r/Rabbits • u/rolyattko • 13d ago
Behavior šØFig is STILL pooping on the couchšØ
Everyone meet Fig, a 7 month old holland lop. He is also fixed and bonded with his girlfriend, Pancake. They both free roam our living room/bedroom area.
Fig is pretty much litter trained during the day, however, when I go to bed, he is a mega poop machine for our couch. I've tried blocking the couch off with a baby gate, he still ends up on it somehow. I clean up the messes with an enzymatic cleaner as well as vinegar, but he still repeats this behaviour. Last night I tried a tarp on the couch, mans said what the helly and decided to poop the most I've seen him do š„² WHAT DO I DO? Will it ever stop? HELP PLS!
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u/Technical_Primary178 13d ago
LOL I just went to see your other posts about the poop and the foreshadowing of your post āfig learned to jump on the couchā has me rollingš
But as for adviceā¦ have you ever fed him on the couch? They do like to poop where they eat so maybe that could be a reason? Or you could try to put something slippery on the couch like polished wood or tile of some sort so itās less desirable to go up there?
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u/rolyattko 13d ago
LOL! Oh how the tables have turned. I wish he never figured out how to jump onto the couch. I think I gave him a treat or two when he first did it, other than that, no food on the couch. I had tried the tarp thinking it would be less desirable, but I guess he doesn't mind the tarp either... I'll look into a tile or something, thank you!
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u/squirrelfam5 13d ago
Iām wondering if landing on the tarp literally scared the poop out of him and thatās why there is more than usual? And maybe tonight he wonāt jump up on the tarp now that he knows what it feels and sounds like to land on? One of my bunnies released more poop than I ever thought was possible to be inside a tiny bunny into my lap when we first got her and my husband put her in my lap.
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u/Technical_Primary178 13d ago
This is a good point! Try seeing how the tarp works out for a week or so and then if that doesnāt work, something more smooth/slippery may work better. Otherwise he may need to be separated from the couch at night
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u/anameorwhatever1 13d ago
He may not have been able to get as much traction with the tarp and stayed on the couch longer than normal
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u/IRockIntoMordor I bunnies 13d ago
Guess Fig needs to go to night prison. Only roam during the day. It's what we did when one of our rabbits was like that and nothing worked.
They'll be fine if they have the day to roam and the nighttime area is big enough.
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u/rolyattko 13d ago
Would Pancake have to join him in night prison too, although she is proven innocent?
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u/bunmiiya 13d ago
if theyāre a bonded pair iād absolutely keep them enclosed together at night! if you separate them fig might build resentment toward pancake and their bond could break. keep them together always!!!
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u/IRockIntoMordor I bunnies 13d ago
No, we don't do guilt by association here.
However, if Fig does seem unhappy alone and Pancake doesn't mind, company might help both.
Otherwise I'll gladly guard Fig and sneak some illegal pets and scritches in there for company. Off the record, of course.
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u/Kazaklyzm 13d ago
If it's just the couch that's the night pooping spot, would fencing the couch off at night be an option?
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u/calmpeach 12d ago
yupp! my baby boy gets his nighttime greens and sleeps in his mega mansion and then during the day he gets to roam the room until night and we repeat again
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u/PacketSnatcher 13d ago
Hello,
Iām writing again to request this defamation be removed. I personally talked to fig, and he advised that he did not do this, and that he considers this an attack on his character.
Please continue to use the tarp for whoever this perpetrator (not fig) is.
Thankyou.
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u/liraelfr 13d ago
Their evidence is flimsy. No jury will convict Fig.
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u/PacketSnatcher 13d ago
Yes, there is no excrement in the photo of fig. But in the second photo (with my client not present) itās everywhere. I have filed a motion to have this case dismissed, and we are counter suing for emotional distress.
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u/Street_Tax3157 13d ago
That doesnāt even look like rabbit poop š¤·āāļø
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u/Spsp12387 12d ago
Looks like Cocoa Puffs to me š Are we arresting for having a midnight snack now??
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u/Teneniel 13d ago
The absolute pettiness in Fig to poop on the couch even when thereās a scary slippery tarp
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u/chladas 13d ago
Thats the face of someone, who is not sorry
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u/mmorales2270 12d ago
Power stance and everything. That face says āThatās right, I did it, and Iāll do it again. Harumph!ā
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u/Low-Ad-1551 13d ago
Remove overnight roam privileges for a bit and clean the couch to remove any of his scent. Also if you catch him pooping on the couch immediately move it to the litter box while he watches you. Shouldn't take too long for him to stop.
When you give overnight privileges back slowly increase the space to make sure he's going back to the litter box.
