Peeing outside the litter box

[delusional]

Now, most of my bunnies are very well litter trained (or in the case of Alfie well on the way), and even Rose who has been the biggest pain is now only leaving pee outside her box when she seems to want it cleaning out. Which is fine, because I can just change it more often and she's a good girl.

She doesn't pee on carpet anymore, or on the lino floor in the kitchen where they live.However...

I can't give Ollie and Rose anything nice to sleep on. They seem to always move to the carpet in the bathroom, I guess because it's getting colder and they want to be snuggly, so I bought them a fluffy bed to snuggle in, and Rose peed in it - repeatedly. I gave up with that and thought it was because it had a plastic base, like the litter tray. So then I bought one of those fleece ones with the padded edge. Which she peed on, repeatedly. I tried just giving them a padded mat. She peed on it.

The thing is, I 've caught Ollie on all these things looking really comfortable. Is there any way to stop her peeing on these things? Because I really don't want to deprive Ollie of them...

 

[stephiemarie78]

I too would love to give mine things to but they do the same thing. I wouldn't mind because i can just wash it but by the next day it smells really bad. So they don't get blankets or anything like that.

 

[browneyedgal]

I normally consistently watchmy rabbitvery closely over a period of a few nights whenever I introduce a new item in the living room.I do nothing else but watch her.You will have to sacrifice the time and effortto do that if you want to train the rabbit properly.

Ifmy rabbitpees or chews on the item, she gets punished by being put back in her cage immediately. I will also scold her. The key word is IMMEDIATELY because any lapse of time will render the rebuke ineffectual. The rabbit must be told while itis committing the crime or at the immediate aftermath that what it isdoing is unacceptable.

My rabbit learns it very quickly from this exercise.I remember the first time I got Mimi, she peed on the sofa and she was removed from the sofa and wastold off immediately. She peed on the carpet andshe wastold off immediately. On both occasions, she was sent back to hercage and she had to stay there for an hour or so.She never did it again. She was litter-trained within 3 days of me getting her home from the pet shop.

She has even stoppedmeddling with the cablesin the house as well. She leaves them well alone as she gets told off whenever she shows an interest and her teethare within a few centrimeters of the cables.

So if Rose shows signs of wanting to pee on the pet bed (ie. she lifts her tail), you will have to immediately jump up from your seat,lift her off the petbed if she has not already jumped off it and put her back in hercage for an hour,scolding her fiercely while doing that. You may show your dissent by turning your back to her after scolding her or stomp your foot in front of her cage and walk away. If you do that repeatedly each time she attempts to pee, she will get the idea. You will definitely need to sacrifice some time to watch her all night if you want to get yourpoint across to her. Once she learns it, you don't have to worry about her peeing on the pet bed anymore.

 

[maherwoman]

In all honesty, I gave up trying to give my buns soft stuff to lay on. Maisie was my first bun, and she's got a REAL pee-on-fabric fettish, and I honestly haven't bothered to make her stop. She instead loves to create a bunch of shreds of her newspaper and lay on that. I've found Trixie and SweetPea following suit.

Fiver has a little fleece seatcover type thing...but considers it his friend (as he bathes it, and wherever Sheepy goes, he feels comfy going, too), so he lays NEXT to it, but not ON it.

Ultimately, don't worry too much. I would say find other things they can lay on that might be insulating. You might find that they like creating little beds out of newspaper they've shredded...my buns sure enjoy it!

Oh, not to mention...all three of the same girls have created hay meadows...hay's a great insulator, too.

:biggrin2:

 

[delusional]

Thanks for the help guys - I've been giving Ollie and Rose lots of extra hay to snuggle in, and I'm going to get them a bigger boxas their litter tray to fit even more in and so they can both lay out in it comfortably.

And then when I can get another holiday booked from work I'll spend a few days trying to teach Rose that fluffy beds are not for peeing on!

I just don't want to deprive Ollie (and Bunny, once they're introduced) of fluffy, fleecy things forever - they're so cute all snuggled in them!