Licking up urine

[peepi&warri]

Hi everyone.

One of my rabbits doesn’t have very good litterbox habits and will often pee on a towel in front of the litterbox or on their rug. Usually at least once a day I’ll see him lick up the urine right after he goes. It’s nice that he’s cleaning up after himself and everything, but I don’t think it’s normal. Has anyone experienced this before or have any thoughts?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome here! I’ve never heard of anything like that before…Some animals will try to eat their excreta if they are missing something in their diets…What do you feed your rabbits?

[peepi&warri]

Thank you! I think feed them a pretty balanced diet. Pellets (oxbow bunny basics t), orchard hay, romaine lettuce, parsley, celery, and carrots and bananas for treats. I would think he’d get all of his sodium from the pellets. My other rabbit doesn’t lick his urine..

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hi! I have heard of this before and most often this is a behavioral thing. What was your rabbit’s past like? The reason I ask is that rabbits who often were not in the best living conditions will lick up their own urine for the lack of access to water. If this is the case, it can take several months for your rabbit to learn that he will always have fresh water available. How old is he and is he neutered?

[peepi&warri]

I’ve had him since he was a bunny and he’ll soon be 4 years old. And yes, he’s neutered.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

That’s an excellent diet! And sounds like he has a great home too. Has he always done this or is it a recent behavior?

[peepi&warri]

He hasn’t always done it, I began noticing it maybe 6 months ago. And its been worse the past 2 months after we moved and he decided that urinating in front of the litter box is as good as actually going in it. Whenever he goes in the box he doesn’t lick it, only when he goes outside of it.

[jerseygirl]

So he had better litter box habits? He peed in it more routinely before? I’m just thinking if that is the case, you may need to look at why he’s peeing outside of it more now. The licking part may be just cleaning it up because it’s there. Obviously he can’t, or doesn’t need to do that when he pees in the box. Sorry if I’m not being clear! Trying to say that the peeing out of the box may be the main issue.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hmm, that’s interesting.  Well that rules out him doing it because of a neglected past. Have you tried moving the litterbox to the spot where he pees? Perhaps that is where he would like it to be instead. If you move it and he pees where the box used to be, you might want to temporarily add another litterbox or tempt him into the litterbox with hay in it or a spring of tasty mint. Have you changed litters at all?

[bunnytowne]

Hmmm that sure is something else.  Cotton would pee on the couch after we moved for 2 months.  He never licked it up though.  Yes I agree try getting him another litterbox. He may be trying to tell  you I want one here n here.   I hope that strange behavior stops soon.

[peepi&warri]

I use the same litter. I moved the box to where he pees earlier today and he’s been better at it using it, but just a few minutes ago i saw him licking the pee soaked towel. I don’t know, he might just be a strange little boy.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I wonder if your able, it might be wise to take him in and have him checked for a urinary tract infection…if litter habits change that can be the cause, and him licking it sure is strange, especially if its a change. IT could be because of the move, but maybe to rule an infection out a urine screen might be a good idea.

[Scarlet_Rose]

I’ve been thinking about this a while and wonder if he may be a tad diabetic and the urine has a sweet smell and so he licks it up?

[peepi&warri]

That’s an interesting idea. He is a little overweight too. If people can develop diabetes from being overweight, I figure rabbits can as well.

[jerseygirl]

I found this on allexperts.com just so you know your boy bun isn’t the only one! I’ve only copied relevant part of the answer.

Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D. – 9/24/2008

Question
hi dana its karen,
i just wanted to thank you so very much with the information about my sweet bunny Kayleigh but she use to do something naturally not very nice and very strange, she would pee and poop on my bed but never on my side and if i threw the quilt on the floor she would still jump up and do this, i found this VERY weird but what was most weird is after she had a pee she would then lick it up :o/ she always had plenty of water, i did try to stop her from doing this without success so decided to invest in some mats and lay them across HER SIDE OF THE BED (so to speak) why do you think she did this?
also i have read that circling of feet is a sign of sexual maturity and gently grading teeth is her talking to me, i know it wasn’t pain because half the time i would do it first then she would respond and where ever i was in the room she would always knock me with her nose but if i didn’t move that part of my body she would give me a tiny nip which isn’t suppose to hurt but still not a thing to look forward to. Kayleigh was never short of attention so what was it she was wanting, saying or asking do you think? also i know Kayleigh was a lop but could you tell me what sort? she was 4 1/2 months old in this photo.

Answer
Dear Karen,

By marking the bed with urine and poops, Kayleigh was claiming it as her territory. This behavior might have stopped with a spay, but sometimes it becomes a bad habit that’s very hard to break. Kayleigh is also not the only bunny who sipped her own urine. It’s weird, but not harmful, and no one really knows why some bunnies do this on occasion.

Also, another poster there mentioned her female rabbit having blood in the urine and also licking the urine. The response was that this rabbit likely had uterine cancer .   I know this is not the case for your bun obviously but as K&K mentioned, it’d be worth having a urine screen to check all is ok.

[luna]

Oh my gosh…both my bunnies do this. Henry would do it before he got neutered. He would spray and then lick it up! Now Poppy goes over to Henrys cage, leaves a present and licks it up too!!! I must have a pair of odd-ball bunnies

[peepi&warri]

I’m glad to know Warri isn’t the only weird bunny out there!

[Author]

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