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Male rabbit licking their own urine + spraying.

E

edward

Young Bun
Hello, I've had my mixed lop bunny for around 5 months now and he was behaving great until about a month ago. I know this may be a part of growing up but it concerned me as I am new rabbit owner.
Edward recently started to lick his own urine, even after i clean the litter box, he rushes into the bathroom with me and when i put down the litter box he tends to lick where he can smell his pee. Is this normal? He has a large water bowl, changed twice daily and I do see that he drinks out of it. Could i change up something in the diet to change this behaviour?

If it goes for spraying urine, he only did it "badly" around once , and it started around a week ago. Edward is a free roam bunny but he is locked up for the night and he is around 9 months old. First he just urinated in the corner of my room. As soon as i cleaned it, i opened the door and he rushed in, did a binky sort of jump (I dont think it was a binky) and spraying urine all over the place. I don't know if he got angry that i cleaned up his "territory"
He is not neutered and i know that neutering could resolve the spraying urine issue but for now im looking for a quick answer.
Im glad to answer any questions regarding what i've said
Thanks!
 
When you say he's locked up at night, what is his set up?
If his testicles have dropped I would have him checked over and castrated. I don't think there is a quick or easy fix.
 
edward said:
Hello, I've had my mixed lop bunny for around 5 months now and he was behaving great until about a month ago. I know this may be a part of growing up but it concerned me as I am new rabbit owner.
Edward recently started to lick his own urine, even after i clean the litter box, he rushes into the bathroom with me and when i put down the litter box he tends to lick where he can smell his pee. Is this normal? He has a large water bowl, changed twice daily and I do see that he drinks out of it. Could i change up something in the diet to change this behaviour?

If it goes for spraying urine, he only did it "badly" around once , and it started around a week ago. Edward is a free roam bunny but he is locked up for the night and he is around 9 months old. First he just urinated in the corner of my room. As soon as i cleaned it, i opened the door and he rushed in, did a binky sort of jump (I dont think it was a binky) and spraying urine all over the place. I don't know if he got angry that i cleaned up his "territory"
He is not neutered and i know that neutering could resolve the spraying urine issue but for now im looking for a quick answer.
Im glad to answer any questions regarding what i've said
Thanks!
Click to expand...


Hi Edward :wave:

Rabbits often don't have a quick and easy answer - that's not the sort of pets they are! But we love them anyway :)

Neutering, as you've already said, will help stop the urinating and spraying behaviour. The longer you leave the neutering, the less successful this kind of thing is to eradicate - so I would get on with thinking about it soonish.

As for him licking his own urine, it's a strange thing that rabbits do sometimes. I have to say I haven't come across a good explanation as to why they do it but it's not harmful :)
 
Babsie said:
When you say he's locked up at night, what is his set up?
If his testicles have dropped I would have him checked over and castrated. I don't think there is a quick or easy fix.
Click to expand...

His setup is a 4 by 8ft nic cage. In the corner he has his litter tray and in the opposite corner his water bowl and food. Hay rack near litter tray.
 
I've seen to realise a pattern on how he sprays, he never sprays when no one is in the house, it is only when i enter the house, or come out of my room after a long time he decides to follow me and spray the area. What could this mean in rabbit language if anything.
 
edward said:
I've seen to realise a pattern on how he sprays, he never sprays when no one is in the house, it is only when i enter the house, or come out of my room after a long time he decides to follow me and spray the area. What could this mean in rabbit language if anything.
Click to expand...


He wants to be 'top rabbit' - above his human companions :D
 
edward said:
Is there any way I can do something to change this? So he sees me as the "top rabbit/human companion"?
Click to expand...

Neutering is the only solution to stop the spraying. If a Buck is left entire he cannot be trained to not do what is a perfectly natural and hormone driven behaviour :) Also, an entire Buck who is only eventually neutered at an older age will have developed a learned behaviour of spraying, so the 'problem' may never fully resolve and the Buck may continue to spray at times.
 
edward said:
Is there any way I can do something to change this? So he sees me as the "top rabbit/human companion"?
Click to expand...


Hi Edward.

The only way to stop a bak from spraying and feeling that he has to be 'top bun' is to get him neutered.

There's some confirmation of this in these links:

http://www.therabbithouse.com/behaviour/problem-litter-training.asp

http://articles.extension.org/pages/33013/rabbit-behavioral-problems:-inappropriate-urination

As I mentioned in my first post to you here, neutering should be done as soon as you are able, as otherwise it becomes a 'learned behaviour'. At that stage it's not at all impossible to eradicate - but bear in mind it may be much harder.

Rabbits have good memories, it would appear :)
 
I can only reiterate what has been said - neutering is the only solution, as soon as possible, before it becomes a habit.
 
Babsie said:
I can only reiterate what has been said - neutering is the only solution, as soon as possible, before it becomes a habit.
Click to expand...

It already is a habit.

From the experience of those wiser than myself, it takes three days for a rabbit to acquire a habit, and upwards of three weeks to solve it :shock:
 
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