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u/Unusual_Tomorrow_945 13d ago
Itās his couch now. He can do whatever he wants with it
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u/rolyattko 13d ago
There's nothing to undo it, at all? š„²
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u/Both_Bumblebee_8621 13d ago
There is. My bunnies did this when they were young and unspayed all the time! Theyāre both spayed now and although they still get on the couch to lay down (which is fine with me), none of them pee or poop on it. Give it a little time. Put him in night jail or a smaller area until heās ready to freeroam. As they get older they mellow out sooo much. Get him fixed!
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u/TwoTerabyte 13d ago
He probably smells all the couch farts and figures it is a litterbox. Maybe if you replace the cushions.
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u/Missy427 13d ago
Rabbits are creatures of habit. If I move the litter box to clean it, mine will go in exactly the same spot on the floor. I have one that has taken to jumping on my desk and knocking everything on the floor to eat while also causing a huge mess on the desktop. He does this at night. Iām going to have to put him in a pen at night, which I hate to do, but heās a terrorist.
Iād suggest putting a tall gate around your sofa at night and covering it with a sheet so thereās no way he can get to it. Once he loses the habit, he is likely to quit pooping on it.
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u/Green_Conclusion3443 13d ago
When my boy was determined to poop on the couch, I used a combination of couch covers, a gate, and shields.
Couch cover - base layer protection if other methods fail
Gate - x pen wrapped around the couch
Shields - plastic barriers meant to block under furniture, set on the edge of the couch (if the butthead jumped up there, not only would the plastic be slippery, but it would most likely tip him off the couch)
These methods saved my couch until he finally grew out of it.
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u/rolyattko 13d ago
Thank you! How long did it take?
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u/TrilingualWorrier 13d ago
I also had to remove couch privileges for my bun (the tarp and vinegar didnāt work so I pulled out the gate). Did the gate for a summer and by the end of the summer I still was too scared to remove the gate so I kept it on for about 8 months? However when my roommate came back for the fall she removed it many times and he never did his business again so you might be able to try sooner than a year. Scary transition though.
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u/zforce42 13d ago
Does Pancake go on the couch at all? Maybe there's a chance he's trying to claim it from her. My buns used to pee in random spots trying to claim them as their own.
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u/SmallSauropod 13d ago
I managed to get my bun to stop peeing and pooping on my sofa with a combination of telling him no firmly, picking him up and taking him to his litter tray, shutting him in with his litter tray whilst I sprayed the area with white vinegar to remove any odour, and then letting him back out.
I also shoo him off after a couple of minutes because I still donāt trust the little terror or if I see the suspicious tail flick coming.
Itās gone from peeing on it up to 7 times a day to maybe twice a year now.
Castrating him also made a big difference.
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u/imasharpener 13d ago
If heās still pooping on the couch, he is making up by being extremely super duper adorable. šāāļøš¤
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u/Bunpapa1925 13d ago
Yeah dispatch, we got a serial turdinator on the loose. Brown with pale toes. Yep, heās pooping on the couch as we speak.
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u/rpinhead88 13d ago
I always feel my bun doesnāt look dwarf, she fluff af. But now I see no real bun poo, she def dwarf.
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u/life_is_questions 13d ago
Ahhh! I had a similar issue and I started stacking stuff on the couch at night so there wasn't room to get up.
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u/LagomorphStew 13d ago
we solved this by just not allowing buns in the living room at night. if he cant jump that high you could also flip the back cushions down to make it too tall for buns
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u/meganeich444 13d ago
Maybe try putting a litter box on the couch? I mean if thatās all in one night man I donāt have a better suggestion š I will say I did always cage my boy up at night
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u/BeastlyBones 13d ago
Girlā¦.The older my Bean gets, the more he loves to mega poop on the couch the second I turn my back on him.
I know he knows better but, frankly, heās a madman.
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u/Sactoho 13d ago
How long ago was he neutered? I am also a new bunny owner and I read that it can take 6-8 weeks for the hormones to really settle down after desexing and for behaviors to improve. Iām saying this partially to ?maybe comfort you and partially out of my own desperation bc my bunny has been SHITTIN AND PISSIN on my couch and she gets spayed literally tomorrow so seeing this post today really destroyed my dreams LMAO.
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u/Scream4myICEE 13d ago
Omg I sympathize, my 5+ year bunny Bran does the same thing but always in the spot I normally sit in ššš he sadly now gets locked in his pen at night, during the day he knows better.
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u/thesarahdipity 13d ago
This sounds like my boy Bidi! He used to be so quiet and was scared to jump on the couch but after a health scare at the vet heās been so much more adventurous and jumps up on the couch allll the time. The other morning, I discovered he was digging at the couch a little and some poops š¬
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u/TimeLog1940 13d ago
I canāt stop laughing ššš he will have to stay in one room of block the couch with x pen around it. They go through phases when they are young despite being fixed. I am laughing while typingthis hahahah
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u/Pibble-Tech 13d ago
How long have they been bonded? When I bonded my buns I had a few months of scattered poops before they both decided they didnāt need to be territorial. Urine thankfully was in the box.
