Unwanted Weeing!

Question
QUESTION: Hi Andrea,
I have a mini lop who was born on July 14 of this year.  I have her in a large
NIC cage I made and she gets to run around my room a couple hours a day,
some in the morning, most in the evenings.  I litterbox trained her when I got
her as a baby and she has done amazing, only weeing 1 time when she was
sleeping in my pillows on my bed! Last night, however, things changed.  I
woke up this morning to get ready for class and she had two puddles at
different places in her cage, one in front of her box and one on the opposite
side of the cage.  I had emptied the box last night, and she had been using
the box as well.  I cleaned it all up and then went to Uni and when I got back
tonight there is more wee around the edges of the cage again.  Why could
this be?  Will rabbits do this as a behavior thing or could she possibly be ill?  I
am new to rabbits, so I  haven't ever had this problem before.  Any info you
could give me would be great!  Also, in general, she does drop pebbles all
around the cage on a normal basis, is this expected as I read that their
digestion tract was stimulated for bathroom behavior while they are eating.  

Thank you so much!!  
Jenny

ANSWER: You don't say if she's spayed or not, but the first thing that I thought of was that your bunny is now at the age where puberty begins to set in.
During this time, territorial urges begin to become more prominent.  Bunnies begin to mark territory using urine and pebbles.  Really the only fix for this is to get her spayed and then after the hormones get out of her system (roughly a month), litter box habits should be better.  It may take a bit of re-work, but it'll be a lot easier.

I think that is the most likely cause, but I'll also address some of the other possibilities:
1.  a health issue, it is possible she's sick.  But at her age, that would be surprising.  If she seems to be straining to urinate, you could run her to a rabbit vet and get her a general check over.
2.  now that she should be hitting puberty, some household changes could trigger this.  This could be a territorial thing to "mark" the cage as hers if a new animal or person has been in the house.  Or maybe something could cause her to be insecure, the cage being moved, new loud noises.

you can also try adding some hay to the box to entice her to spend time in there and as an implicit reward for being there.

this site gives some info and tips:http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/litter.html

I hope this helps

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

QUESTION: Hi, I really appreciated your advice regarding the unwanted weeing experience.  I
was wondering if you could tell me when the best time to spay a rabbit is.  Also,
what are some things I should look for in a vet when finding one to spay her?

Answer
As for the timing, 4 to 6 months is usually the earliest it can be done.  Most of the vets in my area like to wait until around 6 months, since a spay is more involved then a neuter.

The second question is a great one.

First, you want to find out the experience level with rabbits.  Some clinics won't see rabbits at all because they have more familiarity with cats and dogs, and a good clinic will tell you that.  But some general vets do have experience with rabbits, but it it most likely a small part of their practice.  Which isn't to say you have to go to a special vet.  My vet is a general practitioner, and is good with rabbits.  You just may have to ask more questions.

Exotic vets will have experience with rabbits.  They can be more difficult to find depending where you live.

A lot of the process in finding a vet is word of mouth recommendations.  You can ask around if you know anyone else in your area that has rabbits.  Craigslist or any other forums in your area could work.  If there are any shelters/rescues in your area, you could see which vets they  use.

The house rabbit society has a couple of pages that list some good questions to help you find a good vet.
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/spay-neuter.html#good-questions

And if you have a hard time finding a vet, these sites have recommendations:
http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/PB_vets.html