Territorial Wee?

[kherrmann3]

This is kind of an odd question. Lately, my bun, Toby, has been going potty near/around where my boyfriend is. I live with my boyfriend (Will), roommate (Sean), and of course Toby. We all share a two bedroom apartment. Most of the day, Toby is in his hutch in mine Will's bedroom. In the mornings and evenings, I open up his hutch and hook up his ramp so he has free roam of the bedroom. He has access to his hutch (and litter pan!) as well as under our bed, nightstand, and on top of the bed. Everything has been bunny-proofed in the room (cords, etc.). Our problem has been that Toby goes to the bathroom on or near Will's stuff. He tends to pee on the quilt on the bed (this never happened before, at least often), or leave little pellets on/ near his side of the bed. It's ALWAYS on Will's side of the bed/room. Toby has even gone so far as to wee on the pillow that was on Will's side of the couch. Will had just stood up from the couch and left the room, and Toby hopped over to the throw-pillow where Will had been sitting, and piddled on it. Will and Toby get along well, and Toby seems to prefer Will's company over mine sometimes. Toby likes to lay under Will's night-stand and Will's side of the bed compared to mine. I don't know what to think about the bathroom problem. We are going out and getting another litter pan or two to try and correct the problem. I don't know if this has anything to do with male rivalry or territory, but if anyone has any ideas on why this is happening, it would be greatly appreciated.

Toby is a three-and-a-half year old Netherland dwarf bun. He was neutered when he was about 6-months old. I have owned him for almost his whole life (I got him at 6-7 weeks). We have lived at this apartment for almost a year and nothing has been changed in the bedroom. The only recent change was that we put plastic over the electric cords so Toby could run around longer. He has access to his litter pan/food and water whenever he needs it.

 

[Becca]

The first thing i was gonna say when i saw this thread was get him neutered! But when i read on I saw he already has been - So I'm sorry i really don't know what to say - I hope someone who does comes along soon because it's not a problem you really want :?

Becca

 

[TreasuredFriend]

http://www.heidihoefer.com/pages/rabbits/bunny_behavior_prob.htm

Hi K, ^ Seven Common Behavior Problems in Rabbits ^ written by Mary E. Cotter. This link is located under Behavior Section; top topic - Care, Feeding and Tips from www.morfz.com/rabbit references

Being far from any kind of expert on inappropriate marking or urinating, I would have Toby in for a check-up, and go from there.

I heard of another male who was very very attached to his "dad" and would pee wherever his dad's scent was, and yes that included the bed.

Sounds like Toby had good litter box habits in the past. Your sentence "Lately, my bun Toby has been going potty..." suggests an underlying cause. You are very savvy to go through changes in the apartment or Toby's lifestyle...

 

[kherrmann3]

Thank you for the info! Toby was in at the vet yesterday, & she gave him the all-clear! I didn't specifically ask about the urinating problem (it slipped my mind). He went into stasis (mildly) & is back to normal. He was doing the inappropriate marking before that, though. He did it once or twice as a baby, but he hasn't for a long time (unless he was out of his cage for extended periods of time). I went out and invested in pet-safe enzyme cleaner for the carpet and quilt. We're going to the laundromat tomorrow! :biggrin2:

 

[Leaf]

Has WIll been in contact with any ohter animals outside of your home?

 

[kherrmann3]

Will hasn't had much contact with other animals (besides the other ones we have). Our other critters include one Russian dwarf hamster, two Roborovskii dwarf hamsters, two zebra finches, one freshwater fishtank, one saltwater fishtank, and a mini-pond on our porch. Toby is used to their company. The hamsters and freshwater fish tank are in the room that Toby is housed in.

 

[ec]

I'd suggest calling back at the vet's, because you never know. If you explain the circumstances (especially that part about how he all fo a sudden started doing this), I'm sure they will want to see him. Lots of times, "inappropriate" behaviors are signals to us, to let us know that something is wrong. Buns are pretty smart cookies and also have their quirks (like us ), so I would't put it past your guy to feel that if he has to pee outside the box, peeing on your bf's stuff is the best place to do it. The main question is why.

 

[juliew19673]

OH Thank Goodness there are others!

My Bun Baxter! was brought into my house as a rescue (mind you - I didn't rescue him but a friend did and brought him to me so my Boyfriend and I had no idea what to expect).

