Bunny wet nose help

Question
hello, i have a 4 month old mini lop and i am a little concerned about her . She is an indoor rabbit and for about a week her nose has been wet sometimes, sometimes its slightly dry as well, and shes been sneezing occassionally, but she has no mats on any part of her fur, and i have never seen her wipe her nose on her fur. The stuff that is coming out of her nose is not mucous but more like water, its clear. She doesn't seem ill she eats quite well, especially timothy hay, she also jumps around the entire living room happy as a clam. I have read many things on the internet saying that a wet nose might mean that they have the snuffles,I hope not.Also i hope you can help me with another situation i have been having. My rabbit for the past couple of weeks has chosen our sofa as a litter box. when she was younger she always went back to her cage to do her business but now whenever we take her out she jumps on the sofa and immediatley goes pee or poo on it. can you give me any advice on how to stop her from doing that. I'd appreciate any advice on both situations. Thank you  

Answer
Dear Emily,

The wet nose isn't a cause for panic, but you're right to be vigilant about it.  She might have a slight upper respiratory infection (URI), and the sooner this is treated, the better.  Please read:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sneezing.html

for complete information on diagnosis and treatment of this problem.  "Snuffles" is a catch-all term for URI, and it can be caused by many different things.  Don't let the stuff you read about it on the web scare you.  It's fully treatable!

I wish I could be so upbeat about the sofa peeing problem.  I've never been able to dissuade a bunny who's taken it into his/her head to make that a litterbox!  :(  You can place large boxes on the sofa so she just can't get at it, and this may discourage her until she breaks the habit.  

But to tell you the truth, I finally had to buy a strip of plastic carpet protector runner and lay it on the sofa.  On top of that I put reasonably attractive (color coordinated!) 100% cotton, rubber-backed mats that can be laundered regularly.  This keeps the sofa clean, even if bun decides that's the nicest place to pee.  

*sigh*  

Hope that helps!

Dana