New to house bunny and need to correct a mistake ASAP!

[ajumpers]

I rescued a teenage mini rex from a rabbitry about two weeks ago.  Jack was a show bunny and he’s not neutered, which after reading several questions in the forum, it part of my problem.  Jack was kept outside in a cage and I was told he was litter trained.  For a week, Jack was the perefct gentleman, using his litterbox in his cage; hoping in and out to use the potty.  I noticed he was slipping trying to hop out of the cage so I placed a towel in the cage.  Jack was still doing great and I’ve done everything right as far as having hay in his box and putting the litter box where he pees and so on and so forth.  Then, a few days ago, he started dropping pills out side the litter box. 

A couple of days ago, he started dropping pills outside the cage.  I have two daughters, 3 and 1, and Jack is very tolerant of them.  I just noticed that after my kids go to bed, and my husband is home from work, Jack poops like crazy!  But, I stay up later than my husband and he’ll stay outside the cage for another 3 hours with no pill droppings on the floor but all over his cage.  I’m sure this is hormonal because Jack also strated courting me by running around my feet.  Still, that’s not my primary concern because all day yesterday and this morning, Jack started peeing outside the litter box!  He pees in three spots now!

He’s never marked the carpet and I never catch him in the act of lifting his tail.  He doesn’t seem to lift it and will say no as soon as I see it.  I did make the initial mistake of allowing him too large of space being new to our home.  But, Jack was so good, I thought nothing of it.  I do pick all his poop up and put it in his litter box immediately.  I change his box daily and keep his cage clean.  I thought I might be overcleaning it but I’m now sure this is not the case.  I never clean the cage with Jack in it and always let him in and out on his own terms.  I really feel I’m doing everything right with the exception of having him neutered.

I guess what I want to know is how to retrain Jack?  He’s not a cuddly bunny but does lie near me on the florr and will let me pet him while givinghim treats and such.  I’m still workink on the bonding.  But how do I start from square one getting Jack to pee in his litter tray again and quit pooping in the cage?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.  I wanted to be as specific as possible!

[jerseygirl]

Welcome to Binky Bunny!

You sound as if you’ve been doing some research. As you have said, it does sound like alot to do with his age and hormones. A formerly well trained bunny can lose their good habits due to this. Very typical. Confining him to his cage may help some. I know it’s hard to do when you’ve allowed them freedom but it’s usually a temporary measure.  If you feel this is limiting his space too much, you could add an enclosed area he can come out into from the cage.

Where do you keep the hay in his cage? Often rabbits will poop were they are eating their hay, so sometimes you can improve things by hanging a hay rack over the litter box.

How are Jacks nails? Rex breeds must have their nails kept trimmed short as they don’t have alot of fur on the feet. So they can develop sores here easily. Keeping nails trimmed helps avoid this. I just thought to ask as you said he was slipping when entering the cage. Try some other things for traction if you think the towel is causing him to mark outside of his litterbox.
 

[Karla]

Why do so many of us name our bunnies Jack?? It is quite funny that we tend to pick the same names Well, anyways, do you plan to have him neutered? Because as you say that will solve your problem. I don’t think you can stop him 100 % from marking the territory as long as he is not neutered.

One thing though is to act quickly when the peeing outside the box starts. As soon as it gets to be a habit, it can be a killer to remove that bad habit. If it tends to be the same spots then place a litter box there…or prevent Jack from going there at all, so he doesn’t begin seeing it as his new toilet spot. But as long as he has a strong hormonal instinct to mark his territory, it might be an endless job.

[Elrohwen]

I don’t know that there’s a whole lot you can do other than getting him neutered. It sounds like his behavior is very hormonally linked and often no amount of training will overcome his urge to mark his territory as an intact male.

[bunnytowne]

You can nmake his play space smaller again  and put a litterbox where he pees outside the cage.  Aside from neutering

[ajumpers]

Wow! Such improvement in such a short time! I figured out a few things about Jack. For some reason, yesterday was the day he decided that the small dish (no larger than 3′ x3′) I’d set in his cage over a week ago (to catch water if it dripped from his bottle) was a litter tray! I took it out. He peed in that corner. But, I’d also taken the towel out too and put a thin layer of paper. I tore the corner from the paper he peed on and put it in his litter box. NO MORE pee in the cage the rest of the day. I do keep hay in the litter box and jack was so much better about pooping in his litter box too. He did poop a lot in the cage but not as much as usual. He only had about 5 pills on the carpet today too. I did cut back on his time out but he’s been out for three hours straight this evening with only 2 pills.
Jack’s nails were really bad when I got him. The first thing I did was cut them and it was so much easier than when I had a dog! I was fearing the worst but no kicking or scratching at all. I’ll just keep this up and see what happens if I put a towel back in his box when he stops pooping in his cage.
I do want to get Jack neutered because I’d like to get a mate for him. However, after reading about all the litter training problems when introducing another rabbit… I think I might stick with one at a time!

[Balefulregards]

It sounds Very much like he is relaxing into your home – and now must make it HIS, you included.

Neutering will help, definitely, and honestly, I would say settle into your Jack for the time being. There will be poo wars when you intro a new bun for bonding and they can feel never ending – even though they really only last a month or so.

I think it was Beka who said that she thought great litter habits were pee in the box 100% of the time, and pills in the box 90% of the time.
Both of mine have very good litter habits post bond and they still leave a few stray poos here and there. The majority are in the box, but they will drop a few during the course of the day. Since they are easy to sweep up, I merely sweep them up and scoot them back into the box.

