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Naughty behaviour?

JJoshM

New Kit
Hello all, this is my first post so please bare with me. My partner and I adopted our rabbit 2 months ago, she was 14 weeks at the time but was having trouble eating on her own and had to be syringe fed. Fast forward to now she loves to eat! Which is great, she's a house rabbit and is allowed to roam wherever we are basically. She grazes all day long on hay, fresh greens and the odd piece of fruit along with a handful of pellets for lunch. When we first got her she was going to the toilet perfectly fine in her designated box, 3 weeks after she keeps doing it in front of us when we tell her off (we've never shouted at her). We've had her spayed and was told she would calm down, now she's gotten worse! She wees right in front of us even after going in her toilet box. We have days where she's so good then suddenly she's weeing everywhere, we have a gate so she can't get in our kitchen, she sees and hears us in there and then starts to wee (at excitement maybe?)
We're really not sure what to do, if anyone has any suggestions?
 
Just bumping this for you so members will see, as the post had gone into a queue to be approved.
 
Hello and welcome. How long ago was she spayed? She must be about 5 months old now which is about the time they go through the "teenage years" and if this is the case she should grow out of it in time. Does she have an enclosure where you could put her litter tray so by confining her in that for a short time it may help to get her back in a habit of using it. Female rabbits are very territorial so this could also be making her wee in unusual places. I think this "bad" behaviour will stop in time when she gets a bit older. Does she have hay in the litter tray as this encourages them to use it more?
 
Thanks for the reply, she was spayed roughly 4weeks ago. We did have a cage that she went into whenever we went to work or went out, however she now has a bigger enclosure which has her litter box in. The room that she is mainly free roam in is our lounge/dining room which also has 2 litter boxes in each corner as that's where she used to go frequently. We do put hay in her litter tray, we've recently got hold of a hay feeder which we've put up above her litter box.
 
When she wees, is it a "normal" stream or does she spot wee/dribble urine? If it's the latter then that would indicate a UTI and she would need a course of antibiotics from the vet to clear it up.

If it's behavioural rather then a health issue, then I agree with tonibun that it may just be a question of giving her time to settle down again. Her spay was fairly recent and unfortunately it takes a while for those pesky hormones to disappear completely and it's likely that those hormones are what's driving her to mark her territory.

In the meantime, it should help if you clean the areas she wees in with a 50/50 white vinegar/water solution. That will get rid of any residual odours and should stop her associating by smell those areas as places to toilet.

I hope she settles down soon, she is a very beautiful bunny [emoji3]

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Hi welcome to the forum :wave: your girlie is just beautiful, and I just love how she co-ordinates with her blanket in that first photo:D Hope the wee problem sorts itself out soon.
 
Hello thank you for your reply, it's a normal stream. It's almost as if because we've not allowed her to do something or go somewhere she does it in revenge if that makes sense? Other times she gets into her litter box, has a poop, gets out then wees outside of the box.
 
Yes 4 weeks is not a very long time for hormones to subside so hopefully as time goes by she will become a little cleaner. I suppose you could try giving her a little treat when she uses the litter tray in the hopes that she will connect the two.
 
Yes 4 weeks is not a very long time for hormones to subside so hopefully as time goes by she will become a little cleaner. I suppose you could try giving her a little treat when she uses the litter tray in the hopes that she will connect the two.

Thank you for the reply, we will try this.
 
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