What is she trying to tell us?

[deaners]

Our French Lop, Pearl, has started a nasty little habit. She will pee just a little here and there. She also pees when she is upset with us. She pees when we pick her up or when we shoo her away from a particular spot.

It's starting to get pretty bad. Last night she pee'd on my husband while he was holding her.

We don't know what to do to get her to stop. When she's happy and content she will hop into her litter box and use it, but the minute she doesn't like something she pees. She also leaves a lot of poops around her room. More than George does and more than our first rabbit did.

She will be a year old this month.

Please help.

 

[Apebull]

Is she spayed???

 

[deaners]

Yes. She has been since she was about 5 months old.

 

[Blue eyes]

Perhaps she has a urinary tract infection?

 

[deaners]

Would that present itself mostly when she's angry/upset?

 

[Blue eyes]

I've never heard of a rabbit peeing the way a dog can when upset or excited. But there was a recent thread concerning this. With the bunny they are speaking of in the following thread, that bunny had had a prior broken leg (just so you know why some mention "skeletal" issues)
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=76751&forum_id=1&highlight=uti

 

[deaners]

Thanks for the link Blue eyes. I haven't noticed her pee when she's scared, just annoyed/angry/upset. Or a little dribble here and there. I think a trip to the vet is in order. Is it insane that actually hope it's a medical issue? That way at least she will stop when she's feeling better. If it's a behaviour thing I don't know what to do.

 

[Blue eyes]

Not insane...in fact I agree. Treating with some medicine sounds far simpler than working with a behavior issue.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[deaners]

Thanks I will.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[ldoerr]

Hope that you get her better soon. Let us know how the vet goes

 

[missyscove]

I'd definitely say a vet visit is in order; it sounds like she might be losing her control over her bladder. When you pick her up you may also be adding pressure. I know in some species (like cats) it's presumed that when they start peeing outside the box they're either trying to tell you that something hurts or say looking for something softer to pee on as though that might help.

 

[deaners]

So I spent a couple hours playing with the buns in their room. Pearl was fine and dandy. Begged for treats. Ate said treats. Explored the room. Rested. Used her litter box. Then when playtime was over and I was vacuuming her rug, she peed on it right beside the vacuum. Uggg.

I'm having a hard time believing she's got a medical issue and isn't just p*ssed off (pun intended) at stuff we do.

 

[deaners]

Sorry I forgot to update you guys. I took Pearl to the vet and she had no signs of a UTI. She gave the vet a good sample too. Since she's so young the vet and I decided it's unlikely that she has kidney stones, so for now we wait and see. So far she's been a little better, but when I was cleaning their room Monday, she again peed (this time in her cage) when I vacuumed.

 

[deaners]

So the saga of Pearl's butt continues. We took her back to the vet a few days after this as we noticed she was damp with her own urine. The vet cleaned her up and shaved her fur in the problem area. We had pain meds to give her and ointment to put on the affected area (urine burn?). Pearl healed up and did really well for a little while. She still was peeing outside her cage, but not as much. Yesterday I noticed her bum was wet again and went to give her a little bath. She peed all over me and all in the tub. While I was drying her off, I noticed another sore spot behind her tail. We have recently moved (in the past week) and although she seems to like her and George's new enclosure/area, she seems to be doing worse with the peeing. I have to mop up her piddles a few times per day.

 

[MikeScone]

I wonder if her peeing is either territorial or insecurity? When Natasha Rabbitova first came to live with me she'd pee on me or next to me nearly every time we were together. Her litter habits were perfect, other than that, so it's not that she didn't know how to use the litter box or couldn't hold it. As you can see from her first blog, it took a while to figure out what Natasha was doing.

It took about three months for the peeing to die off gradually. She'd do better for a while, then something would set her off, and she'd pee on my lap again. In the end, I'm convinced she was communicating. I think a big part of it was that she could smell my first bunny around the house, but never met him, as he died two months before she arrived. She was saying, "this is my human" to that mysterious invisible bunny, which is why the last place she stopped peeing was the computer room where Scone and I spent so much time together. Once she had vanquished Scone's smell, her peeing stopped and she's been fine ever since.

 

[deaners]

It might be insecurity, but probably not territorial since we just moved into a brand new apartment that has never been lived in. Our boy George is acting a little strange too. He just stays in the cardboard box we gave them. I guess they could be sensitive to the new smells and off gassing from the new carpets, paint, cabinets etc. I just wish Pearl would clean up her butt! Poor thing hates getting picked up, so it makes it doubly difficult for us to keep her clean.

 

[deaners]

So we took Pearl to the vet last night $700 later we still have no answers. The vet cleaned her up and gave us some pain meds and ointment for the urine scald. She did a complete x-ray and did not find any spinal issues or stones. A urine analysis didn't turn up anything either. They took blood to do a both a regular blood work up and to check for E-cunicell (sp?) the bacteria/parasite that affects the neurological system (head tilt etc). George is also avoid her a bit. They used to cuddle constantly and now he is spending more time in his cardboard box. We are getting to our wits end not knowing what to do.

 

[Acacia-Berry]

I might second the insecurity theory with my own experience.
Acacia is over 6 years old and has come a loooong way in her insecurity and anti-social issues but every now and then she will pee outside her box if I place her in the bathroom (while doing a thorough clean on her condo) or in the bedroom if she feels too "open". Since I allowed her under the bed in the bedroom, the peeing has immediately stopped in there. But the bathroom is different. I try to lock the cat away and let her come out on her own terms everyday so she can run back in her condo if she feels. Almost completely controlled the peeing. Good luck!

 

[deaners]

Thanks for your insight Acacia-Berry. Her general personality isn't very insecure though. She's happy to run around the apartment exploring stuff and will beg for treats. She's curious about other people. It's almost like she doesn't always realize that she's peed, cuz she'll sit in it which contributes to the urine scald. It's the same way with her poops. She'll just run and poop. And their enclosure is always covered in poops. We try to commend her when she does use the litter.