health challenged bun has several accidents a day. Help!

[jocelynkayla]

Our two year old dwarf holland lop has had some health challenges in his life, he almost died of e cunicculli as a baby (got him to the vet in time) and now has recurring issues including snuffles, syphillus which we treat him for regularly. He is fixed. Our vet seems to know what he’s doing for the most part, and has helped us out a lot, but because Gus is sick so often I feel like he thinks I’m paranoid and doesn’t always take me seriously. We are days away from having our first baby, and I just need something to change. This is a typical situation:

This morning, Gus and his bonded partner Cleo were sleeping in their cardboard house and Gus peed in there (with a litterbox sitting two feet away) they both got it all over themselves before I saw it. This is something that’s almost a daily occurance. He is largely free roam, with only the bedrooms blocked off to him. I’ve read that some bunnies just can’t handle the freedom, we’ve thought maybe because he’s sick so often that his brain might be affected, etc. He goes in his litterbox about 50% of the time and we always make a big deal of it when we see him do this. I believe he knows where to go, he’s just lazy. He’s not acting sick, and everything is totally normal except he is just not using his box. 

His box is clean, he gets plenty of love, and all the right care. We love our bunnies so much. What are we doing wrong? I am so frustrated. His bonded partner NEVER has accidents. Help please! 

[Benthebunny]

Please do calm down. Will he eat anything? If he does this more in the next week, i would reccomend vet care. I am the exact same, i get stressed out alot. Maybe its the litter box being clean? put a few poops in it and some hay. maybe put a treat in there. 

[jocelynkayla]

He’s eating fine, everything is seemingly fine except his box habits

[Benthebunny]

if he does this alot, i would be concerned, but if he only did this once the past week or so, i would just keep an eye on him, watch for pain symptoms. teeth grinding, hunching, not eating or drinking. if he shows pain signs take him to the vet asap.

[jocelynkayla]

He’s totally normal otherwise (eating, drinking, pooping, playing, happy), but he has accidents all the time.

[Benthebunny]

did he have accidents before you talked to your vet the last time? did you mention this? it sound sort of like uti.

[Muchelle]

Is this pee problem recent or did he always have troubles keeping his pee? If the problem started at one point, do you remember more or less when did it start?

It’s just a hypothesis, but if he’s being treated with antibiotics for a long period of time, it can be he’s having an urinary tract infection. Or it can be the syphilis has weakened his uro-genital muscles and if that were the case, I think there’s little to be done.

Being the slave of a very delicate bun health-wise, I’ve learned to stay put and be more relaxed about it. I know his medicines, I know the doses and I know what to do when he has certain symptoms, so that if anything happens I always can wait a day or two before harrassing my vet. If you can handle bunny anxiety, you’ll be fine with baby anxiety! (at least babies learn to talk!)

Since you’re busy and you must be very stressed already since your baby is coming, have a phone call with the vet to be reassured about his health, buy some absorbant sheets for puppies, tape them down to the places the bunny relaxes (like in the cardboard house) and cover them in fleece (so that the buns won’t chew them). In case of an accident the buns won’t get dirty and you won’t have rabbit pee flooding your house. I wish you all the luck!

[Odette]

My first thought was something regarding the syphillis also. Probably nothing to worry about. Some cats will stop using their litter with UTIs, so it makes sense that something similar might happen with rabbits. Maybe its not laziness as much as avoidance due to unpleasant memories of pain. Bunnies seem to have very good memories. I think Muchelle’s advice is excellent.

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