Aggressive bunny & litter problems! :(

[Noodles]

Hi everyone! I apologize in advance for all of the questions and posts lol, just trying to get some advice as a new bunny mom. I brought Cinnabun home from the shelter on Friday and the first couple of days everything was going great. The MSPCA shelter she was staying at is great, they took nice care of her and she was spayed last Monday before I brought her home.

Friday through Sunday morning went really well. We kept her free roam and there were no accidents throughout the house, she only peed & pooped in her litter cage. She started getting real comfy with the area, however, and Sunday night she pooped and peed EVERYWHERE! We’ve restricted her to the very small kitchen (I live in a studio apt, really small and we don’t really use the kitchen). Despite the small room size, poop & pee everywhere, still… she even does it while I’m sitting in the room with her!

I decided to restrict her only to her cage and see if that would help. Today I came home from work and it looks like there were no pees/poops outside of her box in her cage, so we let her out of her cage for some free roam time in the kitchen. 30 minutes later, poops and pee all over the place (sigh). I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I’m just really hoping that her habits improve. I’ve wiped the kitchen floor down with white vinegar countless times in the past few days and I’ve swept up so many pellets of poop to pour in her litter box. Another thing, she gets very aggressive when I try to put the poops/wiped up pee in her litter box, grunting at me.

 let her out to give her some dinner. I’ve been hand feeding her veggies & pellets, but today was not a good time. As soon as my hand full of pellets went down she went absolutely nuts and lunged at my hand! I read somewhere that you’re not supposed to pull your hand away if they lunge, so I didn’t, especially since I had food in it. She continued to eat from my hand, but if I pulled my hand away or closed it to adjust my position she would grunt or lunge again. I closed my hand whenever she grunted or lunged and would reintroduce my hand in a fist – if she lunged/grunted I wouldn’t open, but if she didn’t then I opened up for her to continue munching on her food. Not sure if this was the right move, I think I read it somewhere online. Anyway, the last time I did it, she took a bite at my pinky finger!  I was very upset, and put the remainder of her pellets in her food bowl.

Does anyone have any advice? It seems like she is being very territorial, which is odd, I thought that perhaps it’s just her hormones coming down from after the spay. Should I restrict her to just the cage 24/7, even for feeding? I would have to feed her through the cage bars, though, and she definitely does not get enough exercise with a cage this size. Help!

[Cinnabunn the bunny]

I think it is a territorial thing. it’s a new unfamiliar environment every time you open up her cage to the rest of the house. My bunnies will still scatter poops when they are let out. It should calm down after a while. you could also try putting more litter boxes in places she constantly marks.

As for the pellets thing. have you noticed how you have been putting the pellets down or moving in front of her. My Cinnabunn is a blind doof who has to be approached in a certain way. He just doesn’t recognize that the thing coming down in front of his face is my hand that feeds him. Try do slower less startling movements that are in his field of vision.

[Noodles]

Posted By Cinnabunn the bunny on 7/18/2017 6:15 PM

I think it is a territorial thing. it’s a new unfamiliar environment every time you open up her cage to the rest of the house. My bunnies will still scatter poops when they are let out. It should calm down after a while. you could also try putting more litter boxes in places she constantly marks.

As for the pellets thing. have you noticed how you have been putting the pellets down or moving in front of her. My Cinnabunn is a blind doof who has to be approached in a certain way. He just doesn’t recognize that the thing coming down in front of his face is my hand that feeds him. Try do slower less startling movements that are in his field of vision.

Omg another Cinnabun  haha thanks for your reponse!! Yeah I figured it is territorial… should I still be allowing her to free roam the kitchen for a part of the day supervised? Or restrict her to the cage only for awhile? It seems as though she doesn’t quite get the message, or maybe I have to give it a little longer. I have been wiping down her accidents with vinegar but part of me feels like I shouldn’t just because if she is marking her territory, wouldn’t she be more inclined to mark it once again after her scent is gone? I assume she wants everything to smell like her, but I’m probably wrong.

I will try placing my hand down within her line of vision more…I’ve been doing it very slowly but I’ve been doing it in the front and I know their eyes are on their sides. I’m pretty sure she knows it’s my hand, though, and I’m not sure if it’s more because my hand is in her “area” or something like that. 

[Cinnabunn the bunny]

I never allow my bunnies to free roam because they are destructive brats that will destroy the bunny proofed cords (i need cord protectors made out of titanium or something). It’s up to you as to which direction you go in. I usually can catch my bunnies before they start to pee when they do decide to miss the litter box by a hop and scoot their butts in.
I think you should continue to disinfect the pee because they may take it as another litter box
When I hand feed cinnabunn (the grump) I put my hand down a ways away from him and have him come to me. If not no matter what direction i come in from near his face he will always get excited and bite my hand instead.

[Noodles]

Posted By Cinnabunn the bunny on 7/20/2017 10:13 PM

I never allow my bunnies to free roam because they are destructive brats that will destroy the bunny proofed cords (i need cord protectors made out of titanium or something). It’s up to you as to which direction you go in. I usually can catch my bunnies before they start to pee when they do decide to miss the litter box by a hop and scoot their butts in.
I think you should continue to disinfect the pee because they may take it as another litter box
When I hand feed cinnabunn (the grump) I put my hand down a ways away from him and have him come to me. If not no matter what direction i come in from near his face he will always get excited and bite my hand instead.

I tried the feeding thing and it worked a little better than my previous feeding methods. Her coming to me definitely reduces her aggression and she only grunts while she is eating and I try to adjust my hand… no lunging, though. 

My biggest frustrations come from her peeing as soon as she gets out of her cage. I’ll let her out in the morning and the evening to feed her, and I also place her food bowl in her cage so she kind of knows that that’s her territory. As soon as she gets out of the cage, though, she pees in one spot (two spots in particular she will choose from) and then leaves poop everywhere. It’s frustrating since she will step in her pee and walk around, and there’s a trail of pee in the shape of bunny paws!  This is a rather small space that I let her out in, I’ve tried restricting it a little smaller and that has helped – she won’t pee as much (she has only peed once in this restricted area) but she will definitely still poop. I have hard wood flooring and am wondering if I’m not disinfecting/cleaning the area well enough. 

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