My bunny is more destructive after neuter–HOW TO FIX CARPET HE PULLED UP

[frenchfried]

HEEEELP.  My bunny, BJ, was neutered on 4/1/14 (you can see his pic under “frenchfry”–for some reason this site won’t let me back on with that username/pw and I’ve tried having binkybunny email me the info but there’s no emails, thus this new username).  

He has gotten more destructive.  Like extremely destructive.  My apartment is missing approximately 8 square feet of carpet fibers!  He had only rooted very little carpet (in comparison to now) before the neuter.  (Apparently, now he also likes to chew on clothing as well, but that’s another story.)

Before the neuter, his only hobby was obsessing over food, treats, going outside, and me and my feet, following me and them all over the apartment, sitting there staring at me while I did chores like the dishes or cooking, grooming his friends–my feet, waiting on bed for me to wake up, etc.  Now, he couldn’t care less about going on car rides and following me about.  He really enjoys rooting up carpet; he just pulls each strand one by one until each is free and he’s REALLY FAST at it.  He doesn’t go any farther than that though, like chew through the padding down to the actual bottom concrete below.

I am just wondering how to fix this hot mess before we move in a month…Has anyone used glue?  What kind of glue?  (I’ve saved almost each and every strand of carpet he’s pulled and spit out.)  I’m not sure how to go about that method but it seemed to be the best route before I realized that the backing that used to hold the strands are now loose and shapeless.   I am very nervous about cutting out and replacing the squares of damage with new patches but it seems this is the only way.  I don’t even know where to start on that project if I went that route.  Any advice on cutting out the damaged areas and patching it?  Where would I go for cheap apartment carpet?  

ALL AND ANY ADVICE WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!!  I’ve already blocked out enclosed corners and spaces where I know he would feel like rooting strands.  I would REALLY like to fix the carpeting before moving out.  

I’ve always kept my apartments clean and left them exactly as I entered them, i.e. new carpets installed for my move in stayed “new” when I moved out.  I’d also like my deposit back (the deposit would cover the adoption cost of a friend and also a years worth of living expenses for them).  

And even though I’m not going to live here any longer, I don’t want to leave the apartment management with a bad aftertaste of what they believe is “bunny”…I had looked at some different places and as soon as I said I had a rabbit, I was informed that rabbits weren’t allowed because they “smell”, etc etc.  

[manic_muncher]

I used to work at an apartment complex and had seen repairs done that you could not tell afterwards that anything was wrong. Did a quick google search and ended up here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhO-VHmlhnI

That shows you how to join the seams. There are a bunch of links on the side that can help too. If you can find the match to your carpet (I’d cut a small square to take with me to the carpet store), you may be able to repair it yourself. Good luck!

[LBJ10]

I can’t imagine gluing all those fibers would work. Not only would it be tedious, I think it would be really difficult to make them look right. I agree with manic, try taking a sample to stores around town to see if there is a match. If you can get a patch, then it isn’t too difficult to cut some straight edges in the existing carpet and “sew” the patch in.

[frenchfried]

Thank you guys for your suggestions! I wish I had that special carpet iron or knew someone who did but don’t see the point of getting one other than for this one time deal. I did go to a few places and searched for matching carpet but there are multiple accent colors in the beige that confound the matching making it a huge issue. This XL corporate apartment complex I live in makes their residents pay for professional cleaning of the carpet and the rest of the apartment on move out so we’ll leave it up to their salaried pros to patch the carpet. I really hope they don’t send me a bill!

He will be on lock down at the new place unless I’m actually hanging out with him, but I’ll add an attached pen and we’ll be welcoming a little buddy of his choice from one of the local shelters, so I think he will adjust to living in his condo again and hopefully not be bored and go Cujo crazy on inanimate objects.

Thanks again!

[Beka27]

Well… this is why you pay a deposit. It’ll be sucky not getting the full deposit back, but it is what it is. Hopefully they can get it fixed and not have to replace the whole thing, but who knows?

