Spraying

[KytKattin]

The male rabbit I recently adopted has started spraying. He is neutered, so I don’t know what else I can do to curb the behavior. It absolutly has to stop though or I will have to rehome him, which I don’t want to do. He also doesn’t use his litterbox at all, instead pooping at the opposite side of the cage (which now also has a litterbox so we’ll see if that works). Please help, I’m pulling my hair out over this!

[dmh426]

How recently did you adopt him? Bunnies are a lot like teenage kids and go through a rebellious streak. There could be quite a few reasons for his spraying.

Bunnies mark territories. New territories get a lot of attention, especially if there have been or are other animals in the area. It’s just what they do. Sophie is perfectly littertrained but if I take her to a friend’s house that has a bunny, all litertraining goes out the window and she’s peeing, pooping and chinning EVERYTHING in site as if to say “I was here!”.

You can’t put the litterbox where you want, as you have now found out. Your bunny wants the other corner for its bathroom. That should do the trick with that problem, and honestly, i think the spraying is just the initial marking. I recommend only having one room or two that your bunny goes into. If you let it into another area of the house, or move his cage, you will find that this will happen all over gain. Good luck!

[KytKattin]

I got him about 2 weeks ago. He was an outdoor rabbit that lived with another male. From what I gathered, he was the dominate male. Also, Nova is fairly recently spayed (in October I think), and that was her old cage for a long time before that happened. The two rabbits get along, but he could just be marking to say ‘hey, here I am’. Thankfully Nova is still a perfect princess in her litterbox. I don’t know how old Hubble was when he was neutered though, or even how old he might be as a lady found him after he had been dumped. I should also find out how long it’s been since he was fixed. There is nothing left down there, but still. I suppose I have just been stressed with the holiday season.

[KytKattin]

And good news, I think I just overreacted since he hasn’t sprayed since. I’m guessing he did it when I first got him but I’ve just been to busy to notice and freaked out when I did see it. He’s still a mean little sucker sometimes, but I’m come to accept that it’s just the way dwarf rabbits act. I think everything is going to work out though.

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