More Freedom?

[kcomstoc]

So my bunny Caleb is 9 months old and I’ve been taking him downstairs because he needs exercise and because I trust him to go into his litterbox to pee and poo (except for some poop that he leaves on the gound but that’s not a big deal). I’ve been taking him into the living room because it’s the biggest room to run in and he loves it (plus all the other rooms are hard wood and with the living room being carpeted it seems like he moves better). So he runs and binkys and I’ve never had a problem with him going outside the litterbox (except for a few poops). Today I bring him downstairs and he’s doing his thing running around, climbing, exploring and everything is going great. Then he makes his first mistake stopping and pooping (so it’s not just one or two randomly on the carpet it’s like 8-10 poops grouped) so I notice and am just about to pick him up to take him to his litterbox and he stopped again (different location) and pees a little *I didn’t catch him in time to stop him but it wasn’t much*) I clean it up and take him upstairs to his cage.

I can usually trust him he stayed downstairs once for like 5 hours and he was amazing *no accidents*. Sometimes we put him on the bed and he’s fine with that too (we put the litterbox on the bed just in case he has to go) but he peed on that once *same situation as downstairs except he only peed* (we used an enzyme cleaner so it could take out the scent too)

What do I do now? Was this an accident? Should I wait a couple days and bring him down and block some of the living room off?

[Eepster]

Have you been getting new rabbits in your yard this spring? Are there any new animals around your house? Does he have access to a litter box down stairs if he needs one? Is he neutered?

[kcomstoc]

Posted By Eepster on 05/23/2013 10:26 AM
Have you been getting new rabbits in your yard this spring? Are there any new animals around your house? Does he have access to a litter box down stairs if he needs one? Is he neutered?

I don’t usually let him outside unless he’s on his harness. He does well on it and we only go out like 2 times a month or so. We are very careful with it (I know there can be sudden noises) but he seems to do fine. I don’t notice any rabbits outside, I’ve never noticed any around the house. He is neutered. I don’t think there are any new animals. There’s a family dog we have but he just ignores Caleb. Caleb hops around and when Caleb goes up to sniff the dog the dog runs away. he always has access to his litterbox, I show it to him exactly where it is and he usually goes in there if he has to go.

 

[Stickerbunny]

That sounds like marking behavior. He must have smelled something off in that area and decided it needed to smell more like him. What enzyme cleaner did you use? I’ve noticed the only thing that seems to work when my buns are being really stubborn about marking an area is pure white vinegar, no water added, letting it froth like acid and then cleaning it up and then cleaning like normal. Natures miracle usually works, but not if they’re stubborn.

[kcomstoc]

Posted By Stickerbunny on 05/23/2013 11:04 AM
That sounds like marking behavior. He must have smelled something off in that area and decided it needed to smell more like him. What enzyme cleaner did you use? I’ve noticed the only thing that seems to work when my buns are being really stubborn about marking an area is pure white vinegar, no water added, letting it froth like acid and then cleaning it up and then cleaning like normal. Natures miracle usually works, but not if they’re stubborn.

I thought after getting a bunny neutered they didn’t mark? How do I get him not to do this? we are moving into an apartment in August and I don’t want him to do this in the new place…. i think it’s an enzyme cleaner (its for animal pee spots) and it’s like this orange stuff lol hold on, it’s called orange eliminator.

 

[MoveDiagonally]

They usually don’t mark in the spraying traditional sense after being neutered/spayed but they will pee in places they want to “smell like them”. That’s why they pee so often on beds (because they smell so much like us and they want their scent mingled in there too).

Just make sure you clean up really thoroughly (because if they smell any trace of urine they will continue to pee in the same spot) and reinforce good habits/set him up for success. He may need an additional litter box while he’s out as well. A good way to clean up messes on carpet is to use baking soda over a spot, let it sit, and then use vinegar over that to “fizz out the smell”, and then wiping up the whole mess. It gets out the smell really well (better than most commercial cleaners) and it’s non toxic.

[kcomstoc]

Thanks for clarifying movediagonally, so how do I stop him from doing this in the new apartment when nothing will smell like anybody?

