Peeing on their bed??!

[AMS89]

My rabbits live in a "condo" of sorts... large dog crates, complete with the works. My girls, Rubix and Jinx (bonded sisters) live together and never have had any litterbox issues, besides leaving poop here and there, which I sweep up at the end of the day. My only boy, Willow (their father), is good with the litterbox too. None of them are spayed or neutered, but that's because my veterinarian won't do the procedure AND because we don't have any vets in the area willing to do it (I live in Hicktown, USA, haha).

But I am SO frustrated with their behavior when it comes to blankets and beds!! :X

I feel guilty that they don't have anything comfortable to sleep on, but EVERY time (it never fails, argh!) I put something like a blanket or pet bed in there, they pee on it... within two minutes. That's kind of a record! I suppose I could just let them sleep on it and wash it a couple times a week, but that idea just grosses me out! Plus I don't want it to smell. Yuck.

Do you think this is a problem that could work itself out?? Like, maybe if I continue to wash it every time I find a wet spot? I can't think of any way to resolve the problem, but maybe somebody else has discovered something that works... :? I just feel bad that they don't have anything comfy to sleep on.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Mine have carpet squares and a litter box full of shavings--they use both as a "bed" and the box is easily emptied and re-stocked and the carpet piece is cheap and easily replaced.

 

[ZoeStevens]

I don't really know where to begin with the peeing behaviour. I suspect they are just marking the new blanket. My unneutered male pees on EVERYTHING whenever a new person comes into the house (he is getting neutered in a few weeks - YAY).

However, I did a search and found this vet:
http://www.myvetonline.com/saltillosmallanimal/general-information.html

Are they in your area?

Best of luck!

 

[AMS89]

Mine like to sleep in the litter box as well... but I keep thinking that can't be too terribly comfortable, you know? Then again, I guess they wouldn't be sleeping there if they didn't like it. As far as carpet tiles go, I was actually thinking of hitting up Lowes or Home Depot in the next couple of weeks to see what I could scrounge up.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're marking their territory, especially when they're peeing on it immediately when I put it in their crate. :/ Maybe this will go away over time when they finally decide that it's theirs and no one is going to take it...?? One can only hope!

Unfortunately, they're not in my area... the closest vet to me is a half hour away (my vet) and like I said, they don't do rabbits. As it happens, I also work at a vet's office (45 minutes away... eep!) and he pretty much only does dogs and cats.

 

[ZoeStevens]

I hear ya... there are not enough bun vets out there!! I have to drive an hour for to get my guy done. Actually there is one closer but at 2x the price. Yikes. Still though it's worth it for me because he pees eeeeverywhere.

For yours you might just have to leave them their pee carpet. If you take it away you are taking away what 'belongs' to them so they are going to mark the replacement. They can use their carpet as a litter and their litter as a bed... LOL

 

[AMS89]

Oh my, that's quite a ways to go! I wish we had one near us... it would make my life so much easier. -.- And rabbits are SO much more expensive to have done than dogs or cats. Besides the fact that, well... after talking to my vet, who was very wary about any vet doing the procedure, I'm a little more than nervous about having it done.

Haha, they are so hard to please! But I guess it IS their home and they'll do what they want in there. Another problem I'm having since I put the bed in there is the fact that Jinx wants to chew holes in it. At the rate she's going, she'll have it chewed through the whole way to the bottom! She won't chew on sticks or pinecones... Nope! She wants to chew her nice new bed! Haha.

 

[Imbrium]

they tend to like to pee on soft things like blankets and beds, heh.

I've tried giving mine soft stuff to sleep on, but they just push it out of the way and sleep on hard coroplast in the condo or the tarp that's covering the floor of their run. bunnies are weird like that. yours might be perfectly content sleeping on the floor if you take the soft pee-attracting stuff away.

 

[holtzchick]

In my experience even altered buns will pee on their soft bedding :/ or maybe I just have bad luck...