Please help! At my wit’s end :(

[Annabel93]

Hello

 I’ve posted topics before about my rabbits digging at their X pen and bad litter habits, even now, 6 weeks after their neuter.

Basically they live in my bedroom, that’s the only place they can live as I still live with my parents and as I mention they’re not litter trained properly so my mum doesn’t want them in any other rooms, so it’s either in here or in the outside run. Every morning (around 4-am 9am) without fail Rufus (it’s all Rufus) digs on the pen and won’t stop unless he’s either fed (but then will start up again once he’s finished) or let out.

I got so sick of this that I tried getting rid of the X-pen and just letting them be free range in my room. It was fine in the sense it stopped the digging but he then just pees and poos all over the bed, so even after replacing the duvet and pillows and constant sheet washing my room smells like pee.

I’ve tried:

picking him as soon as (or right before if I catch him) he goes and putting him in the litter box

clapping my hands whenever he does it and saying NO

feeding him a pellet whenever he does go in the litter tray

pressing his ears down to his head to try and show dominance

 

None of this works. The other two are just as bad with litter training but if they’re doing it too much I can just put them away and they’ll go munch on some hay or sleep. Rufus is relentless and will dig and dig and dig, and now he’s even able to clear the fence of the X-pen, which is about 3 feet, despite being a 2lb rabbit!!

I am desperate for some help here. I’m actually getting tearful writing this because I’m so stressed out from my job as it is and I feel like I’m all out of ideas with him, to the point where I’m almost getting resentful without wanting to.

 Really the best help would be how to litter train them properly, when they’re let out during the day I’ll come back and they’ll be relaxed and flopped out on the bed, so I know they;re happy. So if I could train them not to pee on the bed I would be able to keep them out. Even if I can just stop the peeing since it’s so hard to clean up.

Please help!

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Does he only pee on the bed or other places as well? If it’s the bed ban him from bed access. Place a litter box in every possible corner. Add as many litter boxes as possible and then slowly remove one at a time if he starts showing preferences to three or four boxes and leaves the 5th one alone, remove box# 5 and then if he starts showing interest in only 2-3 boxes remove box #4 and so forth. Give him so many litterbox options that he basically has no choice but to use a box! They generally like to back up into something to pee so use that to your advantage.

But before all of this you need to do a very thorough cleaning of your room. I mean remove every article of clothing and wash them. Steam clean the carpets. Wipe down the walls with a cleaner. I mean cleant hat room head to toe to remove his urine from everything. What. Age did the boys get neutered and how old are they now? Perhaps his scent changed when he got neutered and he is constantly trying to cover up that left behind scent from before neutering as I know unaltered male shrine smells very strong and altered urine smells different so maybe he is picking up the difference and feeling the need to continue claiming. (Kind of like how a bonded pair of buns can become unbonded because they have a different scent after neutering) perhaps he’s thinking that preneuter urine is a new bun altogether, maybe? So do a extreme clean of everything and I mean EXTREME to start completely fresh. When he makes new accidents, vinegar is a blessing. Very good at removing urine odors.

I’m not sure what to do about the digging and pulling at his cage. Perhaps make his cage more entertaining for him to be in when you aren’t awake. 4-9am is prime active time for bunnies and that’s when he is awake. Provide lots of fun things in his cage to hopefully entertain him until you wake up.

[Annabel93]

Nope he only pees on the bed, although he does poop all over the floor. I currently have 3 litter boxes in here but I have 2 in the garage so I can put one in every corner of the room – it’s definitely the corners that they like.

Do you think if when I get paid buying a new mattress, duvet, pillows and bedding would be a good idea? On my next day off I can put them in the outside run for the day and do a deep clean. And I’ll bear in mind the vinegar! Thanks.

They were neutered when they were 5 months old, so they’re 6.5 now. So you think he’s marking against his old smell? That could make sense, since despite all my cleaning my mattress still has several pee stains on it…

I’ll look into getting more toys also, do you have any suggestions? They have a treat ball but that makes a hell of a lot of noise on my wood floors so would be just as annoying. They also have chewy things hanging from the x-pen and a hay rack.

