Help! How do I stop the peeing!

[GlennTheLionhead]

Hi,

I have recently adopted a 4 year old spayed lion head. Spayed in July according to the shelter. I am in the stages of prebonding her with my boy.

Shes lovely and friendly but the problem is she is weeing everywhere and I dont know how to stop her. She pees very indiscriminately, some if which looks like territorial marking. I live in a rented house and I really can’t have her weeing on the carpets. I plan to have her free roam like my boy. My other two I had from babies and they litter trained almost instantly so this is new territory for me and I don’t really know the tips and tricks of litter training.

I’d like to have her litter trained by the time shes bonded with my resident bun as they are kept in a bunny room in the day when I am working, and it is full of plush rugs and blankets. This has been fine so far for my boy but they will not clean well if heavily soiled.

She pees on her bed too which is difficult because I don’t want her to have to sleep on the chilly rubber matting but I’m worried by leaving it in there she will just keep peing on it. So im stuck for what to do in terms of a comfy bed too.

I have tried placing her in her litter tray to pee but she really freaks out and then sits there for a second and them jumps out and pees on the floor right after. I also don’t want her to be scared of me for the constant moving her to her tray since we are in the early crucial stages of human – bunny bonding.

I believe she lived outdoors before, she is thriving indoors amd is more confident than she ever was at the shelter outdoors but she still has outdoor litter habits.

 

Sorry for the long post- Any helps, tips, advice, any anything is greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much

[Wick & Fable]

I’m sorry to hear you’re having such trouble! Unfortunately, there is a chance that she will not be “litter trained” prior to bonding with your boy. It is often the case that litter-trained rabbits “lose” their litter habits when in the presence/sharing space with another rabbit. As you mention, territorial marking occurs at this point. The “poop wars” (and pee wars) is a very common phenomena during the bonding process because the rabbits are not yet comfortable sharing space, therefore marking to overwrite the other rabbit’s scent is normal and often consistent until they are more comfortable.

Re: soft, plush fabrics, it is very lucky that you’ve had two rabbits who were not tempted to pee on them– this is the minority of rabbits, in reality! Most rabbits, even litter-adherent ones, will find beds, blankets, etc. very tempting to pee on. Another piece of this can be your scent and being new to the space, compounding the likelihood of marking. Taking away those fluffy things when possible and/or barring access to them is typically the most effective strategy, as training a rabbit to not pee where it has chosen to pee can be difficult. You mention moving her litter tray– I recommend simply getting more litter trays to place around. You will need more anyways when you have two rabbits roaming.

There are general litter-box training techniques here, but again, it may be limited success considering she is in a new space and there is a rabbit there she is not bonded to: https://binkybunny.com/infocategory/litterbox-training/

Also, can you clarify how many rabbits there are total? I read that you’re planning to bond her and a male, and then you mention having two males?

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.

[DanaNM]

I agree 100% with Wick that things are not likely to improve until she’s bonded, but there are some things you can do in the meantime.

Also how long have you had her? It can help to confine new bunnies to an x-pen for the first week or so to help them get “organized” with their box habits (which also involves seeing where she chooses for her litter box corner).

I would go to the hardware store and get a big sheet of thick plastic (they sell it for painting and other various purposes). I would also pick up some low-pile indoor/outdoor carpet from the hardware store. Lay down the plastic sheet on the floor, then the outdoor carpet on top of that in the bunny room. I did this when I temporarily lived at my in-laws house with my bunnies and it protected their floors perfectly. I would remove your plush rugs for now, and maybe they can be added back in later once they are bonded.

From a practical standpoint, buying a carpet spot cleaner was the best investment I made when living with bunnies in a carpeted place. I really like the nature’s miracle carpet shampoo as well, it works amazing for rabbit urine staining (and they don’t remark the area because it’s an enzyme cleaner), just let the area dry before giving them access again.

Beds are a common issue with bunnies. Some people end up just blocking access to the bed completely. Other’s have had some success putting a plastic shower curtain under a thin blanket on top of the bed spread. This blocks the smell of the bed (that can trigger marking), and also makes clean-up much easier if she does decide to pee.

. . . 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.  

[GlennTheLionhead]

Thanks both for the replies! Really appreciate it!

Sorry my response has been so slow I’ve been super busy with a new job and pre-bonding the two house buns!

Is answer to your question, I am just trying to bond my resident boy and my new girl. The other bunny I was refering to was my boys last partner that sadly passed away a year ago.

And I have had the new girl about 3 weeks all together now, she had a week of settling in and 2 weeks of pre bonding so far.

That link for litter trianing is super useful, I have already started seeing some improvements! After reading your responses and the link, I do think that it is actually an issue with scent marking too much, rather than actual peeing. It was hard to identify this because my boy and previous rabbit are/were always serial chin rubbers rather than pee markers.

So, I now think this is 70% a territorial issue…. She does have a problem of peeing where ever there is hay though… I usually feed my buns hay from very large bowls i.e a diameters of about 30cm… For my boy (his own choice) hay bowl is strictly for eating hay and the litter tray is for eating hay and doing business. But for the girl she uses her litter tray and hay bowl interchangeable as if they are both litter trays, its actually quite amusing watching her sit in the hay bowl 😆 But I guess as long as she is containing the peeing we can find a way that works for her, perhaps changing hay feeders instead of bowls.

 

 

[DanaNM]

Ahh yes, my rainbow bridge girl Bertha would pee anywhere she could access hay as well! I had to be very strategic about hay rack placement, because if she could reach it from sitting outside the box, she would just pee right there!

Most people either put a pile of hay straight in the litter box, or use a hay rack/hopper that they can only reach from within the litter box.

. . . 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.  

[Wick & Fable]

I have found rabbits more often associate hay placement with pooping/peeing than not, so you may need to rearrange how you typically arrange rabbit space to be agreeable to this behavior.

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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