joehasthisname
New Member
Hello - My wife and I have a 3.5 year old Mini Rex named Pancho. Until recently, Pancho has been a very well-behaved rabbit - his litterbox habits were great, he was very sweet and affectionate, and he did not seem very territorial. We would let him have free roam of the house when we were home and never marked our living room or bedroom. We could even let him on the bed and the couch to explore and he had no issues.
However, in the last few weeks (we think since beginning our COVID-19 quarantine), Pancho's behavior has become much worse. For starters, he is pooping everywhere except his litterbox. We have been finding them in the living room, all around his pen (instead of his box, like normal), and all of his normal favorite spots that he used to never mark. Especially his wet poops, which he has been leaving in other spots where he hangs out. He has also been eating tons of cardboard, which he used to do occasionally, but now it seems compulsive, and we think it is hurting his stomach and giving him more wet poops. To top it all off, this week Pancho has peed outside of his box three times - on the couch, on the rug, and inside his hutch right next to his box. When he leaves wet poops outside of his box, we go and put him in his box, and when he pees outside of his box, we close him in his hutch for awhile, but he just seems to be upset with us and more prone to retaliate later.
Pancho has a hutch to himself and a nice sunroom enclosed by a gate and we change his litterbox every 24-36 hours. Since his behavior changed, we have been keeping the gate closed during the day and letting him have a limited exercise area in the house first thing in the morning and for a few hours at night.
While we think this may have something to do with us being at home 24/7 because of the COVID quarantine, we do want to make sure that he uses his litterbox properly and goes back to being the loving bun we know Pancho to be. Can anybody help us get our bun back on track?
However, in the last few weeks (we think since beginning our COVID-19 quarantine), Pancho's behavior has become much worse. For starters, he is pooping everywhere except his litterbox. We have been finding them in the living room, all around his pen (instead of his box, like normal), and all of his normal favorite spots that he used to never mark. Especially his wet poops, which he has been leaving in other spots where he hangs out. He has also been eating tons of cardboard, which he used to do occasionally, but now it seems compulsive, and we think it is hurting his stomach and giving him more wet poops. To top it all off, this week Pancho has peed outside of his box three times - on the couch, on the rug, and inside his hutch right next to his box. When he leaves wet poops outside of his box, we go and put him in his box, and when he pees outside of his box, we close him in his hutch for awhile, but he just seems to be upset with us and more prone to retaliate later.
Pancho has a hutch to himself and a nice sunroom enclosed by a gate and we change his litterbox every 24-36 hours. Since his behavior changed, we have been keeping the gate closed during the day and letting him have a limited exercise area in the house first thing in the morning and for a few hours at night.
While we think this may have something to do with us being at home 24/7 because of the COVID quarantine, we do want to make sure that he uses his litterbox properly and goes back to being the loving bun we know Pancho to be. Can anybody help us get our bun back on track?