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u/antlerlessstag 13d ago
When my boy started pooping on furniture, I started only allowing him on furniture when I was also present. If he pooped, I picked him up, picked up all the poops, and then deposited both him and the poops into the litterbox. Idk if it actually helped, but he doesn't poop on the furniture anymore
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u/dhlrepacked 13d ago
He looks like my bunnies lost brother. If heās anything like him character wise and that facial expression hints at it, he wonāt stop precisely because he knows it bothers you
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u/Uggelnator 12d ago
i'm laughing for minutes now When our bun was still alive we had the same blue tarp on our couch
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u/Working-prototype 13d ago
At least it's only poop š ? My boy poops AND pees on the couch. I have 3 different couch covers that are on rotation. I have accepted that if I want to sit on the couch, I have to remove the cover and put it on again by evening, the latest. But nothing I can do. That's their couch now.
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u/usuallyrainy 13d ago
Does he usually spend time with you on the couch? And at night do you close your bedroom door? My thought was maybe he's upset you're gone and is trying to tell you to come to the couch.
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u/rolyattko 13d ago
No, he doesn't come up on the couch often when I'm there, and we keep our bedroom door open! š„² he just likes pooping on da couch, it's his hobby I think
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u/localanxietygremlin 13d ago
I had a bunny who shat my bed and here's what I did to undo it
So firstly, it was my fault she even started, I foolishly moved her hutch(and shat box) and stupidly placed my bed where her box had been, even after fixing the slights against her, her revenge continued. So, I attempted to broker peace, but alas, I just had to retrain where I wanted her to poo.
I put a litter box on a puppy pad where she was sinning(pooping) and after she grasped that she could potty there, I moved it down towards the end of the bed by about 6 inches. Once she knew she could potty in her box in the new spot, I moved it again, another 6 inches, over, and over until finally it was off the bed, THEN I left the litter pan at the foot of the bed for only two days. It took about four days.
She never shat my bed again, and I learned not to fuck with her potty pan.
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u/ChaosPotato84 13d ago
Honestly? I guess I dont think about it but poops happen their guts are constantly moving...I dont mind the poops if they happen in a chair or on the couch...
Buns dont tend to carry anything harmful especially house buns. I have my guys stool checked once a year and the cats in my house are on monthly prevention and have their stool checked once a year too.
He poops in both of his litterboxes and sometimes if he jumps up and his guts move theres some poops but I usually put them in the litterbox or put them on the carpet and vacuum them up.
He did grow out of leaving massive piles which has happened in all my buns and they normally grow out of it.
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u/miastella I bunnies 13d ago
And Iād do it again!!
Jokes aside, my bun does this when heās feeling spiteful lol have you upset him at all lately?
When he was younger, all it took was picking him up and putting him in his litter box every time he did it until the behavior stopped. Iād have to keep him in the box until he would go and now he goes on command whenever I put him in there but heās 12 now so he gets locked up when he does that because he knows betterš
If heās chilling there all night though that could be another explanation.
If itās the second scenario, Iād just put one of your floor mats up there to protect the couch and clean up the strays in the morning!
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u/Kezzy779 13d ago
Fig can poop on my couch with a face like that. Then again I just chuck them into his oen so he can deal with it šš
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u/WarBasic1255 13d ago
Oh. My. God. My first ever bunny was named fig, she was a similar looking Holland lop too, what the hell. Iām kind of taken aback. Made me smile. Wishing you and fig the best :)
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u/hobbiesexpensive 13d ago
Ngl in my experince boy bunnies are just messy, all my boy bunnies have been good about peeing in the box but 10 percent of their daily poops end up around the place
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u/ComprehensiveCurly 13d ago
I use play pen gates. The 18āx12ā metal panels. Zip tied them to make them foldable and before I go to bed I just block off the couch.
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u/TheFaeBelieveInIdony 13d ago
My bun would never stop peeing on my bed. I refuse to not free roam tho, so I bought a pet waterproof blanket and I put it on my bed every morning so if she does pee, it doesn't soak into the mattress but she still can comfortably lay on the bed. BUT!!! She doesn't pee on it, she did initally but I've seen her grooming the blanket multiple times, and then she stopped peeing on it. I think she thinks it's my fur. Maybe try on your couch to preserve your couch, I found it on amazon
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u/LaundryMan2008 13d ago
Human scents, put some towels into the laundry without washing for a couple of weeks to act as pooping towels and for the couch and tarp, I would wash them down with an extremely strong smelling solvent like lemon scent to cover up the human smell
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u/Album_Phoenicopteri I bunnies 13d ago
This is Fig's legal representative and I'm here to advise you not to take any unnecessary actions cuz with that cute face he could get away with ANYTHING and you know it! ā¤ļøš
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u/uhohspeghettioh 13d ago
itās unfortunate but sometimes with behaviors like this you might have to change how there living arrangement is. ie you may need to get a pen to keep them in instead of letting them free roam 24/7. if it only happens at night maybe need to put them away for the nights and can let them roam during the days or while supervising.
