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Forum BEHAVIOR Neutered Rabbit ignoring litter box and peeing on carpet outside of cage

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    • Jimmeh
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        Hello Fellow Bunny Lovers!

        My name is Jamie. I have an adorable 16mo old male rabbit named Bailey. He is the cutest! He’s a friendly little guy who loves to get kisses. He’s almost perfect, except for one thing  – we (my fiance and I) have been having major issues with him having little accidents on our carpet! We have tried everything we can think of to steer him away from this whole strip of carpet that he seems determined to mark his territory at, but we’ve had no luck. I don’t mind the poop pellets here and there, that’s not an issue, but he has been peeing on our carpet.

        Some of the things we have tried:

        – Blocking it off – we have tried to restrict his access to this area but he will get as close as he can to this area and pee.

        – Placing litter boxes there – he has no problem peeing in his litter box in his cage, however the moment we let him out he will not use it. I have tried getting him a new litter box outside of the cage and he has no interest in it. I have even taken the dirty one with his scent out of his cage and placed it on this strip of carpet and he will go all around it but not in it.

        – Putting hay/treats in the litter box to encourage him to use it – again, no interest. He LOVES hay when he’s in his cage but doesn’t care for it at all if it’s anywhere else.

        – I have completely scrubbed and cleaned this strip of carpet and washed everything close to it to try to remove his scent, but to no avail.

        – Putting a towel down – He will dig at the towel and move it until the carpet is revealed and then do his business.

        – I’ve even tried using a “pet-off” spray in the area and he is not affected by it at all.

        We are not sure what to do anymore at this point. We live in a fairly large two bedroom apartment on the second floor, and we give him access to the entire living room area, kitchen, and hallway when we’re home. Right now in the summer it is extremely hot outside – we live in a desert so it is well over 100 degrees during the day. We were taking him to the park every once in a while so he could get some fresh air and he could have access to grassy areas, but unfortunately it is just too hot out for him. However we have been having this issue for over 5 months now. It kind of randomly started up – he was doing perfectly fine before this, no accidents. We have had him since he was only a couple of months old, and we did get him neutered when he was about 6 months old so we’re not sure why he’s acting up. We do have two cats and so we assume he is just marking his territory, but it’s to a point where every day I have to scrub and clean our carpet in the spots he peed in. I love him so much, but if this issue continues, we are going to have to re-home him, which I really don’t want to do! So we are turning to you guys in the hopes somebody might have a solution that will work for him! Any help and advice is greatly appreciated, thank you! 


      • Vienna Blue in France
        Participant
        5317 posts Send Private Message

          Hi and welcome !
          I can’t help you a lot myself (others will), but have you cleaned the area he is peeing on with “special” animal cleaner? Not just soap or bleach ( ) which doesn’t get rid of the smell (buns have EXTREMELY strong sense of smell). I had this prob with my rainbow dog. I don’t understand why he won’t use the litter box outside of the cage…. (again, someone else will )

          It sounds as if you both really love this little guy and are doing everything to try to keep him clean – we’ll work it out… it would be suuuch a shame to have to rehome him.

          The only thing I can suggest (at last! ) is rather than blocking off his pee area, to do the reverse and increase his ‘cage’ area’ bit by bit so he goes back in to pee each time… when he does then move his space a bit bigger so he gets the hang of going back in the cage to pee… if he pees outside again, then reduce his space again…. you will prob need xpen to do this.


        • Bam
          Moderator
          16835 posts Send Private Message

            How long has it been since he was neutered? Do you think he’s incontinent or actually marking? My buns mark with poop primarily and only in one area (they are separated by a gate and will make poop-barriers on either side).
            If it’s incontinence it’s of course sth a vet would have to look into. The marking could go away. My bunny Bam was neutered as an adult and kept having “accidents” for quite some time after, he’d mark my dog’s bed. But that stopped. He never has accidents anymore.
            I can only recommend you try to cover the places he likes to pee with sth that can be washed easily, like smallish rag rugs or foam mats that you can rinse off in the shower.

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        Forum BEHAVIOR Neutered Rabbit ignoring litter box and peeing on carpet outside of cage