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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum BEHAVIOR I’m back, with peeing problems.

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    • BunnyLiz
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        Hello BB members!  It’s been such a long time since I’ve been on this site, I hope some members can still remember me and my bunnies.  Im Elizabeth, Im 22, and last I was on this site I was a bun mom to Hammer, Lucy, Mae, and Felix.  Im sorry to report that Felix, Hammer, and Mae, all passed within the last year.  They had good lives and were loved, and are still missed.  Hammer and Lucy were a bonded pair, and when Hammer passed Lucy began having some depression related issues, but about 8 months later she is doing much better and handling the loss appropriately.  She really started improving when we introduced Quinn to the household.  Quinn is a young bun that was bought as a gift to a teenage girl in my boyfriends family.  Obviously, that gift required more work than she wanted, and now Quinn has a happy home with me.  So now I’m a bun mom to Lucy, a 5ish year old gray lop, and Quinn, a almost 1 year old english spot.

        Now to my problem.  When I brought Quinn home she was PERFECT with litter habits.  She was absolutely amazing, even being so young and not even spayed yet.  Her and Lucy have their cages next to eachother in the bunny room (I have a bunny room! So exciting!), and neither had any territorial issues, behavioral, pee, poo or anything. Everything was great. One day Quinn dislocated her toe.  We did a bandage wrap up thing for two months and a cone on her head to stop her from chewing.  With the bandage and cone Quinn started to let her litter habits slip, which I figured was normal enough, I wouldnt want to move around much with a cone on my head either.  So I didn’t blame her and just cleaned up the mess.  After two months and the bandage and cone came off and we got a clean bill of health from the vet Quinn continued to pee outside of the box.  Its been several months since her foot and toe have been healed, she got spayed, and she is still peeing out of the box.  Pooing to, but thats not very concerning.

        I have to give her some credit though, for two reasons. One, she is using the litter box about half the time. And two, because she is peeing NEXT TO the liiter box if not in it.    She pees in front of, behind, or to the side of the litter box, whereever I put it.  I have added a liiter box, and now she has two. I have tried blocking access to the hot pee spots, cutting a door in a litter box so she can walk in instead of jump, and I’ve tried a different litter.  I’ve also reduced her cage to just a liiter box and small non litterbox space (1 cube by 3 cubes).  None of this has worked or helped.  I went to IKEA and bought brand new rugs this weekend, hoping that if they didnt smell like pee and pee cleaner, she wouldnt pee on them.  Well she is peeing on them… I’m out of ideas and knowledge.  Quinn is my 6th rabbit and I’ve never had this much trouble with litter habits.  I would consider myself pretty rabbit savy, but I need some help on this one.  She just won’t stop peeing on the rugs! 

        The last time I was here I lived at home with my mom, but since then I’ve moved out of Kentucky to Maryland with my boyfriend and we are renting an apartment.  My worst fear from all of this is that the apartment complex will someday decide that Quinn can not stay because she is peeing so much out of her litter box.  And seeing as this is the only apartment in the area that agreed to let me have my rabbits, Im a bit nervous for that.  Please send the BinkyBunny magic this way, it has worked wonders in the past!

        This is the bunny set up right now.  Lucy’s side is on the left.  Quinn is on the right.  Each cage is 4.5 cubes by 4 cubes.  Currently she has two litterboxs with WSP litter.  I put two stone tiles on top of the spot she was peeing the most, hoping she wouldn’t pee on something that’s not absorbant.  That didn’t work either.


      • Kokaneeandkahlua
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          The only thing I can think of is it’s possibly territorial? Since they are housed close together but not bonded, it may be purposefully done? That or it’s maybe a health issue…because you’re doing everything I would do and it should be working!
          Welcome back, and sorry to hear about your loss; and congrats on the new addition


        • jerseygirl
          Moderator
          22338 posts Send Private Message

            Hello You!!
            Wow time goes fast. You’re probably all done with college already.

            I’m sorry to hear you had to say goodbye to some of your fur babes. Especially Hammer. Rest in Peace Bun Buns.

            Nice to see you welcome home another to keep Lucy company. Do you have plans to bond them or just let them be roomies?

            It certainly sounds like Quinn’s peeing issue is tied in with a stressful event. It could be hard to resolve OR it could self resolve! Stickerbunny was having issues with her pair for a long time and then it just stopped on its own. Half her luck!

            If Quinn’s sense of security was rocked at the time, it’s possible it’s something she’ll regain in time and revert to her previous good habits.
            Much of the things we try to remedy loss of habits involve changing environment and that can be a problem for some rabbits. It challenges their territory. So it can be tricky.
            Do you leave things as are, hope she improves but risk it be becoming an ingrained habit? Or do you take a gamble & switch things up and hope things don’t worsen? ive thought about the lost litter habits problem excessively in the past!

            I’ve also reduced her cage to just a liiter box and small non litterbox space (1 cube by 3 cubes).

