She’s doing her buniness once again and we’re relieved about that, and the countdown is on.

rabbitman

[Sage Cat]

Coco puffs – he, he, he! That’s a classic!

It is amazing how these little critters let you know when “you” have done something wrong like move their pen or invite strangers into their house!

Good luck with the spay tomorrow.

[skunklionshow]

Your vet will likely recommend cage rest for a couple of days post-spay.  Be sure to be prepared for post-anesthesia appetite issues, this can happen w/ some buns.  Have some baby food and/or pumpkin on hand just in case.  I’m also thinking that w/ all those animals & her not being spayed, she may be trying to scent everything.  Jessica used to poop and pee on the cat’s beds.  They didn’t appreciate it, but Jessi wanted her presence known.  I’m happy to report that this stopped post spay.  Good Luck tomorrow!

[rabbitman]

welp, we got her home and she’s resting nicely for 24 hours. got a big ol bale of timothy hay cause the doc says the pellets that we give her are bad, (another lesson learned). Looking forward to seeing her bouncing around soon. It was a little costly but the price wasn’t an object her staying in the house and living a great life is. i’m not fond of caged animals.

thanks again to all who pitched in with info

and GRETTA THANKS YOU.

RABBITMAN

[Liza]

I’m glad she made it through surgery all right! YAY!!! I kept thinking of Gretta all day today! Nice to come home and to see you have already updated us all. Here is to a speedy recovery!!!

[Sage Cat]

Wahoo Gretta!

Keep us updated on he recovery!

Do you have any pictures?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Woohoo Gretta!! That’s great news!!

[skunklionshow]

I think all of us breathe a sigh of relief when another bun recovers from anesthesia.  Yeah!

[MooBunnay]

Great job on the spay, and on the bale of timothy hay! Its my bunny’s absolute favorite How is Gretta doing with eating today? If you are changing her diet from all pellets to hay, do so kind of slowly, not overnight, because it may be hard on her digestive system to switch very quickly. I’m sot sure how much the vet explained about a healthy rabbit diet, but in basic form, its generally a half cup of pellets per day, unlimited hay, and around a couple cups of dark leafy greens per day. There is much more detail on the links about under “bunny info” and “diet.”

I would also recommend reading the information on the site about litterbox training, here is the link: https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=62.

I hope that Gretta is feeling good today!

[Liza]

I demand an update on Gretta!!! Oh, and pics of course!!!

[rabbitman]

well, I let her out last night for a bit and she headed for the spot where she peed by the wood stove, she got there and stopped like she was gonna wet the area, I shooed her away and she went back to her cage did her business, came out and laid down under the rocker on her favorite rug and hung out.

   this morning she’s up early, digging at her towel, eating some hay,(after she pulled it all out) and trying to gnaw her way through the cage cause she knows the fun is on the other side of the bars (cause the man is keeping her down)  Pause……..

Just let her out and ran around the house and settled down next to our boxer/partner in crime and is chillin and enjoying the view, from outside the cage i might add.

 

well i tried to send the pictures but they were to big, so I’m gonna work on that.

[Liza]

There you are!!!
It sounds like she is recovering quite nicely! Good!!! The changes in her behavior might take a moment or two…

So you have a boxer, too? She is not afraid of the dog? She is full of confidence, huh? I would love to see pics!!! Told ya, I demand pictures! Haha!

I’m so glad to read she is doing so well! Thank you for that update!

[rabbitman]

nope she’s not afraid of the cats or dog, in fact she goes after the cats and uses the dog to open certain doors. She at one time found out that if she runs fast on the hardwoods and then stops fast she can slide for about 2-3 ft, she did this 3 times in a row and then turned around and made laps around the cat until the cat got irritated and took a few swats at her.

 

The pics will come once i figure out how to get them on here, right now it says they’re to big in size. I have to convert them into smaller pics.

 

rabbitman

[Gravehearted]

oo thanks for updating! how is she feeling now that it’s 4 days post surgery?

[Beka27]

she sounds like she has bounced back well!

[Sage Cat]

I love seeing different animals getting along.

Gretta sounds like quite a character. So glad she is recovering well.

[RabbitPam]

This free program from microsoft was recommended in another post here and I found it to be very simple and helpful for quickly reducing pix to a good size for uploading.

I think the page I saved is the article explaining it, but you should eventually get to the link to DL and install. (click Image Resizer in the 1st paragraph and then select it from the list on the right of free add ons to DL.)

Just right click on any photo and select the Small button. It makes a copy.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/learnmore/tips/eschelman2.mspx

[GrammyB]

Hi rabbitman, & welcome,
So glad to hear everything went well, how are things now?
First time seeing this, I’v been reading info & posts on this site for about a month & just registerd on the 15th.
I live in Tacoma & was wondering what vet you went to?

[rabbitman]

Wow, I got so busy doing a hundred other things i forgot the pic of good ol Gretta. To all of those who asked for one here she is.

And also for Grammyb, we used puyallup valley veterinary

 

 

Rabbitman

1529455496971.jpg

[BinkyBunny]

Awe beautiful!

[Sage Cat]

Hi there little Gretta girl!

That rug really complements her shiny black fur! 😉

[Liza]

HAHAHAAA!!! I have to laugh when looking at that picture! HAHAHAA! That look in her face! The floppy ears! She certainly is the queen of your living room! I can see how clear she is about that! HAHAHAAA!!!

Dear rabbitman, we need more pictures! You can’t just post a single picture and think we are at peace with that! Haha!

[Author]

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