How to stop my male rabbit from peeing on my female rabbit?

Question

I have two rabbits, a small male and a larger female. Both are not neutered. There doesn't seem to be any huge conflicts between the two of them, although my female rabbit will often run away when my male rabbit tries to get too close or starts sniffing her butt. The big problem, however, is that my male rabbit is constantly peeing on my female rabbit. She's a white bunny, so her fur stains terribly and it's now almost completely yellow. I give her baths, but it doesn't help because he always just pees on her again.

I don't want to separate them because we keep them in the yard in the mornings and putting up a fence would be a major hassle. I also want to encourage them to be friends. How do I get him to stop peeing on her and is there anything I can do to help them become better bunny friends?

Answer 1

oo this isn't a good idea to keep them both together. For one thing you are risking her getting pregnant. This would cause you even more problems !! Wanting them to stay as
"friends" is impossible with 2 un-altered rabbits, the female can be pregnant with 2 litters at the same time ! I would seriously reconsider having them together. They can be just as happy having their own play time, + lots of attention from you. They love human company over another rabbit's. Unless they are bonded + in your case, they aren't + it isn't neccessary right now.

All non-neutered males spay/pee on females to mark them as if to say they are his rabbit harem. Have their cages separated a fair distance so maybe he won't be able to do it. But I think because their sense of smell is so sensitive, he will probably smell her in the room anyway.

The only thing you can do is to have him neutered, this will no doubt stop the peeing. But dont let them be together until one whole month has past (after the operation) because his sperm is active until then. After this, your male shouldn't be marking. and best of all, your female won't get pregnant. Neutering/spaying your rabbits will prevent them from getting fatal diseases such as Cancer.

for added measure, put plastic against your walls + furniture to prevent spray from getting on them too.

Answer 2

I have been raising and showing rabbits for 25 years. First and foremost you need to separate your rabbits. If you are keeping them together you are lucky that the male peeing on the female is currently the worst of your problems. The male constantly running after the female can cause both rabbits to lose weight and get sore hocks. Not to mention that the two rabbits can end up fighting, chewing fur, biting, chewing holes in each others ears, biting tails off. That's a list of some of the things I've seen happen to rabbits that are left together that shouldn't be. Then of course you have the possibility of the doe having a litter and since the male and female are together all of the time there is no definite time table as to know when the female is going to have her babies.

As for the peeing thing, that is not so much of a thing where the male is exerting its dominance. It is more of a genetic trait that is passed down from rabbit to rabbit. Most good rabbit breeders that show rabbits will not keep a male rabbit that pees all over the place like that because the males out of him will do the same thing. My herd of rabbits doesn't pee like that and if I do come across one that does that I never keep it for a herd buck. I've seen other people's herds of rabbits where basically every one of their male rabbits does that. I came across a rabbit like that this past weekend that was a really good show rabbit in our herd. But the rabbit won't get kept just because of that trait. Once you get that trait in the herd it is difficult to almost impossible to breed it out. My advice is to separate them and put a solid divider between the two rabbits. You'll probably notice the male getting dirty then because the male will pee on the wall, then will rub up against the wall and get himself dirty.

So at the very minimum separate them and don't use that buck to raise rabbits with. You'll only be making that problem worse by raising rabbits with that same peeing trait.

Answer 3

This is a sign of dominance on the part of the male. There is not a lot that you can do about it. The male is showing her that he is the boss and also he is marking her so that any other males might be discouraged from trying to mate with her. The only thing that you can do is separate them . Don't attach your emotions to those of animals. You are thinking that they need to be friends and that is not always the case.

Answer 4

Getting him neutered would help a lot with the spraying.. For health reasons, it would probably be best to get them both spayed/neutered.. If you can't afford that, neutering him would probably be cheaper and would more then likely fix your problem in a few months..

Answer 5

i imagine a visit to the vets I had an somewhat sparkling male houserabbit then he began leaking urine, he looked sick one morn, after I were given to vets it were a bladder stone and it had moved down and were given stuck in his penis, too previous due and not in any respect something will be accomplished, changed into PTS so please a minimum of get him looked at................

Answer 6

Get him castrated, that will stop it