            When you tried this, was the smaller cage still in the part of the room where she is now?

            Do you just find these pee spots or see her do it when you are present?
            Or do you notice she will use her box when you’re present? A bit of positive reinforcement might help. Adding treats to the box or praising and treating when you see her use it.

            and I’ve tried a different litter.

            what type if litter did you try? If its the litter she might be finding uncomfortable sometimes, could you try mist the WSP so they crumble a bit? So the litter is what she’s used to, just will be a bit softer underfoot.


          • jerseygirl
            Moderator
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              To echo K&K, peeing right next to the box is classic territorial behaviour. HRS likens it to underlining a signature. It could be her age, post spay and another bun nearby. Or it might be due to the injury & sense of security. i.e. Her territory makes her feel secure- so she’s now more protective of it.

              I’m wondering of covering the sides of the pen, or at least the front, would make it feel a more defined area? Create more sense of security?


            • Stickerbunny
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                A few things I can’t have in my rabbit room and rugs/carpets are one of them. They see a rug in their room, they pee on the rug. Without fail. To protect the floors if you think the apartment may have problems you can put something water proof under the softer surface.

                Since she was injured, I assume she was confined a bit more than normal? If my two get confined more than they like, they pee right outside their litter box and poop all over their floor. It’s a “I WANT OOOOOOOOOOOOUT” protest.

                Otherwise, yeah sometimes buns just get it in their heads they want to mark and not use the litter. I have no idea why my two did for years and then suddenly decided to use their boxes again. *shrug* Except for the above mentioned issues, I can mostly keep them in their boxes now. No rhyme or reason for why they started using them.


              • BunnyLiz
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                  Hey guys, I hadn’t come back to this post because I have good news and I didn’t want to jinx it. Quinn stopped peeing out of her litter box the day after I made this post! WOW! I don’t know what fixed it for her, maybe the new rug, maybe a new odor neutralizer I was using. I don’t know, but I’m happy. She is still leaving teeny tiny pee spots that seem territorial, but I’m not worried about that as long as she isn’t leaving puddles. So problem solved. *Binky Dance* I’ll still answer all the questions you guys had anyway though.

                  K&K- I was thinking territorial at first, but she was constantly peeing next to her litter boxes, which are on the opposite side of Lucy’s cage. I would have thought she’d pee close to Lucy, not as far away as possible.

                  Jersey- Time does go fast! I can’t believe its been years since I’d last been on BB. And I would have been done with my degree by now, your right! But I’m not. I quit when my boyfriend got a job offer in Maryland, and we are slowly building up to a financial situation where I’ll be able to go back to school and finish.
                  I was also thinking Quinn’s peeing was related to the trauma of her toe (cast and cone). I loved your idea of covering the sides of her cage to make it feel more confined and secure. I think that’s spot on and I’ll try that if Quinn goes back to peeing again. I am planning on bonding Quinn and Lucy. I was just waiting for Lucy to regain some normalcy after losing Hammer, and for Quinn to stop this peeing nonsense. I didn’t want to enter into bonding with an existing pee problem. My plan is to wait another two or three weeks to make sure Quinn has gone back to good litter habits, and then I’ll start the long bonding process with switching cages.

                  Stickerbunny- All of my buns have always had cages on rugs, I wouldn’t know what else to put under a pen lol. But I do always have some waterproof things under their rugs just to be sure the carpet doesn’t get damaged. The cheap vinyl tablecloths with cloth on the back work well, because the cloth side doesn’t slip on the carpet. And then as an added measure of protection, I lay a plastic shower curtain down between the tablecloth and the rug. And yes, she was definitely confined a lot more when she was still injured. Maybe that had something to do with it.


                • MimzMum
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                    OMG, BunnyLIz I was recently wondering how you had been getting on! Glad to see you back here!
                    I am sorry to hear that Hammer, Mae and Felix are gone. It really doesn’t seem like that much time has passed, but I guess it’s been awhile.

                    I was going to suggest that maybe the dislocated toe had altered Quinn’s gait and maybe she couldn’t get into the litterbox properly. I had the same issue with Pip, I had cut one of her toenails completely off by accident during a grooming session and she’s always held the foot a bit awkwardly since. She also pees outside the box, just to the side of it. But she is a portly gal and probably can’t get in and out of it as well as she should. I need to get her a box with lower sides for ease of access.
                    Or there’s always the possibility of a urinary tract infection. Always rule stuff like that out with your vet.

                    I hope Quinn (and Lucy) continues to do well and we’d sure like to see more of you posting! Cheers!


                  • jerseygirl
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                      Lol Liz. Well, glad she’s finally come good. Hope it remains that way.

                      I was going to suggest if you planned to bond and nothing else worked, then to go ahead with it. In the hopes of the change of pens, or her picking up good habits. Or the fact that habits slide during bonding anyway…
                      A gamble but looks like problem sorted itself out. Funny bun.

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                  Forum BEHAVIOR I’m back, with peeing problems.