That being in mind, since my rescue was a boy and I have been the "Primary care giver" to him, my BF was no where where to be seen with Baxter! during the formative weeks" I do not think my male bun trusts him and feels he thinks heis a male BUN to be "reckoned" with.

He "BIT"my BFonce when I first got him (in his deffence he "bit" me twice,)But... When I let Baxter! out in the "rest" of the home that is "secluded" to him when the BF is home, he will make his way over to his Tennis-Shoes/Backpack/Laptop Bag to poo and pee on anything that belong to Eric's. When the BF and Baxter! are 1 on 1, they are the "BEST OF FRIENDS"' but turn you back on Baxter! and he seems to have a love/hate relatioship with the BF..

So wondering if your problem is a "dominance" behavior.. That being said, don't know enought how to alter the behaviour but perhaps, get creative and show the bun that '"your in charge" and that the behaviour is not accepteable.

Please post back as i think my bun -is your buns cousins!

 

[kherrmann3]

Aha! I am glad someone else has this problem, too! Now I know that I don't have a "special" rabbit (I've had "special" pets before, like a three-legged dwarf hamster named "Stubby" and still have a dwarf hamster named "Squishy" whose face is pushed to the side - congenital defect).

What I found EXTREMELY weird was that the bedroom that Baxter was is in is set up almost EXACTLY the same as our bedroom is! The bed, TV, litter pan (even though yours is for the cat), nightstand (near window) and window are placed the same! My BF sleeps on the side closest to the window, and that's where we have our problems at! (The room I am talking about was the one in the first video you posted in his blog!) For quick reference, our bed is in the middle of the room, with the window on one side and the door on the other (with walking space in-between).

Toby made a real mess yesterday. I've just started picking him up and putting him back in his cage when he makes a mess. I am thinking of blocking off the "under-the-bed" area to minimize his "battle zone". I use carpet cleaner with enzymes to clean everything up well so there isn't a residue for him to find and re-pee on.

Still, there are similarities with you being the bonded person. I had Toby right away as a baby, and Will didn't come around until Toby was about 1.5 years. He is a sweetie to Will and likes to play with him. I'm the only person that he will snuggle up to and groom, though. I hope this gets cleared up, soon! My boyfriend has already joked that he might start "re-marking" his territory! YIKES! :shock:

Your Baxter! looks like the bunny that I will be fostering soon. She is the same colors as Baxter!. I don't know if she has the stripe on her back, though. I've only seen one picture of her. She will be getting here in a week and a half. It will make things interesting! Haha! I'm prepared, though, as I have enough pet carpet-cleaner to last me through the urine apocalypse!

 

[kherrmann3]

I just don't know what has gotten into Toby lately. I did an "experiment" last night to see what Toby would do in a different situation. Normally, he will sprinkle his bunny pellets on the side of the bed where my boyfriend is/the side of the bed where I am not. After cleaning up his little "minefield", I laid on the floor over by where he goes, and played some Gameboy. He actually went potty on the floor near my side of the bed! I don't know if he's going to the bunny-bathroom on my boyfriend's stuff, or if he is just trying to avoid going near where I am. I don't know... He has a litter pan on the floor where I move his "accidents" too. Any suggestions?

 

[tonyshuman]

Hmm... could definitely be territorial. My bf was convinced that Tony was staring at him while he slept. Apparently Tony would come in the bedroom and sit in the doorway, just staring at him all night long. I personally don't believe it. Tony was probably loafed or flopped there, and the noise of my bf would wake him up so that it seemed he was always staring at him when he opened his eyes. Before the bf, Tony used to spend the night flopped next to the bed on the side I slept in, so I would take it as a compliment that he was sleeping by me, but the bf thought Tony was out to get him. Tony doesn't get to be in the bedroom anymore because it's Benjamin's territory.

It's possible that Toby's trying to mark your boyfriend as "his". What I would do is to put some towels where he has been peeing so that he pees on the towels (maybe put a garbage bag underneath so that it doesn't soak through and cause damage), and then leave them there when Toby's out unsupervised. If he continues to pee there, it's not an issue of marking that area as his, it's something else. Maybe he doesn't like using his litterbox when he's out for some other reason. If he walks over there and smells his pee, he may realize he's already marked it as his place, and not pee there again. After a while (a week or two) of the pee-smelling towels being there, he should feel comfortable enough for you to remove them (I think). When my bunnies do marking that is clearly territorial (we have a gate up separating the two halves of the apartment, one of which belongs to Tony and Muffin and the other to Benjamin), I purposely don't clean up with vinegar, just water. That way I can't smell it, but they can, and they know that they've already marked the boundary of their territory and don't have to again. It usually works.

