Really bad chewing, what can I do!?

Hey all,

A couple of weeks ago my female rex (spayed) discovered that our leather sofas feel nice between the teeth... First she would just test it, looking for folded bits to nip, then she began to chop V's into it and now she is kind of compulsive, she just wants to do it every time she comes in the lounge.

The male doesn't do it at all, they have wooden crates, cardboard tubes, willow sticks and twigs, towels to shred, an argos catalogue and a phonebook all to themselves... so plenty of "allowed" behavioural outlets.

We've been squirting her with a water sprayer whenever she starts to do it, but she hardly cares and it definitely isn't teaching her that that object is out of bounds.

What can I do short of keeping them back in the kitchen? The OH is really annoyed about it and has taken away their half of the lounge so they are back in the kitchen only now (they had 24/7 access to kitchen and half lounge and supervised access to our sitting area).

Are there any smells/liquids I can put on the sofa to make it repellent etc? Is there any way to train a bunny that doesn't care about shouting loudly, hand clapping, stamping or water spraying? (it is kindof hilarious how she just looks at us like, "Let me check my bovvered pocket!")

Rabbits love chewing some more than others I have a row of nic panels around my skirting board so my bunny can't chew the paint off , I don't think shouting at her/him loud or clapping or even spraying water on her/ him will stop it I guess you will have to keep them in a bunny proof place in the house where there's nothing you don't want her to chew 

P.S: obviously I'm looking into a waterproof cover (if I put covers on they will love weeing there!) and a set of throws to go over it (which will no doubt get chewed to death, but they don't cost too much)

Don't they use there litter pan to do there wees in , yeah a throw over ya sofa might be a good idea 

wendle said:

Don't they use there litter pan to do there wees in , yeah a throw over ya sofa might be a good idea 

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They do but anything plush or towelling is irresistible to them! I expect thick cotton throws would be nice and attractive to them too!

I used something called Chew Stoppa on my chair when Charlie started doing this. It did stop him but only if it was re-sprayed daily. Unfortunately, he had only ever tried to chew the chair so I stupidly only sprayed the chair, then came home to find a hole the size of my fist in our £2000 sofa!!!!! :shock:

Eventually Charlie's chewing (wires, skirting boards, furniture, walls, bannister, cushions, washing on the radiator, TV aerial, laptop cable, telephone cable and lots more!) gave me no choice but to put him outside. He has a stunning wifey bun now and a fabulous 4ft x 12 ft shed with 4ft x 20 ft run but I still hate the fact that he is no longer a house bun

we used a chew stopper spray too - I think it was from wilkos. we found we had to reapply it every few hours at first but they got the message eventually.

I've found no way to stop chewing when they get obsessive other than blocking access, your best bet is to get covers for it. If you move the sofa to the far end of the room, you can put up pen panels around it so they can have access to most of the lounge without being able to get to the sofa.

As many distractions as possible too!

Any cardboard boxes, toilet rolls etc are great for buns to chew. Keep them amused as much as possible, I find it virtually impossible to stop them chewing completely though. I think Simba has probably cost me £200 in wires in the last year!

One of my buns is terrible for chewing. She's almost completely chewed the back of one chair and there are holes all over the £2000 leather settee! We also used a chew stopper spray for a while but it does need reapplying quite often. We've blocked off the points she usually gets to to chew the chair and that now so she can no longer do it. Instead she aims for the curtains :lol:


She's also had the nets, phone chargers, laptop cables, internet wires, the pipe to the washer (flooded kitchen anyone?) and my other bun managed to survive unscathed from nibbling through the freezer wire!


If she's headed over to the chair I'll loudly call her name a few times, if she ignores me I clap really loud. She hates it and tends to go still, then has a bit of a sulk under the coffee table :lol: