HELP: my bunny pees every time she’s on us

[Coco IchibanHI]

We rescued our bunny 2 weeks ago. She is currently a 1.5-month-old dwarf-lop. The first week was fine, she was bonding really well with everyone and would occasionally poop and pee outside of her cage. She is by no means potty trained yet, but her peeing habits have gotten really bad in the past 3 days. As soon as we’d put her on us, she would pee within a minute or so. I believe it’s a territorial type of pee as it smells very strongly and is a smaller amount than she usually pees.

We have been trying to pick her up and put her in her litter box as soon as we see her tail is up, and have also resorted to trying to spray her with water every time she pees on one of us. Is the best thing to do in this situation to leave her in a cage with her litter box so she gets used to peeing here or keep up with the negative reinforcement? We don’t think we can do any positive reinforcement yet as we were told she is too young for treats now. Help, please 😥

[DanaNM]

She’s very young…. bunnies usually stay with their siblings till 8 weeks. So remember she is just a baby if she is actually only 6 weeks old.

If she is a bit older than you think, then she may be getting hormonal, but that doesn’t usually occur until around 12 weeks. She also could have a urinary tract infection, as dribbling urine can be a symptom of UTI.

I would not continue any negative reinforcement, she won’t understand what’s going on and it will just harm your relationship. If you want to keep holding her, you can put a towel on your lap, or a waterproof puppy pad. But most bunnies don’t like being held, so as she grows up she may become less tolerant of that anyway.

For hormonal peeing, the best thing to do is get her spayed when she’s old enough. There are some tips on litter training here to help in the mean time: https://binkybunny.com/infocategory/litterbox-training/

. . . 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]

Spraying her with water is actually considered ‘positive punishment’, in learning terms. It’s ‘positive’ because you’re adding something, and it’s punishment because you’re doing so in order to reduce a 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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