unusual pooping!

[Conor Little]

Hi everyone – long-time forum reader, first-time poster.

I’ve got a little male rabbit about 8 or 9 months old who my girlfriend rescued from a reptile specialty store, where he was being sold as a feeder. We’ve had him since January and when we bought him, we were told he was litter-trained – and sure enough he was; we never had any problems with pooping or spraying.

However, I just moved with our rabbit to another town, and all of a sudden he has taken to not only pooping on the bed and spraying occasionally (pooping much more than spraying – he poops almost every time he hops up on the bed, and has only sprayed twice so far), but also has changed litter habits in the cage, pooping in the opposite corner of the box as well as all around the cage.

I’m no rabbit expert, but I’m supposing this is an adapting-to-a-new-environment sort of thing. It’s just so strange and sudden, and I’m not sure what to do. Will I have to re-litter train? If so, does anyone have any reccommendations for me?

Thanks in advance – I love my rabbit dearly and want him to someday be a free-run rabbit.

Conor

[BinkyBunny]

Welcome Conor!!   How sweet of your girlfriend and you to give him a loving home!!

Well, this could be two different things, or a combination: 

1.  Like you said, adapting to a new territory – Many bunnies will mark up the place to send a message to all those that may intrude that this is his domain and this is his family.  If the place you moved into had animals before, he may be more likely to mark with even more fervor.

2. I am assuming he’s not neutered.  Most males reach sexual maturity around 3 months, and then after that you start really seeing the behaviors you’re talking about.  Has he been getting "extra friendly" lately as well?    Though this behavior would have most likely shown itself earlier than this, maybe with the move, it really put it in overdrive…..so that is why this could also be a combination.

SOLUTION IDEAS:

I think you will have to re-littertrain him,(check out the litter training section on this site) but if he’s not neutered, now that this has started, it may be more challenging  (It actually is amazing that he was litter trained so young – you were lucky!)

I would seek out a rabbit savvy vet and make an appointment to neuter.  

And for now, during retraining, limit his freedom.  Do you have an x-pen?  Those are great for allowing exercises while limiting freedom.   They are also easy to clean.   Just be sure he has a hidey box and has several litterboxes – so that all the areas/corners he chooses to pee in are covered.    Another good thing about x-pens is you can gradually allow freedom with them by expanding, yet blocking off areas or rooms.

Another member said she used the method of spreading her bunny’s scent around the house by taking a lightly damp cloth, rubbing it all over her bunny and then rubbing it over the area her bunny likes to mark.  I have seen this on pet advice shows for cats, but I have not known enough people that do this with their bunny.   But if it works for a cat, maybe it would work for a bunny.  I know one person who said this worked.

If you have rugs, you may have to shampoo them to get the scent of the other pet out?(IF there was another pet)  

[Conor Little]

Hello – and thanks for the response!

I forgot to mention, Molly (our gender-inappropriately named bun – we named him before news of his gender "dropped," so to speak just had his neuter surgery the last week of July, so he’s been altered for about three weeks. I know that’s so important to mention when dealing with behavioral issuses.

I’ll definitely check out the sites for litter-training. My goal for Molly is to have him eventually live the good life of a house rabbit – or at least for the time being, a room rabbit. The cloth idea is a good one too. I’ll be sure to give it a go and report the results as time goes by.

Thanks for the support!

Conor

[BinkyBunny]

OH, that’s great that Molly is neutered. It can take up to six weeks (though normally about a month) for the hormones to die down.
I forgot to mention that even though you may place a bunch of litterboxes around, eventually you should be able to gradually decrease those as his litterbox habits improve. Add hay and a favorite treat to his box to encourage him. Bunnies like to eat and poo at the same time. Also add stray poops and part of a pee stained paper towel to help him understand where he should go. For more tips – check out https://binkybunny.com/Default.aspx?tabid=62

I hope he can be a free roaming bunny once again.  Some bunnies may need a little "territory" to call their own so that they will leave the "general" areas alone – as far as marking goes.   Your bunny may not need that, but some bunnies feel more secure to have a little place of their own, even if they can come and go from it freely.  And feeling secure will also help with the marking issues.

Unfortunately with bunnies, there is never a one fits all answer.  They are so individual that usually it is a combination of things and your own trial and error.  But everyone’s combined experience continues to help us help others, so definitely keep us updated with what ends up working for Molly.

So is Molly keeping his name?  

 

[Scarlet_Rose]

I’m glad to see you post Conor and welcome! Oh what a lucky bun you have to be rescued by you and from one bunny lover to another, thank you for doing it. I sure can’t think of anything to add to Binky Bunny’s great advice, and I second limiting his free roam space with an x-pen. It sounds like he is having fun with leaving his bunny pez all over the place. I do have a question though, do you want your rabbit to be up on the bed, even if he eventually becomes a free-roamer? I do want to warn you though that most bunnies do not stop leaving their calling cards on beds as that is where human scent is most heavily centralized and so they like to try and claim it for their own. If you wish to keep him from hopping up there a plastic bag works well as most bunnies do not like to hop up onto it and the noise they make and there is a product called "Snappy Trainers" that are usually used for cats but can work for rabbits too (they sit on the bed or couch and when the animal hops up there it scares them off of it) or there is also just plain old closing the door or limiting access to that room in particular.

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