Rabbit help

[richatnort]

So we have a 6 month old house rabbit who's been neutered about 3 weeks ago. The problem we're having is if he gets the chance to he wees in the same place on the sofa. When he does it we lock him in his cage and ignore him for the remainder of the night but it's not working. I was wondering if anyone seen had this issue and how they got over it?

[Animal]

If he keeps going to the same area put a sheet or a newspaper down in that spot and encourage him to wee on it. Once he has, move it to the place you want him to wee and then clean your sofa so it no longer smells like his toilet.

[essayer]

Animal said:

If he keeps going to the same area put a sheet or a newspaper down in that spot and encourage him to wee on it. Once he has, move it to the place you want him to wee and then clean your sofa so it no longer smells like his toilet.

Agreed, lots of reward for peeing in the right place. Do rabbits respond to positive/ negative training like dogs do? Negative training (ignoring him) may not be as effective.

[richatnort]

essayer said:

Agreed, lots of reward for peeing in the right place. Do rabbits respond to positive/ negative training like dogs do? Negative training (ignoring him) may not be as effective.

Agree with rewarding him when he does do it in the right place but he does do it in the right place already just occasionally on the sofa when he gets chance. It's really hard to know too when he has done a wee unless you monitor him all the time which isn't ideal.

[moorx]

Animal said:

If he keeps going to the same area put a sheet or a newspaper down in that spot and encourage him to wee on it. Once he has, move it to the place you want him to wee and then clean your sofa so it no longer smells like his toilet.

^^ This. Rabbits can be very effectively litter-box trained, but the litter box needs to smell 'right', so that they start using it.

[littlegreenfairy]

Or he is being vindictive. They can be stroppy little sts.

Perhaps he thinks that the sofa is his and is making a point of marking it. As stupid as it sounds, try farting on the same patch repeatedly to make sure he knows it is yours.

[rosie11]

What did you use to clean the sofa when he wees on it?

[andy43]

As already said, Mop up wee with sawdust or paper, place in litter tray and repeat. When the litter tray stinks enough, lay it on the just-cleaned sofa. Hopefully he should wee in it. Then start moving the tray gradually towards the cage...
They only wee where it smells right - a pair of housewabbits here and 100% is done in their tray.
Hope you're considering a companion for him.

Edited by andy43 on Thursday 15th January 20:13

[richatnort]

andy43 said:

As already said, Mop up wee with sawdust or paper, place in litter tray and repeat. When the litter tray stinks enough, lay it on the just-cleaned sofa. Hopefully he should wee in it. Then start moving the tray gradually towards the cage...
They only wee where it smells right - a pair of housewabbits here and 100% is done in their tray.
Hope you're considering a companion for him.

Edited by andy43 on Thursday 15th January 20:13

Not easy to mop up as it's a fabric sofa. Plus I don't really like the idea of putting the tray on the sofa as we only have 1 litter tray in his cage.

Yes getting him a friend in March

[andy43]

If it's soaked in you're stuffed. Only option is to fence it off. Or maybe mark your own territory...

[richatnort]

We've been lucky so far because we put a throw over the sofa which has grabbed most of his piss!

[rj1986]

It can take 5-6 weeks for the hormones to fully pass out of his system, so he might still be a bit territorial and wanting to mark his little corner.

I litter trained both of mine by grabbing any wet litter and putting in their litter trays religiously. They got the message eventually.

[RemyMartin]

rj1986 said:

It can take 5-6 weeks for the hormones to fully pass out of his system, so he might still be a bit territorial and wanting to mark his little corner.

I litter trained both of mine by grabbing any wet litter and putting in their litter trays religiously. They got the message eventually.

Its laborious but it works. Also when I got my second, she had a big smell of the two corners where Sweep goes and just instinctively went there. Zero headache!

[S11Steve]

I've been quite lucky in litter training rabbits, and also having wooden floors helped a lot too.

Each bunny over the years had a preferred spot to go, so I put a litter tray in that space. Wasn't so bad for most, but one insisted on going behind the sofa, so had to pull it forward to get the tray in. After a few days, I moved the tray closer to a more acceptable corner of the room, and that became their go-to place.

As above, they can be obstinate and contrary little bleeders, and would occasionally pee on the floor whilst I was emptying the tray...

[richatnort]

Thanks for all the advice. He does his business in his tray in his cage and that's it. It's just a couple of times but in the last two weeks we've been keeping him off the sofa which works. All I need to do now is remember to move my Chelsea boots as he bloody loves the rubber and leather the little bleeder!

[andy43]

S11Steve said:

As above, they can be obstinate and contrary little bleeders, and would occasionally pee on the floor whilst I was emptying the tray...

Yep. Pick tray up, instantly rabbits investigate. Go to bin outside, come back with emptied tray and there's a puddle, poo pellets and two rabbits with garfield expressions on their faces...
"That is where you want us to go - right?"

[littlegreenfairy]

richatnort said:

Thanks for all the advice. He does his business in his tray in his cage and that's it. It's just a couple of times but in the last two weeks we've been keeping him off the sofa which works. All I need to do now is remember to move my Chelsea boots as he bloody loves the rubber and leather the little bleeder!

Ours love rubber and leather. And shoe laces and MacBook chargers. And our sofa. And toes.

[S11Steve]

richatnort said:

Thanks for all the advice. He does his business in his tray in his cage and that's it. It's just a couple of times but in the last two weeks we've been keeping him off the sofa which works. All I need to do now is remember to move my Chelsea boots as he bloody loves the rubber and leather the little bleeder!

If he is already trained, but sometimes forgetting, then it may be worth getting him checked out for bladder stones or urinary infection - had that problem with one of mine a year ago.

Once the infection cleared up, he was back in the tray again.

[rj1986]

littlegreenfairy said:

Ours love rubber and leather. And shoe laces and MacBook chargers. And our sofa. And toes.

How one of mine is still alive is beyond me.
The amount of stuff he's gnawed (half of it still plugged in). I think he's kill count stands at:

3 macbook chargers
14 chops of speaker cable
3 corners of carpet still attached to my floor
2 hoodie sleeves
2 buttons on the sky remote
2 iphone cables
1 blackberry cable
1 xbox play and charge cable
and a bit of my leather sofa

[Animal]

littlegreenfairy said:

Ours love rubber and leather. And shoe laces and MacBook chargers. And our sofa. And toes.

Mine loved curtains, sprouts (especially at Christmas when you can buy then on stalks) and my mother's cherry cake. I think I may have lost a pair of jeans to them once but otherwise they were very reasonable!