long time question and many different answers for me so far

[ally with cookie]

my bunny is a little over a year old and I've never had a problem with him other then this one. it didn't start till he hit about 6 months old. maturity... he is very smelly. no him but his urine. i know all about the tints and how some are stronger then others but this has my parents drove insane. they offered me over $200 cnd to get rid of him but you can place a price tag of the love of an animal. everyone told me im using the wrong bedding... i've tried them all now so its not the problem. i've concluded its hormones. there's some time you can never smell him, but others...yuck. i've talked to the vet and he said he would do it(neuter). there's only 1 vet who agreed to do this in all of Newfoundland and has done all rabbits-ferrets here and i trust him. but $ 200 is a nice bit and if it don't work i don't think my parents will let him stay inside. i cant come up with that kind of money on a flick of a dime. i don't even have a part time job yet due to my age, but i am babysitting. hopefully next month he is getting in and its when the vet said it best for him to do it. anyone have any experience with this. did neutering them help? he is litter box train inside his cage but not out. im using care fresh bedding but soon will be mixing it with wood pellets now that i have found them. his food does hae yucca in it but it doesn't do much either! any suggestions.



just so everyone knows- I'm 15 and i pay for all my animals supplies myself. my parents refuse to help me as they don't like animals. i have 5 birds as well which i also pay for. i am able to save money fairly fastly so it never a problem as i babysit alleast 30 hrs a week!

 

[cmh9023]

Are you sure it is his urine? I had a male bunny once whose scent glands were absolutely horrible. I had to clean them out almost every week. Just a thought.

 

[Spring]

Hi there

I haven't really dealt with smelly urine, thankfully the strongest smell from my guys is there hay.

How often do you change his litterbox? I change mine every day and use wood pellets with a layer of newspaper on top and I have never had a problem. Could it be you are leaving the litter too long?

I definitely recommend wood pellets, I can stick my nose right in the litterbox after I haven't cleaned it for a day or two and get barely any odour. Then once a week, use vinegar to rinse it out with and you shouldn't have too much of a problem.

To my knowledge, rabbits shouldn't smell as long as you have a good litter and clean the cage regularly.If a bunny is dehydrated it can have very strong smelling pee. I'm not sure if any vegetables would affect the scent of the pee as well? What is his diet like?

Could it be something else that he's peeing on that you haven't noticed making the smell? What kind of cage do you have?

Neutering will help with some of the smell I'm pretty sure.

If he's neutered, youkeep his cage clean and change his litter often, have a good litter and making sure he isn't dehydrated, I don't see why he should be having such a strong odour unless there is an underlying health issue.

I hope others will give you more advice and information. This is quite unusual for me since I never have this problem, so it makes me think their could be an underlying health concern making his urine smell so strongly.

 

[TinysMom]

He may need to have his scent glands cleaned out - it is something you can do with the help of another person. (I also recommend neutering him).

Here is a link to some instructions...

http://www.fuzzy-rabbit.com/hfaq.htm

It is the third topic down on that page.

Here are some other links to help you:

http://hopperhome.com/fur.htm

http://www.bestfriends.org/theanimals/pdfs/bunnies/rabbitcheckup.pdf - see page 2

http://www.ontariorabbits.org/diet/careinfo3.html - go down a ways till you see the section on scent glands

Hope this helps!

Peg

 

[Wabbitdad12]

I am going to answer your question with some more.
What are you using for litter? I use wood pellets and they have worked very well. Good odor control and very absorbent.

How often to you change your rabbits litter? I have had to change the litter every other day and it definitely helped.

Is your rabbit in a cage where he can spray on the walls or carpet? I had a similar odor problem with my rabbits until I discovered a few of my girls were spraying/marking their territory and it was soaking into the carpet causing the smell.

You said you have tried many of the remedies, I use white vinegar to spray spots where they have managed to hit the carpet. There is a little smell of vinegar for a while but not very long.

Good Luck

 

[naturestee]

Great advice from everyone! I definately recommend cleaning his scent glands. It will stink something awful when you do it but it should reduce the smell overall. Use vinegar to clean the litterbox, clean up accidents, and wipe down everything in the cage regularly. And I agree that wood pellet litter is the best I've ever seen as far as odor control and absorbancy, as well as price.

Neutering will help. It decreases the activity of scent glands and also the use of urine for marking territory. It will take time for the hormones to decrease, at least several weeks maybe a bit more. But many see a difference within the first few weeks. I definately recommend it. Even if it does not help the problem for some reason, it will make it easier to find a home for him and he will be able to have a bunny friend too.

 

[ally with cookie]

as for litter im using carefresh and i clean his litter box everyday and the cage in whole once a week. he uses his box alot. scent glands... i've been there done that with no difference in smell.

 

[MsBinky]

I never knew about cleaning the scent glands :headsmackIs this something you have to do regularly? I don't have smelly bunnies so it didn't occur to me... Lol.

 

[HoneyPot]

Well, some members on here add a small amount of diluted decafennated tea to their bunny's water and that is supposed to reduce the amonia smell.

Make sure you wash the box out with vinegar every time you clean it as well.

Could he possible be peeing somewhere you don't know about? Like under a bed or something like that?

Neutering might help, but that's mainly with the skunky smell they use to mark territory and not really with the ammonia smell of the pee.

What food is he eating? Is he getting a lot of vegetables, does he drink enough water? Or is he only eating pellets? Amonia smell is stronger when humans are dehydrated and not drinking enough water... probably similar for rabbits as well.

___________
Nadia

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Just to add, keep in mind that strong urine can be a sign of a urinary tract infection as well. Normally there are other signs as well but it's always a possibility to consider with really strong smelling urine.

 

[ally with cookie]

he's been like it since he was about 6 months old. he well over a year now. there's days you cant even smell him and then there days he unbearable. we'll i'll find out soon enough if it was hormones cuz he getting neutered

 

[carole]

did neutering fix the stink? If it started at 6mos, neutering seems like a logical solution.

Good for you for being such a great pet mom at only 15 with such little support from your folks!

 

[ally with cookie]

unfortunately he never got neutered yet. there's been alot of family problems not long after i posted that message and i've been under alot of stress, sorry for not keeping everyone up to date. our vet clinic is also moving to a larger building. i also went out and got myself a job so i can afford to get him done with one week's pay check. most of the family troubles are over and we're getting back on our feet now. cookie is still being a little stinker like always. our NIC cage didn't work out so he's back in his old cage, but i found out walmart sells the grids here and 2 colors too! im going to buy some and this summer make a out side play area for him with them! im hoping to get him in after x-mas when all the x-mas crazyness dies down!

 

[SOOOSKA]

Hi Ally, can I be nosey and ask why the NIC cage didn't work out?

Susan

 

[ally with cookie]

hahahah, he loves to destroy everything. i was having to cover his levels of the platfourms everyweek from him destroying them. i was using card board and covering it with blankets but no sooner as i had it done it was up again. he was also extremely noisey night time hopping layer to layer. he eats the cardboard which is dangerous imo so its not worth risking a blockage in hisa digestive system.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Hey there!

I was lucky enough to get two huge sheets of plastic from someone I work with who knows someone that owns a plastics shop. You could do the same or go to a sign shop and ask for some Choroplast to put on the bottom of the nic. Shouldn't cost too much, maybe $20. Try to find it for free if you can though.