Won’t stop peeing on couch?

[Grey]

I have a male American rabbit who is 5 years old and neutered. I adopted him from the Humane Society when he was just over 2 years old. We currently live in an apartment and his cage and accessories are in the living room (where our couch is). He IS litter box trained; however, as soon as he thinks we aren’t looking or if we go to the other room for a minute he jumps onto the couch and pees. He just won’t stop! Each time he does it we scold him and place him back into his cage for a few hours.
I don’t know how to make him stop doing this. He has actually peed on the couch 7 times within the past four days. Why is he doing this?! How do I get him to stop?! It is not realistic to keep him away from the couch because he has nowhere else to go – the living room is his main play area.  Help

[vanessa]

Unfortunately, some bunnies like to pee on soft things. I have 2 of those. Is it possible to move his play area to a different room? Or create a fence that he can’t reach the couch? I’v heard of people placing a litter box on the couch. Don’t know if that will work. Also, as much as I have read about this – rabbits are not like dogs. You can’t scold them and put them in time-out like we do with dogs. Punishment is shown to be a poor training method in dogs, and just doesn’t work in rabbits. Positive reinforcement works better. But since it is impossible to apply this when your rabbit does not pee on the couch, I honestly think you have 2 options. Try the litter box on the couch, (which I wouldn’t do coz I don’t want flicked out hay/poop on my couch), or move the play area/find a way to restrict the rabbit’s access to the couch.
Maybe others have had a different experience than me and can offer other suggestions…

[Author]

Messages