How to keep house rabbits off furniture?
Aunt Anna
often climbs up on the futon when we aren't looking and relieves herself.
Last night when I turned my back for 12 seconds she climbed up there and
left 60 doots and about a gallon of urine. The futon has a waterproof pad
on it, covered by an old quilt, so damage isn't the issue, but I'm TIRED
of laundering the quilt and barricading my furniture with boxes to block
her access.
We want her to continue to have run of the house, like her well-behaved
mate, but she's on the verge of losing her privileges. How can we train
her to STAY OFF the futon once and for all and ONLY "go" in her litter
box?
bo peep
> How can we train
> her to STAY OFF the futon once and for all
Cover it with heavy weight slick plastic. Rabbits *hate* slippery
surfaces. Home Depot sells it as carpet protectors.
Aunt Anna
news:49624c44$0$585$c5fe...@reader.usenet4all.se:
I should add that we don't want to cover our furniture any more than we
want to barricade it.
bunw...@gmail.com
we have oak polished floor boards, no carpets or rugs, they climb the
polished wooden stairs, jump on and off furniture and jump onto
slippery wooden dining chairs and on to the table, I must have freaky
bunnies :0)
All my other bunnies before these hadn't been very keen to walk on
slippery floors though, let alone jump, I wonder why some are put off
and some aren't.
You would think all bunnies would hate slippery surfaces seeing as
they don't have pads on their feet like cats and dogs it must feel
very unsteady and unatural to walk on? Indigo went through a phase of
peeing on the couch, but she only ever did it exactley where the cat
had last lay, the only way I stopped her was to watch her very
carefully and say a loud sharp "NO" when she jumped up and she knew
what no meant anyway and she used to jump straight down and didn't
pee. Eventually if she even looked like she might jump I would say
"You just dare!" and she would do a bees in the head and binky off
like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, :0) anyway she just didn't
bother anymore. Then a few months later she tried the whole thing all
over again on MY bed, just where the cat had been laying again, this
time I just kept the bedroom door shut!
I am not sure there is an easy answer, you can but try, sigh!
I have heard if you spray the fabric with Febreze or diluted vanilla
extract or similar, that can help.
Love, Paige, Sirius Lee and Indigo
Arlette + Heavenly Cocoa & Brownie
When you're trying to change bunny behaviour, I've found it helpful to try
to get inside their little minds and think like a rabbit. I had noted long
ago that most rabbits dislike unsure footing, so when I wanted to keep
rabbits off the furniture, I used slipper poly plastic like trash bags, or
clear vapour barrier type plastic (looks nicer) that I put on the couch.
When my boy Cocoa jumped up there, he hated the slipper feeling, so he would
avoid it...after a few weeks, I could remove the plastic. As long as he
didn't realize the plastic was gone and try jumping up again, we were good
for a long while.
The other deterrent that worked for me was sticky packing tape. Cocoa hated
it when his whiskers would stick on it, so avoided it like the plague. I'm
not sure if you could use that in this situation, but just fyi for future
ones. Mind you, there is the odd rabbit who enjoys chewing the tape. LOL So,
make sure your's isn't one of them.
Let us know how things go!
--
God Bless,
Arlette, Cocoa & Brownie in heaven (See us here)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11393346@N02/
Need a vet? Click here <http://www.rabbitvet.net>
For Cocoa's body sling vids Click here
<http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=cocoa3c>
A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal,
But even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.
Proverbs 12:10
CPM Systems
https://sites.google.com/view/furnituremanufacturers/