Problem with male rabbit sitting in urine

Question
I have a 2 year old altered male rabbit who was really good about using his litter pan.  6 months ago, I brought home an unspayed female rabbit who was 3 months old at the time.  Everything was good for about 3 months, until my male rabbit started urinating on the floor of their pen and other places and then he sits in it. The female does uses the litter bin to urinate.  Also, he will urinate if he is picked up or if you sit near him.  His bottom area including tail now gets severly stained and drenched with urine.  I have been washing his bottom, even though that is not recommended. Is this all happening because the female is un spayed?  I didn't know if might be something else as well because he urinates if he is picked up.  Is it bad for me to wash him?
Thanks

Answer
Hi Michelle,

he's likely doing that because of the pheremones the unspayed female is giving off.  Her scent is still able to trigger a response from him.  If he could he would want to mark her (with urine) - ie put his scent on her.

Also note that it may not just be urine his back end is covered with.  Rabbits have two scent glands in their vent area and that could be more active now too.  If you are smelling a more musky odor from him his scent glands are "on".

Washing his bottom is okay if he is not getting stressed out about it.  If he stressed, and he is not getting urine scald (losing fur and irritating the skin bak there) or anything, I'd take a damp (not wet) lukewarm washcloth, and on the floor, wrap him in a towel, open the back and gently wash his rear area.  (This may be a 2-person job.)You don't want to stress him out unnecessarily.

I'm assuming you are correct he is neutered as after this amount of time and contact with your female, you'd already have a litter if he wasn't fixed.  Smells still will work on altered animals, it's just that they are no longer obsessively driven that they can't control themselves.  He still has some drive and the unspayed gal is bringing it out.  

My recommendation would be to get her spayed by a good rabbit vet.  If you don't already have one, go to:

www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet in your area.  If there are none in your area, call up your local/state shelters and rabbit rescue groups and ask who they would use if they had a rabbit that needed surgery.

Lee