Why does my bunny keep pooping on my bed?!
by Trina
(Northridge)
My dwarf bunny won't stop peeing and pooping on my bed. He knows how to jump onto my bed now and sometimes when I'm not looking he'll jump up and I'll find pellets and pee stains on my bed! but literally he's never on there for more than a few minutes before I see him and take him off. Also, I keep my room pretty nice, but if there is ever anything cloth-like on the floor, ex: clothes, towel, blanket, etc. then he will choose that area to also pee and poop.
Why does he do this?? Other than that he is pretty well potty trained and only goes in his litter box or cage.
***** Karen Sez *****Your rabbit may be claiming and marking its territory. It uses its litter box fairly regularly, but feels compelled to let any other furry or unfurry creatures know that this room and/or bed belongs to it (not you).
Try dialing back your rabbit's freedom, keeping it within tighter boundaries using, say, playpens, gates, or a wire corral of some sort, until the rabbit clearly understands your dim view of its marking habits. (You can find plans for a somewhat collapsible wire corral in our Pet Rabbit Living Spaces ebook, or our complete housing ebook, Ideal DIY Rabbit Cages:
https://www.raising-rabbits.com/world-of-raising-rabbits.html.
A second idea might be to place a second litter box on top of the bed during those times when the rabbit has the run of the room but you are not IN the bed. Perhaps teaching it to place its 'marking' activities in the litter box will satisfy its need to stake claim to the room and bed, etc.
Thirdly, there is an outside chance that the rabbit has kidney issues. A fairly common parasite, nosema, preferentially affects the kidneys and brain. If you run out of patience, perhaps a trip to the vet will be in order.
Lastly, spaying and neutering may help to reduce the hormones that drive rabbits' marking behavior. Just so you know, spay/neuter does come with health risks, such as a greater tendency to obesity.
Peeing rabbit
by Eddie
(Scotland (UK))
My rabbit is a single male house rabbit who is very inquisitive. He does all of his pooh and pees in his cage which is 4.5 x 4.5 feet. All good so far, the problem is when I let him up on the sofa beside me he runs round doing the usual rabbit things sniffing scratching that sort of thing then he backs up to me and does a pee, this has happened twice now on the sofa. He doesn't do it ever anywhere else, even when I sit on the floor with him he always does the toilet in the cage. Any ideas would be appreciated thanks Eddie D
***** Karen Sez *****
Eddie, we don't have any experience with rabbits that have mysterious couch-peeing habits, but I'm fairly confident this is territory-marking, possibly influenced by a dominant personality. I can see how this behavior may be a bit frustrating.
Can you pick him up just as he shifts gears into reverse, and plop him into his litter box?