[jerseygirl]

Jack’s nails were really bad when I got him. The first thing I did was cut them and it was so much easier than when I had a dog! I was fearing the worst but no kicking or scratching at all.

Oooh…he sounds like a dream! Thanks for rescuing him by the way. I’d love to know more.

[Beka27]

Welcome! Thanks for rescuing him! He’ll be much happier as a neutered, loved, family pet than a show rabbit. Mini rexes are fantastic rabbits.

Reducing his play area is going to help a lot UNTIL he is neutered. The sooner this is done, the fewer bad habits he will pick up and he will most likely have better litter habits for the rest of his life. So do not put this off! It sounds like he’s ready for that to be done now. Do you have a rabbit vet already? If not, we may be able to offer some suggestions in your area.

[ajumpers]

EEEK!!! Today has been a nightmare! I’m not sure if it started when my 1 year old crawled into his cage while I was cleaning it or what. I thought I cleaned it well enough to get her scent out of it and then the pee started! He peed all over the inside of his cage. He’s filthy now and while I was cleaning the cage again, he backed into a corner and peed on my carpet! This was after he circled around me several times so I know I need to get him neutered ASAP! BUt then I couldn’t herd him back into his cage either. Feeling a bit overwhelmed I must say! I’ve never even had to try to get him to go in his cage because he’s usually really good. I am reducing his time out. Am I doing this right? Or is he mad at me because he’s not getting a two hour running session at lunch now? And how do I go about finding a vet to neuter Jack too? SO frustrated that I’m doing all the wrong things!

[jerseygirl]

You’re doing fine. Honestly, it’s totally natural to feel frustrated right now. I’m certain many, many members here have been where you are. It will be for everyones benefit that he is restricted for now. Maybe you can allow lengthy time out of cage but just in a smaller area?
He might be a bit put out though I can’t imagine he was offered this much freedom before at his former home. He can become an intergrated member of the family and cruise around the home…in the future. For now though, things have to start out slowly and his hormones need to be dealt with.

Here’s House Rabbit Societys recommended vet list. http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html  Also, if you’re happy to post general area where you are, someone may be able to give more local recommendations.
 

[wendyzski]

If you ever have a couple of days with nothing to do, cruise the back-sheets of this forum and you’ll see endless repetitions of this same issue.  Teenage bunnies are awful – they are cranky and moody and smelly and territorial.  It’s nothing you or anyone did “wrong”.  I had a foster for a week who would pee like a furry little lawn sprinkler – he’d even spin around!  He could get me in the face from across the kitchen!

The first things you will want to do are 1) restrict his space so that your house (and kids) won’t smell quite so much like a barn, and 2) make an appointment to get him neutered as soon as possible.  He’s only going to get worse with time, and the sooner he doesn’t have the hormones driving his behavior the less likely that they will become a habit.  It’s also better for health reasons – he will be less likely to get cancers or go frantic from sexual frustration and nibble his fur off.

Once the hormones get out of his system, then you can start with the actual “training” part of litter training.  You can try now but it probably won’t “take” – his hormones are too strong.  Just start looking for a rabbit-saavy vet (I see that someone posted the rabbit-prg link – that should help) and hang in as best you can.  You can get gallon jugs of vinegar at the warehouse club.

[Beka27]

Lol Wendy! Absolutely.

This is nothing new to us. The problem is… baby bunnies are so cute… and when they are 8 weeks old, more often than not they are PERFECTLY littertrained and behaved. And then all of a sudden, 4 or 5 months hits and at this point, everything literally… “hits the fan.”

[Sage Cat]

Sounds like you are doing great ! You have also gotten some great advice!

Please remember, bunnies will reward your patients with many years of pleasure!!!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome I think your doing great

For finding a vet -tips here http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html

It sounds like he’s trying to mark over other family members scents-Perhaps more exposure to them if you could talk hubby into feeding him his veggies and making friends might help?

[ajumpers]

I thought I’d give an update on Jack! I’m still looking for a vet but he’s back to being good again. I think I also forgot to mention Jack was about a year and a half old too. ANyhow, I had to make some modifications to his cage, giving him a larger litter area. I started by restricting to his cage more frequently and allowing him to run around supervised in the same living area for short periods of time. Things got really good when the weather got nice too. I would take him in the back yard (fenced in) and let him play outside for hours at a time with the kids too. He’s not pooping anywhere but his cage, with the exception of a pill or two by my hubby’s shoes, and he hasn’t peed in the house at all.
He did start humping my daughter’s stuffed bunny. That was interesting. But it seems like it helped him too. He did start digging outside. I know that’s not the best behavior, but he’s so happy and I know that’s instinctual behavior so I”m not going to bother with him digging in the dirt. I can leave him out again for about 3 hours at a time and he’s an angel. He has gotten more comfortable with the living space and has decided his new spot to lay iis under the dining room table, off the living room.
He started circling both my daughter’s feet. It’s funny watching him do this with my 1 year old because she gets dizzy when she twirls in a circle watching him! He’s also playing tag with my 3 year old. So for now… we are good and I’m still looking for a vet. Thank you for all the advice!

[Beka27]

He is definitely ready to be neutered, so keep looking. As I’m sure you’ve read, those chasing and circling behaviors are due to hormones and him wanting to mate. They’re cute right now, but after awhile of not “getting a response” they can turn to aggression (lunging, nipping, as well as urine spraying), and you don’t want that with your very young children.

[Author]

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