Charles the bunny is becoming more aggressive with the litterbox ...

[Astrobunny]

Charles, our Rex bunny is showing some odd behavior. After being neutered, he has become semi-litterbox trained. He pees in the litterbox, but only gets most of his poop in there. As soon as we brought him back from home, he started peeing in another spot. He still pees in the litterbox, but when I go in there to clean up the pee, he gets vicious. He tries to bite hard and gets really mean. Even when we let him out after I clean up that one pee spot, he still has an attitude. He also still continues to pee in that one spot even after I continue to clean it! I used to thump him on the nose whenever he started to bite, but hes become so large that when I do that, he just looks at me and shakes it off. When he pees in the litterbox, we reward him with treats, but he still seems to want to bite us every now and then.

What can I do to solve all this?

Edit: its not a hard thump, more like a tap on the nose, and I tell him "no!"

Edit: Also, he only gets aggressive when I get near that pee spot in the cage. Other than that, he doesn't nip or bite when we put our hands in the cage.

 

[Maureen Las]

I don't know why he pees in that spot but I would take him out of the cage when you attempt to clean it up
One of minesometimes gets agitated when I am making a scrubbing ot wiping motion in front of him with my hand

 

[Astrobunny]

Yeah, I've tried that, but when he sees me go over there, he will drop whatever he is doing and jump in the cage.... Its the spot between his hay ball and his feeder. I don't know whats special about that spot, but we we get near it, he becomes territorial instantly.

 

[Spring]

Hmm, this could agitate the situation, but is it possible to move some of his stuff around? Sometimes it helps with territorial issues, then you would be able to block that spot off possibly? Or would you be able to add another litterbox to the cage?

Are you cleaning with anything out of the ordinary? Could he posibly not like the smell of the cleaning product?

 

[Astrobunny]

I'll try moving his stuff around when hes outside the cage. I'm using the same cleaner I always have for him. Hopefully moving the stuff will remedy the problem.

 

[hartleybun]

im slightly going off topic here but whenever im housetraining puppies i use a cleaner that breaks down the enzymes - apparently this is what they smell and associate with that particular spot.

also one of my rexes, roxy, will attack what ever im putting the soiled litter in if i put it in a certain place in the bunnery. she's not aggressive but will do all she can to move it. she's the same if i 'tidy up' the pile of towels that she likes to lie on during the day:rollseyes

 

[Leowyldemi]

Howie does this when i'm cleaning his cage, he will run over and take the scooper out of my hand when i'm scooping his poos,he also gets annoyed when i move his haybox and toys,i usually take him out of his cage and put him in his pen with his toys,that way he can't run over and stop me, and i can still see what he's doing.

 

[Maureen Las]

When I clean any of my rabbit's areas they act as if I'm the FBI raiding a house unexpectdly

 

[hartleybun]

angieluv wrote:

When I clean any of my rabbit's areas they act as if I'm the FBI raiding a house unexpectdly

:rofl:the minute i pick up the bucket and dustpan and brush i get 'that' look

 

[Astrobunny]

Well, we tried moving stuff around, the spot where he was peeing is right in front of the litterbox, and now he starts peeing in front of the litterbox.:cry1:

But then he still pees in the litterbox. He seems to get agitated whenever I get close to his "special" urine spot or whenever I try to clean his poop. ( I try to pick up his poops and put them in the litterbox in hopes he will start pooping and peeing all in the litterbox.)

I've been wondering if its a reaction to us not letting him go behind the couch. Ive got bunny barrier to prevent him from going back there.... I wonder if he is doing this out of frustration?

 

[Astrobunny]

Update on the situation: He stopped peeing in the spot for the most part ever since we let him go behind the couch again. He sometimes pees outside the litterbox and then rolls around in it. I also noticed he isn't as loving and friendly as he used to be since he got neutered. But since we got him neutered, he has become a really gross bunny, (I guess some bunnies are just gross?) by laying in his poop and pee all the time.