Peeing on blankets

[LunaBugs]

Hi everyone!

our bunnies have now been with us for a little over a month and are almost 9 weeks old. They have two rooms to free roam and are seemingly very happy!

 

our only problem is that we want to let them on the couches as they are starting to be able to jump up and actually seem to want to come see us when we are there. Only thing is, they almost always pee on material. We have tried leaving a blanket in their cage overnight for coziness (that’s where we leave them when we go to bed) but they pee on it every time and we have tried slowly introducing materials but they mostly respond with peeing.

 

i’m not really giving them enough credit here – they are as litter trained as i can probably get them before we get them spayed and they have gotten better with the peeing since we first got them, still though i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to stop them or train them out of that?

thanks so much for any help 🙂

[Bella The Bunny]

I have found if it is a super soft blanket they will pee on it. I use cloth pee pads instead of blankets. I kind of think they get confused because they’re litter is soft, and so is the blanket.

[Beau Bunny]

Hi there! When I have my bunny (3 month old Holland Lop) up on the couch with me, I put a clean litter box with some hay and paper litter up on an old diaper changing pad on the actual sofa, and he hasn’t had an accident yet. It’s a very large sectional sofa and he has just started attempting to jump down, which I discourage because it’s a pretty high jump and hard tile floor. Eventually, I’ll move the box to the floor when he is fully grown, and planning to purchase a new smaller sofa.

Also I hear many rabbits will pee on anything soft. While my bun doesn’t pee on blankets, he completely discards them and prefers to flop directly on the tile floor or the bamboo mat in his enclosure. Are they sleeping on or in the blankets? Or just peeing on them?

Also with litter training it may help to keep them housed in a smaller area at first until they are spayed. When you find stray droppings, sweep them up and put them inside the box. That, and making sure there is a place to go nearby whenever they are out and about.

I got a couple of packs of these and they really do the trick: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ASCEO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I hope this helps!

 

 

[DanaNM]

At this point they are just babies, so it’s hard to know how they will be when they get older!

Fabric in general is iffy for buns. Some pee on it, some eat it (which is very dangerous), and others are fine with it.

It can be very cute to see bunnies all snuggled up with blankets and beds, but sometimes it’s just not possible. My girl Bertha was a fabric pee-er and chewer, so I used grass mats in her condo instead. Even cardboard and newspaper can work, although it isn’t the most aesthetic, the bunnies seem to like it. 🙂

As for the couch, they are also probably inclined to pee on it because it smell strongly of humans (in addition to the unspayed baby factor!). If you are determined to have bunnies on the couch (understandable!), you might look into couch protectors for dogs, or even those picnic blankets that have a waterproof layer on one side. That might be enough of a barrier to block the human smells that trigger marking, and will protect the couch for they they do mark.

If you search the forum for “bunnies peeing on bed” you will find lots of other creative solutions that people have come up with. 🙂

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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