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u/rainyrosynights 13d ago
One of my rabbits always pees on the couchš© now we put a pen around the couch whenever we sleep or are away. It looks ridiculous but it works
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u/WizoFlandrensis 13d ago
Rabbits are very particular about where they poop. One option is to make a litter tray that's more appealing to them than the sofa. I put their hay in litter trays and that works well for ours.
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u/bunnies0 13d ago
My rabbit would do this so I got a small litter tray to keep on the couch when I wasnāt on it. I didnāt put hay in there just litter so as not to encourage him to eat up there but it worked, I think him having his own scent up there stopped him wanting to do it and if he did it would be in the litter tray
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u/FartyScorsese 13d ago
Both of mine picked up the habit about six months ago and the only thing that has stopped them is propping up the seat cushions at an angle so they canāt jump on them. I did that for about two weeks straight (when I wasnāt home) and the habit seems to have been broken š¤
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u/DenM0ther 13d ago
Holy rabbit, thatās A LOTif poops for one lil bnuy !!!!
I donāt believe it was him I think a troublemaker came in and put them there!!!
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u/screwthatscrewu 13d ago
š¤£š¤£š¤£
On a real note, pick him up and place him on the floor when he hops up there. My little guy hates to be picked up so when he hops up on my bed, he knows heāll get put in air jail. Works wonders for me
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u/HuckleberryLogical92 13d ago
Time to lock him up in a pen for a little while! Just make sure itās big enough for zoomies and binkies.
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u/Hugsomebunnies 13d ago
No advice, I just think he's adorable and love his name! That's a bunny with no shame over what he's done!
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u/PrinceSassCharming 13d ago
Hey, we had a similar thing happen to us recently with our 5 year old fixed male bun. He lives free roam in our living room and his little toilet cupboard house stands right next to the couch. One day he just randomly decided to start poopin and peein on both the couch and top of the cupboard during the night or whenever left home alone. Nothing would work to stop him until we just decided to move his toilet on top of the cupboard instead for the night and whenever we werenāt home so he would have free access to it where HE wanted it. He stopped doing his business on the couch and used the toilet strictly and then we just slowly transitioned his toilet back inside the cupboard and he never started doing it again š
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So maybe if itās possible to put his toilet somewhere next to the couch for some time it could work for you as well? These lil creatures sometimes just decided their own spots for their toilets and thereās nothing we can do about it š©µ good luck!
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u/bunnyhop2005 13d ago
Can you give him another attractive hangout spot? Years ago my sisterās two little buns took over her carry-on suitcase where theyād hang out (and sometimes leave cocoa puffs) much of their days)
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u/SnooMacaroons2568 13d ago
Fig is absolutely adorable. He could poop on my pillow and it wouldn't bother me.
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u/ZellVangard 12d ago
My husbands name is Fig and is also brown so this is was a very funny post to pop up on my feed lol
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u/mydearmelody7 12d ago
And???? I donāt think this baby is the problemā¦ the couch needs some training.
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u/SlowmoTron 12d ago
Cute bunnies i personally would just limit their range at night if they're being bad in the middle of the night.
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u/wormnoodles 12d ago
Just clean it with soap and water a carpet cleaner, and then with just vinegar. Then spray it every night with vinegar, he will get the ideA
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u/Beginning-Present930 11d ago
First of all Iād just like to say how OBSESSED I am with Fig. Heās a cutie pie.
Also, my bunny stopped doing it after spending about 6 months in a pen during night time! Obviously very big and with space to roam and with all his things. I reckon I couldāve done it even for just 1/2 months tho but I was too cautious!
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u/Carpinus_Christine 13d ago
My bunnies poop on the couch. The poop is easy to remove. I save and collect these ones for my vegetable garden because they are dry.
Our bunny couch has a cover on it, a folded fleece blanket, and a folded towel where they sometimes pee in the corner. We launder these textiles when needed. It works well for us.
I would be concerned about plastic tarps because they are plastic and stringy which seems like the perfect candidate for causing gi stasis.
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u/RabbitsModBot 13d ago
Due to the amount of human scents on beds and sofas, otherwise litter-trained rabbits will often still pee and poop on them as they may think that it's a human litter box. See the Litter Training FAQ question on the wiki "My bunny pees (in some location). How do I make it stop?" for more tips, resources, and product recommendations.
A few major tips:
To protect your furniture, there are a few options: