Why is he pooping everywhere??

[Alicia Conklin]

Ok so Drue has been free ranging it from morning til night since Thursday.  He gets along great with the dogs and so we just gate him into the kitchen when we’re going out since we’re not willing to risk letting him stay out with the dogs.  Anyway, at night I pen him up into the bunny condo.  Tucker knows when it’s Drue’s bedtime because that’s also pellet time..so of course she runs to the top condo..because that’s her favorite.  Well, I figured Drue gets to be out all day and she doesn’t so I might as well let her get the pick of the condos at night.   Well, Thursday night that was fine with Drue, he went in there and all was well.  Then last night he went in there fine..didn’t have to coerce him to go in there but when I woke up there was poop EVERYWHERE in that lower pen!  He had a clean litter box, barely any poops in there..he just didn’t use it!  What could be causing this??  He has excellent litter habits, this is completely not like him.  Is this in retaliation of getting the lower condo??    Is it in retaliation of being locked up at night when he’s out all day??  Is it something else?  I’m  not quite sure what it could be.  There is NO pee outside the litter box,  so I don’t think it’s that he’s having problems getting to the box.  It’s like he’s choosing to just poop all over the place in there.  He’s been out all day so far and has not pooped outside his box at all.  He’s gone back to the box no matter what room he’s in. 

I was thinking about letting him stay out in the kitchen all night.  But..my worry with that is that after Tucker is spayed and they are bonded she won’t be allowed out like that unless she seriously calms down with her chewing.  I’d have eaten away baseboards and chair legs if she was allowed in the kitchen overnight.  So, I’d like him to stay in the habit of having to go into some kind of enclosure at night, I’d hate to let him have all that added freedom just to have to turn around and take it away down the road.  The during the day freedom I hope to be able to keep up with Tucker once their bonded.  Atleast to all areas except the couch..but we’ll figure that out when the time comes. 

Anyway, if I keep putting him in the lower condo do you think he’ll learn to accept that and stop pooping all over?  Or would it be better if I just let Tucker have the top condo during the day and make her go into the lower pen at night and give Drue his top condo back.

For a bit of back story for those who don’t know…Drue and Tucker have switched back and forth every other night between the top pen and the lower pen.  We’ve figured this will get them used to each other’s scents and have them not gain that much of a territorial feeling over either cage.  They both LOVE the top cage though and greatly prefer that to the lower pen, which has a shelf but other then that is mostly an open topped pen.   The smell of each other has never bothered them before.  I do not change the litter boxes each time they are switched and I don’t change their blankets, toys, stuffies, nothing.  I leave everything the same.  She never seems bothered by it and he never has these poop outbursts before either.  They both cuddle with each other’s stuffies and blankets and never have shown a dislike of  the other’s scent..so I don’t think that’s anything to do with it. 

They have recently started “playing” between the gate.  Since I am down here all the time I have had the NIC grids making a big giant pen for Tucker to play in.  It’s attached to the pen/condo area.  Drue will run around the outside and Tucker has run around the inside and they’ll run around and follow each other and binky from each side.  Since this has started Tucker’s also been lounging in the open area more..before she’d always lounge in her condo.  Tucker started to growl the one time but Drue didn’t return any agression..so again I don’t think this has anything to do with his pooping all over but I guess that is a change that happened yesterday.

[Beka27]

well, i think you should keep switching pens every night. that’s more for helping the future bonding process then anything else. i’m not sure why the sudden outburst of poop. it might be anger from being locked up, too much freedom and then being locked up made him mad. if Tucker is in that room all during the day and he is out elsewhere in the house, it could be territorial when he finally comes back in…

i agree that you should be careful with free-ranging him right now since this will likely be taken away once they’re bonded and definitely during the bonding process. towards the end, the only outtime they will get will be during the bonding session (so they might be down to one hour a day temporarily). i think that’s a good idea to keep them in the pens at night. it’s more important that they have the interaction (thru the cages) with each other at this point. also, you need to make sure you’re keeping a neutral space in the house for bonding.

as far as Tucker in the future… honestly, you don’t know how she will be once she is spayed and bonded (having a mate will sometimes calm one down), so i would not completely rule out free-range later on… but right now, one thing at a time.

[Alicia Conklin]

Ok well I took apart the condos last night and made them both closed in 4 level condos.  He still pooped all over but this time it was right outside the litter box..maybe he wants me to move it’s location a little bit?  I guess it could be territorial since Tucker has that area all day..but what I don’t get is that they’ve been switching this whole time..so why start doing this now? 

Maybe it is the freedom but I really don’t want to take that away.  He’s doing really well with the dogs and I think that the dogs are learning from him how to treat a bunny.  I am hoping that by “practicing” with Drue who is bigger and slower they’ll learn that the bunny craziness IS normal and then when Drue and Tucker are bonded I can let them both around the dogs.  Basically we’re working on letting Sammi know that they are like cats.  Sammi doesn’t ever bug the cats so we figure that will work, and it’s going REALLY well so far    He also doesn’t seem to have a problem when his freedom is taken away and he’s made to stay in the kitchen.  He does that while we’re out and he had to do that last night during the condo remodel because he likes to eat the zip ties when they’re cut off…(what DOESNT he like to eat really…) and so I don’t think it’s because of anger of being locked up….

maybe it is territorial though…come to think of it..before Thursday Tucker was always put in the kitchen and he had the condo area.  That allowed him to always have the access to both condos during the day.  Then starting Thursday that access was then given to Tucker so that she had more play space while he got out time.  That was the same day this started happening.

So…now here’s my question… should I A) Let him get used to this and hope he stops marking as this will help him get used to her… or B) When she gets up in the morning and comes out shut the pen she was in that night and open up the one that he was in the night before so that she only has access to that one during the day and leave him having access to the other one?  I could do that with the new set up…the only thing is doing that would leave Tucker LESS play space… and is it really getting him used to her scent as much? 

So confused..not sure which way to go on this one…

The good news is that she should be able to get spayed the week of the 7th.   I’m doing crazy amounts of overtime and am planning on spending 132 of that for her spay

[Beka27]

i would “switch the pens” at night. so Tucker gets to play in Saturday night’s pen all day Sunday. Drue’s pen is closed. when it’s Sunday night and time for bed, put Tucker in the other side first and shut the dor, then allow Drue to come in and put him in the side Tucker was in all day long.

does that make sense?

[Alicia Conklin]

Ok, I can do that   Lately she’s had both condos during the day and she usually  chooses to spend her time in the one that she was NOT in the night before I guess because it’s new. 

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