Thank you though! Just getting a response has made me feel a bit less stressed.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

If it’s just the bed don’t allow him up there. Buns seem to pee on things that smell strongly like us such as couches and beds. Some buns just can’t control themselves when it comes to something so soft and comfy and smell strongly of something/someone they love. So for now, keep him off the bed. No access what so ever. Not until he can prove he has control. But that may never happen.

Idk of any bed cleaning tips to get his urine out of the mattress itself. That may prove difficult. You can try doing a steam cleaning of it to see if that will help but it’ll probably only clean the surface of the mattress and some odor may still remain. Can you smell the urine on your mattress when you put your nose to it? Idk, I’d personally want a new mattress and put on a mattress cover that can be removed and washed if there was an accident such as this. But you don’t need to replace all the covers and such. Just wash them but I’m assuming most of the smell is coming from the mattress itself as those are much harder to clean!

Everything they play with will produce some noise because the stuff they enjoy doing like chewing and digging can be quite noisy. Perhaps you’ll benefit in some ear plugs :p but Sally really enjoys digging so I’ve provided her a phone book she can shred and dig at. Harley likes tossing things and chewing so cardboard tubes with cut slivers at the end seem to be his favorite. Some people shove hay in the toilet paper rolls but Harley likes them more when empty because the hay pokes him when he tries tossing them :p willow balls are also a favorite with the buns.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Ive heard of people using shower curtains over their beds or couch. This would also reduce the smell of his pre- neuter bed accidents. I don’t think I would go to the expense of buying new stuff. Maybe just wash what you can.

If you do use the shower curtain make sure to supervise that he’s not chewing it, I think that material could be very tempting for chewers.

[Rufus]

Can you put the mattress outside in the sunshine for an airing day and then flip it over when you bring it back in? Then you could put a really good mattress cover on the clean side. That should hide any residual smells from marking and let you try and start over again.

You can also put white vinegar in the wash with your bed stuff. Vinegar is magic, it gets smells out of everything. You can also try drying things outside rather than in a dryer to help make sure the smells are gone.

I wondered also if you can use the xpen you already have around the border of your bed to block off access? My Rufus likes chewing on his x-pen but he doesn’t do it in areas where it’s leaning against something.

[Stickerbunny]

For cleaning the smell out of the bed – get some natures miracle. Soak your bed (make sure it gets down into the stuffing of the mattress) in it and let it dry outside for the day. Natures miracle will remove the scent of urine from it. I learned about how well it works when my ex’s cat peed on our bed, I use it for cleaning carpets and stuff now for the buns accidents.

For him marking the bed… you probably aren’t going to stop that. You need to block his access to the bed. Something that makes noise when he hops up can work. You can also get a WATERPROOF latex lined bed cover for “just in case” to prevent further accidents staining your mattress. They sell them in the bedding section at most stores (walmart, etc) for kids who wet the bed. At the least it’ll protect your stuff until you can figure out what works to keep him off it.

[Annabel93]

Thanks for all the suggestions We’ve altered their area a bit and made it super exciting (they have balls, cat toys, things hanging from the fencing, yellow pages to dig, tunnels, bunny friendly sticks and pot plants, their giant box of hay, plus a radiator seat which works as a step up to the windowsill – they love that), so maybe the digging will be less frequent for now at least.

I have decided I am going to buy a new mattress anyway since this was just a cheap one, but if there does come a time where he gets on and marks I will try all your ideas. Thanks guys!

[MoveDiagonally]

You’ve received great advice from everyone! Just wanted to add that if he does mark the new bed I would immediately put baking soda on it and let it sit when the spot is wet. This will help absorb some pee and odor before soaking the spots with nature’s miracle, 50/50 vinegar/water, or other cleaners. This works well on carpet too. Oh! They also make some Nature’s Miracle specifically for urine but I’m not sure if they sell it near you.

[Author]

Messages