

Pee

I always have some help resquests from desperate humans because their bunnies don't pee in the right place.
It is necessary to understand some things about pee, mainly because it is common for animals to mark territory using their urine, this means that 80% of the time we pee outside the site we do it because we are marking that place as ours and yes, when we do it in above you or on your sofa or even in your bed, that is the message we are giving you, that is now ours!
When the bunny does not pee on the spot you need to understand why this happens, the Litterbox must be a place large enough for the bunny to be able to take a complete turn on himself without touching any side, it should not be too high or the bunny can not get in and should have there own pellets for animals (no sand for cat and please do not use the heating, these pellets are made of pine and the pine is very toxic to us, when we pee on it he releases some "chemicals" specific to wood that are toxic to us and that in the long run will do us very bad. Always choose pellets suitable for animals that are not made of pine, if you want see here more about it), hay or even newspaper, you just have to be careful to the bunnies that like to gnaw, not to eat it.
For them not to be in direct contact with the pee, you can put a perforated rubber mat or a plastic grid on litterbox base, but be careful, choose a net that is comfortable for the paws, or they will end up forming Pododermatites ( see here what it is), the end of the day you can take the poops and throw the trash and is pretty clean the litterbox, when you do the general cleaning of their room can enjoy and wash the rubber mat to stay pretty clean.
Whenever you clean the litterbox, don't forget to leave either the "dirty" carpet or the remains of the pellets with pee, we are guided by the smell, when we go to the toilet, we go because our smell is there and we know it's there if you clean up everything and take our scent there, we were unsure of where to pee and we will make another site whatsoever.
When the bunny insists on doing it in a certain place, they can enjoy it and put a litterbox there, so for the next one it will be done in the place, you can cleaning the pee with an absorbent paper and put it in the litterbox, the smell will help the bunny to understand that there is a place to pee.
When we don't want the bunny to pee in a place, we can use vinegar, you humans know that there are several types of vinegar don't you? Here the trick is to understand which one your bunny doesn't really like and when you go to clean the pee, put a lot of vinegar on it and let it stay for a few minutes , then wipe with a cloth or paper to absorb it, return to put vinegar and let it dry air not passing water or other detergents.
I also see a lot of humans complaining that we pee on the blanket or on our bed, humans , remember what I said up there? Scoring, we are scoring what is ours, I know that maybe it makes you confused , but that is how we are, when you see this you will not run to remove the blanket or the bed (even because if they do it and they will put another wash , you already know what happens), let it stay and observe only, if we do it again or not, if it happens again and then become the Wc, take it off, but if it is only one or two pee then let it be.
Then at about 3 or 4 months entered puberty, as you humans in adolescence also we were with hormones a little out of control and begin to want to mark it, is when we truly get the pee everywhere, pee jet, pee in bed, pee on the floor, pee on the couch, pee on the human, pee everywhere, this is where I have to tell you that it only calms down with neuter/spay, we were made to reproduce, to mark territory and get to have a large community, so when we reach the age we started wanting to mark everything, if we were in nature it was now that we would challenge the older rabbits to be us to rule everything, but as we are not, we challenge you , so neuter/spay is very important so that we don't always get this anxiety (also in terms of health as I speak here ), after the surgery you will see how much calmer we are in all aspects.
Another problem, less common, but it is also important to talk about is the issue of health, the bunny may be the pee out of place for health reasons and here we need to understand what is going on , if it is something that arises suddenly can be E.cuniculi (see here ) and if so a visit to the emergency veterinarian is what should be done, if the urine is changing colors it is also important to visit the veterinarian, Urinary Calculi and bladder problems help that the bunnies end up having pain while peeing and so they do it anywhere , another possibility is that the bunny has some problem in his paws or arthritis and is unable to climb to the litterbox, (in this case you can get a litterbox that is short or even just a guard on the floor), just like you too, we may have diabetes and not be able to get to the litterbox in time, but only the veterinarian with medication can control this .
One way to encourage your bunny to pee in the litterbox more often is whenever he goes there you give a treat , a cookie, a thin slice of carrot, a little banana, a dandelion root, a a little bit of parsley, etc. try to vary it so that it’s not always the same thing and as he goes there doing it more often you can gradually start replacing the treat with treats and parties.
Now that you understand a little more about how our pee works and what it is for, you already know how to fight, even if in the last case you put litterbox in strategic points of your house so that there is never room to go to pee where we should n't .
