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Please help - not litter trained and aggressive

Rose24

Rose24

Warren Scout
Please can someone help me.

I have three bunnies none of which are bonded. I have my 9 year old boy who is beyond gorgeous and seems very happy and content. We lost our girl last year and due to his health problems we were advised to keep him on his own.

We now have two spayed girls and the plan was to bond them. I have had them since October and haven't worked up the courage to do so yet. One of them had a terrible reaction to the plaster put on her ear after being spayed and as a result she lost part of her ear. At the time we needed her to recover without the stress of a bond. She is extremely aggressive and I am so frightened of the bond.

The main issue is that they are peeing everywhere. The aggressive girl is the worst for this. It's causing huge problems and this morning when I pulled out the sofa to Vax again, there is now wee all up the walls. I honestly do not know what to do. I've always been so lucky that my bunnies have always just been litter trained on their own.

Please can you give me some advice on how to get them to use their tray when out of their pens.

Thank you in advance for your help x
 
Last edited:
Rose24 said:
Please can someone help me.

I have three bunnies none of which are bonded. I have my 9 year old boy who is beyond gorgeous and seems very happy and content. We lost our girl last year and due to his health problems we were advised to keep him on his own.

We now have two spayed girls and the plan was to bond them. I have had them since October and haven't worked up the courage to do so yet. One of them had a terrible reaction to the plaster put on her ear after being spayed and as a result she lost part of her ear. At the time we needed her to recover without the stress of a bond. She is extremely aggressive and I am so frightened of the bond.

The main issue is that they are peeing everywhere. The aggressive girl is the worst for this. It's causing huge problems and this morning when I pulled out the sofa to Vax again, there is now wee all up the walls. I honestly do not know what to do. I've always been so lucky that my bunnies have always just been litter trained on their own.

Please can you give me some advice on how to get them to use their tray when out of their pens.

Thank you in advance for your help x
Click to expand...

When they are out of their pens are they able to see/smell each other ? If so you are unlikely to break the peeing habit as it will almost certainly be territorial in nature. So first I think you need to have a rethink about where each Rabbit has their time out from their enclosure. It really needs to be in another room, not the one where the other Rabbit(s) are.
 
The girls pens are in the same room so they can see and smell each other all day. When they come out on their own they are in our living room downstairs. They then cannot see each other but I would imagine they can smell that the other one has been in the space. We currently have to rotate their time out with us. There is no other room in the house that they can have a real run free. Do you think it will be impossible to stop until they are bonded?
 
Rose24 said:
The girls pens are in the same room so they can see and smell each other all day. When they come out on their own they are in our living room downstairs. They then cannot see each other but I would imagine they can smell that the other one has been in the space. We currently have to rotate their time out with us. There is no other room in the house that they can have a real run free. Do you think it will be impossible to stop until they are bonded?
Click to expand...

It would be very difficult as each one will continue to scent mark where she can smell the other one has been.
 
I think many of us have been there with bunny wee & poo issues of various causes. It does sound like a territorial issue & I imagine life will be a lot easier when you can bond your girls. You say one is aggressive - is that with people or her mate to be? I mention this because in many ways her being aggressive to other buns she hasn't been fully introduced to is pretty normal & a bunny that is aggressive with people shouldn't normally impact on her ability to bond with another rabbit. Have you looked in to bonding services in your area?
 
joey&boo said:
I think many of us have been there with bunny wee & poo issues of various causes. It does sound like a territorial issue & I imagine life will be a lot easier when you can bond your girls. You say one is aggressive - is that with people or her mate to be? I mention this because in many ways her being aggressive to other buns she hasn't been fully introduced to is pretty normal & a bunny that is aggressive with people shouldn't normally impact on her ability to bond with another rabbit. Have you looked in to bonding services in your area?
Click to expand...

Really good advice from Joey&Boo :D

It does sound like territorial marking and completely normal for single buns to do - marking their territory.

Bonding rabbits is stressful for anyone - is there anyone with experience (or a Rescue Centre you can approach?) to help you?

Good luck xx
 
Hello
Thank you for all your advice. Munch is territorial in her pen. It's very stressful at breakfast and dinner. When she is out of the pen she is sweet but mad - runs into everything, climbs on everything. Whereas Piff is so laid back and nervous all the time. I am going to look into a bonding service today :) xx
 
Many rescues will not bond same sex pairs as they believe it simply can not be done (or with very little success). Wishing you luck in finding a rescue - I took 3 months to bond my two females but all the stress was well worth it.

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