[Elrohwen]

I found that one of my bunnies marked when she was new to my house, and did it again when we moved to a new house with her and her bonded partner. She has always tapered off naturally and I make sure to clean up every spot very well with a 50/50 white vinegar/water mixture.

Most bunnies only mark if there is something to mark against, so a new house or part of the house, new animals, other bunnies, etc.

[kcomstoc]

I guess I should make a big solution spray bottle of vinegar and water then just in case

[Stickerbunny]

Posted By kcomstoc on 05/23/2013 12:47 PM
Thanks for clarifying movediagonally, so how do I stop him from doing this in the new apartment when nothing will smell like anybody?

 

You could keep some of his old litter when you move, so at least his litter boxes smell like him and that can encourage them to stay litter trained. Still will probably get some marking though. Can also sprinkle some of their scent around the new place, like put a bunch of old rags with his scent on them around the area so he can smell himself on it.

[kcomstoc]

That’s a great idea Stickerbunny, he has this teddy bear that he has had since week 1 of living with us can I just rub that in the area around his cage and the living room in the apartment?

[Deleted User]

Does he eat rugs? When I adopted my pair the foster family gave me this truly awful rug that the two of them had put great effort into biting and ripping and generally enjoying for some time. It was a good size so I cut it in a few pieces and put some in their condo (since it was brand new to them) and others around their room. They also passed along a hidey box, along with a bag of used litter. You’ve got plenty of time, perhaps you could pick a few things like these, ones that your rabbit will like (and won’t eat), and let him have them in his cage for the next couple of months. (Maybe a second stuffed animal, … or I used these little one by two foot rugs in the condo I got at the Dollar store.) Then when you move and start letting him out you can spread them around the area you want him to play in. And you might want to start small there and increase gradually as he gets used to the new place. But I’d think realistically you’d best expect a few “accidents”, its his way of making himself feel at home.

[kcomstoc]

I don’t expect no accidents lol that would be unrealistic I just mean fewer. i’ll get him a second stuffed animal (he really likes them, I have a stuffed warthog that he licks lol) anyway I’ll get him another one that is just his. He really enjoys digging but he never really bites the carpets in the living room (he digs them but doesn’t bite)

[Deleted User]

Sounds like an excellent start! I’m sure now that you are thinking along these lines other ideas will occur to you. I would get a couple of little cheap rugs for him now to play and lie on, then when you move put in his new Home/room, … you can always give them to him in his cage after they’ve done their duty helping him to settle in.

Happy you’ve got realistic expectations, … some times a little worrysome what people want of their pets. Expect it will all go very well. I haven’t had the fun of moving with a rabbit (only bringing them home) but I’ve travelled often with dogs, and moved many times and my experience has always been that if I, as their primary focus, am there, right with them and staying relatively calm then they figure their world is pretty much in order and things will go on. (If you’ve ever been shut in a bathroom on a moving train with a full sized Labrador that is when you learn how much that trust counts!) So I expect the change will be fairly good long as you take a little extra time to tell him everything is still the same and his family is right there with him.

[kcomstoc]

I bet I’ll make sure he’s right at home, also my BF and I are going to expand his cage because right now it’s just the minimum and we think he could use some more room. We are still going to use his old cage just adding on to it. Would that count as a new cage? Would he have to get re-adjusted to it?

[kcomstoc]

 He did it again ugh, I know he’s not doing it to be a jerk but he peed on our bed again (3rd time now). I used a spot remover and now I’m going to use the 50/50 white vinegar and water, do I blot it on the spots where he’s peed before and where he just did it? He had FULL access to his litterbox (I always put it on the bed before I put him on) but he must just want it to smell like him?

[Elrohwen]

Bed peeing is super common and there’s usually nothing you can do other than block off the bed.

Use the vinegar as you would any other cleaning solution – spray on the spot, wipe or blot off the pee, and then let it dry.

[Stickerbunny]

For bed peeing, honestly you have to soak it in something and blot it but it’s going to keep the smell inside the foam until it’s soaked through. But, as Elroh said, bed peeing is normal. It smells so strongly of human, the buns want it to smell of them.

[kcomstoc]

got it, no more bed for bunnies if you don’t want it to get peed on lol I should’ve just learned my lesson the first 2x’s

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