hey, im new ans hoping you guys can help me!!!!!

[Rhian.a]

Hello everyone!!
so i joined this forum as ive recently acquired a 4 month old little lop girly! She is amazing im totally in love with her but i think ive done few things wrong and am now paying the consequences, i hold my hands up and say I thought I had done enough research and clearly I hadnt! Fifi came to me 2 weeks ago rather unwell (snuffles) she has been seeing the vet and is 99% recovered she has another appointment Wednesday!
The issues.........
We decided to keep her indoors she has a massive cage with a shed load of toys, although i still feel guilty she doesn't have a friend so am considering getting her a neutered male buddy but again no idea where to look would like to rehome one! Next issue house training! she loves hopping round our living room (haven't given her more space yet due to some issue) she also has a run in the garden she goes in when the weather is nice! we spend lots of time with her an she has settled in really well however she has become intent on pooing on one to the sofas! we put a throw on it so it was easier to clean up she did pee on it last night so its currently in washing machine! question one...... do you think she thinks the blanket is her litter? if i move the blanket do you think she will still poo on it, or is it the sofa? I saw that maybe we had given her to much freedom so we are currently trying to let her out for short periods but she is getting a little cross with this idea! she does poo in one corner in her cage! finally she isnt spayed yet which i am told may help!
Any advice would be amazing thank you in advice!

 

[Shrinkie]

Hello and welcome to the forum :wave:

Don't beat yourself up - there's always a huge difference between research and the reality, sometimes you can feel confident, get the pet, then realise there's so many questions left. We've all done it , lad she is doing better with her snuffles though, nasty little infection. To try and take this point at a time;

- indoors; loads of us (myself included) have indoor buns and all is well, though from the post I'm not sure if you mean she stays in a big cage? Just to mention, rabbits really need a lot of space and exercise and I know a lot of places sell "rabbit cages" but it is recommended to let her litter train and get her a free-ranging rabbit to at least one room through the day. It will encourage her to be more healthy, happy and exercise will prevent her becoming overweight.

- Buddy; I wouldn't worry just now about a buddy, especially as she's still got a little bit to go for recovery with the infection. I would personally, let her become an age to get her spayed (roughly around 6 months) and then wait a month or two to let her hormones settle. Then look at getting her a companion. I totally agree with the idea though, rabbits are highly sociable and I know there are some conflicting advice about rabbits and being in pairs (I know when I first started looking a lot advised against pairing a rabbit if they were already single, that's just not the case in general). It will be a good idea but I would say, you've got some time before that just yet and we have loads of topics about bonding you can check out.

- littering; littering can be a thing of marking territory as well as some rabbits are simply stubborn. The things I found most useful in house training was persistence and patience. It sounds like the sofa if she was determined that was where she would toilet in the first place. I would say make sure her litter tray is nice and big (I have a corner one but I've a dwarf rabbit and even then a lot of people prefer the cat litter trays), put plenty of hay on it (with maybe some paper around about as she will have accidents) and as soon as she poops, pick it up and put it in the tray - same with pee, if she urinates if you can mop it up in a paper towel, place it on her litter. She will get the idea that this is where she is to go, also might take her a while to settle down. Rosie (my rabbit) was the same in her training, the couch was the worst part for her training, she was so adament but it did settle with a bit of time.

It is true spaying will help - the rule of thumb is that if she's littering everywhere it's likely territorial as they do tend to otherwise toilet in clumps. However, it doesn't mean you have to just accept that she'll litter everywhere for the next few months, nosireebob, she can still learn though expect the occasional accident. It is also true that she might find it more difficult and confusing if she's given a lot of space - it's a lot more space to mark, the litter tray is further away and it can be more disorientating. But again, it's not impossible, it's just about perservering.

Instead of limiting her bility to run around I would consider getting a decent sized run for her, for in the house. As much as it's really frustrating (I know) and feels like you may as well glue your hand to the dustpan and brush, I wouldn't necessarily recommend keeping her locked up for convenience either, also it won't help her learn toileting either as she's not got the chance to.

I hope that helps and welcome again

PS: we love pictures -hint hint- :lol:

 

[mabels mum]

Hello and welcome! Great advice given above. I too have a single indoor bun. She did have a husbun but he passed away. We're waiting for her to fully recover from an ear abscess which she had removed a couple of weeks ago before we find her a new boy. If I was you I'd find out what rabbit rescues there are locally and if they would do bonding for you. That way, once she's older, spayed and healed and you're ready you can go ahead and get her a friend. Two rabbits will need even more space so bunny proofing a room is a great idea.
Welcome to the joys of rabbit owning and good luck.

 

[Rhian.a]

This is great advice thank you! Yeh she has pretty much full run of the living room except at nights! Ithe last few days the pooing on sofa seems to have got worse I'm considering putting a litter tray right next to the sofa and trying to stop her climbing on the sofa for a while! What do you think??

 

[Rhian.a]

hopfully this work im a bit technically challenged this is the confused Fifi with her favourite blanket

 

[Shrinkie]

Yeah you can try that- I mean the fact is there are cases where bunnies are just so stubborn that the spot they chose is the spot they chose so you have to try and accommodate - obviously the couch itself isn't an option but hopefully there can be a compromise of having it near.

To make an image you just need to upload to something such as Facebook or Photobucket.

Photobucket Method:
- upload picture
- you will see when you click on the picture a wee chain link above it - click that and choose options (for forums) it will autom...ple check a link works if you are unsure :):)

 

[Rhian.a]

thank you very much guys! this evening we are tying to keep hr off the sofa (much to my dismay she looks so sad) but no accidents! she is still rather cross and generally destroying stuff but i can deal with that! i'll get her a proper litter tomorrow xx