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About Lee Meyer (Mr.)
Expertise
I have 5+ years of experience with House Rabbits, rescue groups, and working with shelter rabbits. I do educational talks about house rabbits. I advise potential adopters, supervise bunny 'dates', fundraising/educational rabbit events, and help rabbit owners with their rabbits. I will answer questions about: general behaviors, body language, housing, toys, bunny-proofing, diet, spaying/neutering issues, nail clips, preventative measures, diet, and health questions. I will not discuss: anything that deals with rabbits for fur, food, factory-style breeding, deliberate or casual breeding by pet owners, or experimentation.

My focus is solely on rabbits as loved pets. It's why I'm a House Rabbit Society member rather than an ARBA member. If you don't view your rabbit the same way you would a pet dog or cat, please ask another expert your question.

I am not a veterinarian and cannot conclusively diagnose your rabbit. My advice does not take the place of a good rabbit vet. IF YOU THINK THERE'S A PROBLEM, DON'T WAIT FOR A REPLY, GET TO A VET IMMEDIATELY!!! Sometimes what appears to be a small problem is life-threatening.

The House Rabbit Society has references on their site for vets they have researched. There are US and international links here for vets all over the world with rabbit experience: www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

I recommend the following resources to all rabbit owners:

House Rabbit Society - online rabbit info (www.rabbit.org)
Book: Rabbit Health in the 21st Century 2nd Ed. by Kathy Smith
Book: House Rabbit Handbook 4th Ed. by Marinell Harriman

Experience
House Rabbit Member since 2004 Discover Your House Rabbit organizer - 2006 Rabbit Adopter since 2004 HAWS Board of Education member (rabbits) since 2005 HAWS Rabbit Volunteer since 2004

Organizations
National House Rabbit Society, Wisconsin House Rabbit Society, Humane Animal Welfare Society (HAWS), Education Board Member for Rabbits, Friends of HAWS

Education/Credentials
BSEE, MSEE (Electrical/Computer Engineering), Marquette University

You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Veterinary Medicine > Rabbits > irregular bunny peeing

Rabbits - irregular bunny peeing

Expert: Lee Meyer (Mr.) - 11/24/2009

Question
My one year old bunny is super well liter trained, so much so that I leave her out of her cage most of the day and night, and recently has started sleeping on my bed with me. Two days ago I noticed her peeing habits have changed. The past two mornings while snuggling in bed with me she has peed, I put her in her cage immediately after this. Today I noticed that in addition to peeing in her litter box she peed in a corner of her cage, which she has not done since before being litter trained. She is not neutered, but I plan on getting her neutred next time I go home (Im at college), not sure if this matters or not. But I am leaving to go back home (to a different state) and leaving her with a friend. Should I be worried about these irregular pees ?

Answer
Hi,

as you describe them, I would not worry about them too much. For rabbits that enjoy snuggling with their owners like you do, it isn't very uncommon for them to be so comfortable and relaxed that they just pee right where they are. Happens with my mom's rabbits often. However your rabbit may possibly give you an indictation that they need to go or are about ready to, by getting a little restless or moving a bit, so if you gently just place them back into their house or wherever a litterpan is, they can go there. It wasn't a mean or sassy thing on their part, they are just so relaxed and happy to be snuggling with 'the alpha bunny'.

I would be very concerned about leaving her with a friend if that friend does not know rabbits well. Extremely concerned, because they will not pick up on if your rabbit has a problem the way you will. If they think they can sit on a problem and expect it to pass like a dog or cat, your bunny could wind up dead if it has an emergency and stops eating, etc.

I would also make sure the vet who spays her (females are spayed, males are neutered) is an excellent rabbit vet that has a high success rate ( > 99% for all rabbit operations) and does spays at least once a week if not more. I would seriously look up a good rabbit vet here if you have not already found one:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

to find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you. Your gal will need post op antibiotics, and pain meds like metacam for 3-5 days afterwards to keep post op infection down and keep her pain down so she feels like moving and eating. If she doesn't eat or drink the gut shuts down and she could die quickly, that is why pain MUST be managed in rabbits after surgeries by pain meds (ie metacam).

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