Maybe he's getting confused about where his litter box is. I find that if I give my guys too much run space too soon, they "get lost" and "can't find" the litterbox. Maybe Toby's memory is fading? You could be keeping it so clean that he can't smell it from across the room and decides wherever he is is a good place to go. He also may not like going all the way back to his cage to use the box when he's out, so you might consider a separate, additional litterbox for playtime, or taking the box out of the hutch when he's out as well.

 

[kherrmann3]

Here's a quick drawing of our room from above. Please forgive the scratchiness of it. I drew it fast and my writing looks VERY sloppy.




X = Toby's litter pans. One is in his cage (that he uses once in the cage) and the other is over by the T.V. stand.

X = Where Toby likes to "go". The "x" is for urine, and the little dots are for his pellets. There are "random pellets" left around, too, but they are mostly on the side by the other pellets.

The bedroom is 13x10 feet. I drew in all of our furniture and such. The window on Will's side of the bed is only 6-8 inches off the floor. It's a low and narrow window, but it goes up to the ceiling. There is a window-mounted air-conditioner. Toby is only let out of his cage in the mornings and evenings (when I am home). I let him run around for at least a half an hour per run-about session. He does get let out randomly at other times, too.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

If allowed, Bo will go straight to hubby's pillow and pee on it!

I think it's more about "She's mine and you shouldn't smell around her!".....

So he's marking his territory so that he's covering up Hubby's smell....

Bo is 4 years old and I have never figured out how to stop him.

 

[kherrmann3]

Well, now Toby is mad at us. We were out-of-town for ONE night and left our roommate to care for him (which he didn't do). I'm so mad I can't even begin to describe it. So, when I let Toby out this morning, he went on a "marking fiesta" and bit me pretty hard and was head-butting me. Now Will and I are both in the "bun-house".

 

[Bo B Bunny]

WELL! You deserve it don't you?!

Just a note to further my post....... Bo is 4 years old.... Hubby is now out of town during the week and I had Bo out on my king-sized bed with my daughter's big comforter and mine...... he managed to smell the hubby (his pillow was not on the bed!) on his side of the bed.......

I had a nice big pile of poo and had to strip the bed down from the PEE ---- and I was WATCHING to make sure he didn't do anything!

He also managed to soak my $100feather bed that tops our mattress ........ So I have to go to the laundry tomorrow and use one of the big 3 load machines to wash it and try to get it dry .........................

:X

 

[kherrmann3]

Haha! We just went through that! Toby "marked" our spare quilt (the first one had glass in it from a shatter hamster cage - long story). It cost $10 for us to wedge two full-sized quilts in a washer (the BIG one, the $5 load) and dry them separately. It took awhile, but luckily, our laundromat is in an outdoor strip mall. :biggrin2:

 

[kherrmann3]

AHH! Toby went wee in his litter pan in the bedroom! Eeee! I'm happy! Can't you tell? lol He still leaves pellets, but he pee'd in the litter pan! Yay!

 

[tonyshuman]

hehe, yay for Toby! I didn't reply after you posted that pic because i had no explanation for that pattern of making a mess!

my bunnies change where they like to pee on a monthly basis, it seems. right now, it's my futon, which is currently covered in garbage bags in order to protect it.:rollseyes we also met with a velveteen lop at the humane society saturday who was a real cutie in an ugly way and the sweetest bunny i've met, but unneutered so he "owned" and licked my knees and purse repeatedly. thus, my purse is now a place to poop in order to re-mark territory.

 

[kherrmann3]

Haha! Ouch! I started putting a few of my worn t-shirts around where Toby goes potty, and he doesn't go where my shirts are lol. He goes in between them. It's funny, there will be a one inch gap between the shirts, and he will go there. I think he hates Will!

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I was just thinking - Does Will walk barefoot alot in the areas where he's peeing? Like...... Standing by the fishtank? and of course on his side of the bed LOL! It's hilarious how it's all on that side of the room!