When we moved out of our old rental house (years ago), the landlord only returned a little bit of our deposit. He sent a very reduced check to us along with a ridiculous list of things that he “had to have” professionally cleaned. I was very offended b/c I was (and still am!) a neat freak. I keep my house spotless, and clean a lot of things/areas that the average person wouldn’t even think of cleaning. It was obviously a very over-the-top list. Looking back, I bet he probably sends the same list to every former tenant, just so he can keep a little money on the back end. And when you’re talking about a smaller amount of money (under $500-1000), he probably figures that people aren’t going to go through the trouble to fight it.

Way off-topic, but anyways… I hope this all works out for you and you can get your new bunny!

[MissGabbster]

I found this video. http://youtu.be/8AGMJGkbMSM

The guy in it is just using a regular household iron however he does have some kind of special aluminum cloth and some a carpet glue patch thing. (Ugh words hard. lol) I wouldn’t suggest cutting carpet out of the closet to use as a patch though. That makes no sense to me.

It’s up to you to decide if you want to try and patch it though. I doubt that carpet cleaners would know how to do a patch so they’d have to hire out. Which would come out of your deposit, I’m sure.

Good luck with getting a new friend for BJ!

[bunnnnnnie!]

Posted By Beka27 on 7/18/2014 7:53 AM

Well… this is why you pay a deposit. It’ll be sucky not getting the full deposit back, but it is what it is. Hopefully they can get it fixed and not have to replace the whole thing, but who knows?

When we moved out of our old rental house (years ago), the landlord only returned a little bit of our deposit. He sent a very reduced check to us along with a ridiculous list of things that he “had to have” professionally cleaned. I was very offended b/c I was (and still am!) a neat freak. I keep my house spotless, and clean a lot of things/areas that the average person wouldn’t even think of cleaning. It was obviously a very over-the-top list. Looking back, I bet he probably sends the same list to every former tenant, just so he can keep a little money on the back end. And when you’re talking about a smaller amount of money (under $500-1000), he probably figures that people aren’t going to go through the trouble to fight it.

Way off-topic, but anyways… I hope this all works out for you and you can get your new bunny!

I’ve had the same experience at every place I’ve been at, too.  I didn’t even bother to repair/deep clean the last apartment I moved out of.  The landlord was a butthead anyways, LOL.

[Stickerbunny]

Yeah, honestly… never gotten a deposit back anyway. About the only way to is to have them list on the lease every single little nick, scratch, cut, scuff, stain etc that was there when you moved in. And then hire a professional cleaner to come in and clean it and attach a receipt for that with your moving out notice. Otherwise, the landlord can always find some reason to keep it. lol So, I just say forget it and don’t put the extra effort and let them keep the thing. Why waste breath arguing with them…

But, you can go to the store and find a matching piece of carpet and cut out the damaged bit, then put the new piece down. If the seams bother them, they can always fix it when you move by ironing the seams together. Honestly though, it’s hard to notice seams in carpet if it’s in a corner or something. You can look up on youtube how to make it look the best without special equipment.

And yes, the after-neuter destruction is often bad. Their hormones flare for a month and if they aren’t restricted during that time, any bad behavior becomes a habit. And then it’s hard to train them out of it. Powder has been worse since because he figured out it’s fun to chew certain things when he was having a hormonal flare up.

For the next place you move, you can get a cheap linoleum piece and put it over your carpet in the bun room. Or some cheap throw rugs. That way he can’t ruin the next carpet.

[SpottyBunny]

I’m not sure why damage deposits are legal outside Ontario.  They sound horrible.  Here, people get shamed on classifieds ads if they even suggest that a damage deposit is going to be asked for.  And plus, here, any non-dangerous animal is allowed inside your residence as long as you are a tenant, not an applicant. 

I wanted to suggest getting some sort of other flooring on top.  Because he sounds fairly destructive, have you considered an appropriately-sized sheet of vinyl floor, or laminate?  Or foam tiles, if you’re sure he won’t destroy them? 

[Author]

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