pee licker

[babybunsmum]

so now that baby is content to stay in the living room with the dog & i at night while i watch tv / am on the computer, she is claiming the room as her own.  she is pooping & peeing all over the place.  i have a litter there for her of course and am working on training her to use it by putting stray poops in it (at least the ones the dog doesn’t eat up… eww) and i’ve been dabbing her pee spots with paper towel & putting the paper towel in the litter too. 

twice now i realize she peed because she was LICKING the pee spot.  whats up with that?  has anyone ever heard of that?  i shoo’ed her away & put a bowl of water for her thinking she was thirsty.  of course she promptly tipped the whole thing onto the rug

[BinkyBunny]

I have heard of this, and actually sometime, I think about a year ago, we had a discussoin about a bunny who drank pee. I have to try and find it.   Does she ever lick where she urinated anywhere else, or so far has these places been the only place she has peed outside of her box?
I know you may have explained this in another post at some point, but what is Baby’ story – I mean where did she come from? Was she ever neglected by a previous owner? Sometimes, bunnies who have had a neglectful past – one where they haven’t had enough food and water, will also lick their pee. But there are also some other reasons that I can’t remember right now. Will have to search for that discussion. BE Back

[babybunsmum]

i brought her home when she was a wee bun… i think maybe about 10 weeks old… from a pet store (ugh… i know).  she’s had a water bottle thingy since then.  wierd thing… i tried putting her pellets in a crock before but she pees in it, so i got a hopper-type thing to keep the pellets dry. 

since her surgery last month (mass removal) i changed her diet a bit and she’s now eating 2 cups of greens, 1/4 cup pellets and unlimited hay daily.  before that she had unlimited pellets & hay and maybe half the greens (i never measured them).  i mention all this because the way i feed her greens now is packed into a crock, really wet & i place it on the floor of her room, not in her cage.  i’ve seen her drinking water from this crock and now i think she rarely drinks from the bottle in her cage.  i make sure she has fresh water in both just incase.  she doesn’t pee in the greens crock at all.  i think because its not in her cage which has a full grate floor & so is basically just her litter?  the whole room is actually her ‘cage’.

maybe she peed in her water crock at the pet store when she was wee & got a taste?  it’s wierd tho… i’ve noticed her with a pee-pee butt a lot.  it doesn’t make sense that she has this since where she goes potty is over the grate floor in her cage.  i wonder if she’s peeing somewhere on the floor & licking it up? 

[Gravehearted]

I found the previous thread  that Binkybunny mentioned https://www.binkybunny.com/Default.aspx

I’ve also heard it’s more common among bunnies who didn’t get enough water as babies, so who knows that really happened at the petstore before you brought her home.

Soaking her veggies with lots of water is a great idea. You might  also try switching from a bottle to a crock or bowl to see if that encourages her to drink more water.

 

[babybunsmum]

thanks for the link.  poor baby girl!  i wonder if she’s ‘remembering’ having to drink her pee to survive from the pet store?  the thought of that makes me really mad   when i saw her she was so frightened & immediately i wanted to take her home & ‘make everything ok’ so its quite possible her early experiences weren’t very nice.  she was franticly unfriendly and its taken years for her to be more social & trusting .  i still can’t have her on my lap for cuddles (she digs & nips… possibly more to do with her not being spayed tho) but she loooooves when i lay on the floor with her & rub her ears & head.  she leans in & stays for long periods of time.  thats why i’m so delighted that since her surgery she actually *stays* in the living room & hangs out with us too.  poor dear. 

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