peeing

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
We have had our rabbit for just under a year and he's about 18 months old. He has been litter trained for ages now and we have 2 litter boxes with hay for him. He has the run of the house but lately he's begun peeing everywhere! (not dribbling so we know it's not a health problem)He pees on both couches, in the same spot outside the bathroom, anywhere in the kitchen (which during the night is closed to him) and I almost feel like he's a child rebelling against rules! Please don't tell me to add more litter trays because we put one on the couch and then he peed on he other one! How many can we have in our small apartment? I don't know what consequences he would understand and I desperately need to get him to stop peeing otherwise I am very tempted to give him back to the SPCA. That would of the kids. So please, what can we do to stop him peeing everywhere and why is he doing this all of a sudden?? Please advise. Thanks so much.

ANSWER: Hi Ayala,

well, there is at least one reason why he is doing this.  Rabbits, like every other animal, do not do things for no reason.  There is always at least one reason.  Whether or not we figure it out is another thing.

Has anything changed in your apartment lately?  Have you moved furniture around?  Another new person or pet in the apartment?  Has your routine with him changed?  You will need to think back to when he started marking (he is marking territory, or overmarking something, not technically peeing) in places he normally did not, and make a list of anything out of the ordinary that was going on around that time.  When other pets come, or new people come, or go, or routines change, or re-arrangement of furniture patterns change, people spending less time with him than normal, these are things that can affect any pet.  Moving his house into a different room of the apartment, etc.  Strange smells that might be in the house he is not used to from other people or habits (ex. smoking, or strange animal smells on hands/clothes).

The other thing it can be, and you didn't mention it, is whether he is neutered or not.  If he is not neutered, intact males will mark territory and people more than if they are fixed.  If he has not been fixed, it would be good to get him fixed - but ONLY by a good rabbit vet - not just any vet.  Not all vets are good rabbit vets.  If you need to find a good rabbit vet, go to:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.  Don't let cost stop you from doing this, if that is an issue.  Often vets will work out payment plans.  They would rather people get their animals cared for and pay in installments than not have them get care they need.  And to live well with an indoor house rabbit, they need to be fixed.

Now, if he is fixed already, then he definitely is reacting to something different in the apartment.  Rabbits that are fixed also still have low levels of hormones in them, and it is possible that during certain seasons of the year they might elevate enough for them to be 'naughty', but only for a short while.  It would not be a permanent situation.  

In the meantime you could, instead of extra boxes, put down cotton towels over the couch.  That way you can wash them and have them ready the next day.

Lee

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We had visitors for 2 weeks and before that we rearranged the furniture in the living room-including HIS couch! NOw that that's happened how do we solve it? Just keep cleaning up the pee and hope he stops??

Answer
Hi,

I would suggest washing all the fabric that he pees on, and anything that your visitors sat on.  He is trying to overmark the visitors' scents.  wash the bedding, clean the carpets.  Clean the areas where he pees really well.  If you have a carpet cleaner use that.  If you have a hand brush attachment use that on your couch cushions.  

Rabbits are hierarchical animals (ie there is a ranking among them) and when you throw new people/animals in they may feel they are being replaced or bumped down in importance.

I would also try to rearrange as much as possible back.

Rabbits are not animals that handle major changes all at once very well.  It stresses them out big time.  They are creatures of habit.  They are prey animals and it takes a long time for them to develop trust in people.  One of the things that builds trust is a reliable routine.  I would suggest spending more time with him (both out and while inside his cage) giving him extra attention and pets, to help start building his trust levels back up.

It also is a big deal changing things around in a room.  Rabbits mentally map out a room in their minds because (as prey animals) their eyes being on the sides of their head casue them to have a slight blind spot directly in front of them, and they often zip around and know when to turn based on their memory of where things are.  It is a huge deal to them.  Not so to dogs and cats who have stereo vision and can deal with depth perception easily.

And I still have no idea if he is fixed or not, all of what I said earlier applies if he has not been fixed.

Get the visitor smells out of the house and furniture.  Get the house arrangement of items in the room(s) he is allowed in back to what is normal for him.  Spend extra time with him.  give him time to get back to normal, it will happen, it will get better.  And try not to do a lot of changes all at once, and try not to toss strangers into his world for such a long time.

Rabbits are also very empathetic animals, they are keenly aware of stress people are feeling and that affects them too.  If you were feeling stressed out he was picking up on your stress and getting it out by acting out too.

Lee