Peeing on the couch

[hiskatey93]

So we have been working on litter training.And Speckles has been doing so good! No pooping or peeing besides in the litterboxs in her cage and through the living room!

Except for one spot. My stinkin couch. We try our hardest to keep her off the couch too. All day she will behave like an angel, going into her cage to go potty.Except at on random point I will turn my back for half a moment, blink, something.And bam, she will be on the couch in a random spot, peeing.

It’s driving me up the wall. I can’t seem to stop her from doing it, and I don’t want to restrict her to her cage. I have litterboxes scattered across my apartment, and she uses them, but it’s like once a day she has to pee on a random spot on my couch. I have no other rooms bunny proofed yet in my apartment, so I can’t let her out and roam in other rooms except my living room.

How do I stop her from peeing on my couch?

[Megabunny]

Unfortunately, keeping her off the couch is about all you can do. I don’t know if there’s some way to barricade her from getting up there. Otherwise, maybe a good thick padding of some sort to catch it…or a waterproof blanket. I know. Who wants that on their couch permanently? Is it always in the same spot? I’m sure you’d want to try washing it with vinegar and water to remove her smell from the spot.

[paleosteveo]

I had the same problem with my Basil when we first brought her home. Just find away to barricade the couch so she cant get on it. Glad to know it wasnt just us with a couch pee problem.

[hiskatey93]

Megabunny she pees in a different spot every single time! There is no telling where on the couch she is gonna go. I’m wondering if it is a scent issue? Too many human smells, not enough bunny?

And with the way my living room is set up it’s pretty much impossible to barricade her from the couches. Dang having a small apartment!

[Megabunny]

People on here have spoken of some rabbits’ love of peeing on soft things like couches, beds and pillows so it’s normal, annoying and I’m not sure there’s a lot you can do to really stop them. I’ll reach out to a couple of people who have been on here a long time and ask them to input if there is anything else to be done

[hiskatey93]

Well then I guess I’m gonna get those plastic covers for couches. At least make cleanup easy ya know?

It’s impossible to keep her down. That and she moves way faster than I do, unlike Chom. By the time I see her there, and lunge to snatch her off the couch bam she has peed and fled to the floor already. =/

[Chrystie]

We had the same problem with all 3 of ours peeing on one spot of our couch as each tried to cover up the scent of the other repeatedly. Blocking was almost impossible so I bought some scent remover, remover the cushion cover, washed it, covered the cushion with a plastic garbage bag from Costco after the descenting stuff dried, put cover back on and bought two sets of waterproof sofa covers from groupon. Some days they have peed on ALL the sofa covers but since I did the descenting and plastic bag trick, we have been pee free…. That was two weeks ago. Worth a try if you have removable cushion covers.

Chrystie
Mom of 5 humans and 3 bunnies

[hiskatey93]

Thankfully Chrystie I do have removable seat covers!
I definitely will be trying the plastic, de-scenting my couch

[Bam]

Hiskatey, I don’t know if you’ve told us already, but is she spayed? My Bam peed in the sofa until he was neutered, then he stopped. I had to have a shower-curtain on the sofa until I found a way to block it off, he was obsessed with going on that sofa.

If she is spayed you should do all you can to block the couch off, I used the types of gabiones used for compost heaps (not put togeather as a cube obviously). If she’s blocked from the couch for say 2 months, she may forget about it.

 

[Chrystie]

I have two males and one female and they are all fixed. No sooner did I post that then Moose hopped onto the couch and peed a small puddle right next to me, in the same exact spot as usual. I guess I jinxed myself!! Lol!! Thankfully, I still had the waterproof couch cover on because I have seen far too often that bunnies have memories like a steel trap!!! If groupon doesn’t have any try choxi, (online) or bed bath and beyond. They are cheaper through groupon and choxi though and they aren’t hidious either. Wish they had more vibrant colors but they have definitely done a good job. I have two full sized sofas so I have 6 covers total so that I always have a clean one at the ready.
I also didn’t let them on the couch anymore either. I started sitting on the floor a lot more that way they weren’t even tempted to evacuate their bladders. I didn’t take extraordinary measures, just shooed them off both couches so they eventually just stopped hopping on them. Moose has been a bit of an A-hole lately too…… He’s on his man-period or something and doing several things that are a bit out of character for him usually. So his pee episode today may have been his way of flipping me off bunny style or something for my rudeness when I cleaned their litter box. He doesn’t like it when I completely remove the entire box out to clean it, which I did today.

Chrystie

[Chrystie]

I have two males and one female and they are all fixed. No sooner did I post that then Moose hopped onto the couch and peed a small puddle right next to me, in the same exact spot as usual. I guess I jinxed myself!! Lol!! Thankfully, I still had the waterproof couch cover on because I have seen far too often that bunnies have memories like a steel trap!!! If groupon doesn’t have any try choxi, (online) or bed bath and beyond. They are cheaper through groupon and choxi though and they aren’t hidious either. Wish they had more vibrant colors but they have definitely done a good job. I have two full sized sofas so I have 6 covers total so that I always have a clean one at the ready.
I also didn’t let them on the couch anymore either. I started sitting on the floor a lot more that way they weren’t even tempted to evacuate their bladders. I didn’t take extraordinary measures, just shooed them off both couches so they eventually just stopped hopping on them. Moose has been a bit of an A-hole lately too…… He’s on his man-period or something and doing several things that are a bit out of character for him usually. So his pee episode today may have been his way of flipping me off bunny style or something for my rudeness when I cleaned their litter box. He doesn’t like it when I completely remove the entire box out to clean it, which I did today.

Chrystie

[hiskatey93]

Bam she is not yet. We have an appointment, but I’m not enthused with the current vet… They can’t age her properly. One vet said a few months, the other said 3 years… And they won’t do an in house spay, I would have to go elsewhere anyway. That’s a big red flag for me, especially the age thing. We will be looking a vet a little more local to us this time around. So spaying is currently on hold.

Now see today she followed me around, and was super calm and sweet. I even got chin rubbed! She laid beside me on the couch and slept, and didn’t pee! A couple of scent poo’s, but no pee. ((Admittedly I’ve been sick recently and fell asleep on the couch. Woke up when she jumped up, but she fell asleep beside me, and I didn’t have the heart to kick her off.))

I think she is messing with me lol.

I will be getting covers. And colors don’t bother or worry me! I have brown couches, and enjoy the brown. =)

[Megabunny]

Rabbits are super hard to age due to the fact their teeth are constantly growing so it’s not like a dog’s teeth that help age them to a certain extent

[Bam]

I agree that adult rabbits are very hard to age. I have no idea how old my Bam is and the only way I know that Yohio is about 2,5 now is that he grew a lot after I got him although he clearly was sexually mature (both boys were strays).

You could perhaps try to find another vet, it’s important that you feel you can trust your vet.

[hiskatey93]

Well the biggest worry with the aging was one vet told me she was too young to be spayed, and the other was like nope you can.

And I don’t wanna put her into surgery before I even know if she is matured. Speckles has grown about 3 inches already, and the second vet told me I was wrong, she was the same size, when she hadn’t seen her before. I have pictures of her in my arms, and she is larger now.

It’s just all those little things put together… I just… I dunno.

[Bam]

Weight her in a bowl on a kitchen scales, that way you can keep track of her weight. It’s good for many reasons, not just as an effort to determine her age.

The peeing on the sofa is an indication of sexual maturity, especially if there is poop too, but it may just be the onset of maturity.

The vet-situation you describe would’ve been a red flag for me too.

[Megabunny]

That is pretty bizarre

[Author]

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