What to do with a Smelly Rabbit

The smelliest part of a rabbit is their urine. The smell can get unpleasant and can fill up a living space. To prevent your rabbit from smelling, make sure to keep their living space and litter box clean. You may not be bothered by the smell but, the people around you will notice. What should you do to get rid of the smell?

My favorite smell neutralizer is vinegar. Vinegar works wonders in removing the smell of rabbit urine. Here are a few tips to remove urine smell from your rabbit's (or your own) belongings: 

1. Soak their litter box

After removing the soiled wood shavings, soak your rabbit's litter box in vinegar for a few minutes. Cover the bottom of the litter box with vinegar. The more the litter box smells, the longer you should let the vinegar soak. The vinegar will break down any pieces stuck to the litter box while removing the smell. 

After the soak, dump out the vinegar and scrape off any waste left on the litter box. Then rinse the litter box with water. Make sure the litter box is dry before placing any wood shavings or absorbent paper pellets. 

2. Soak and wash their blankets or sheets

Ollie is the messiest rabbit. He uses the litter box but he also urinates on his sheets. Sometimes Nightshade does the same. It's not a pleasant smell and it sticks to the sheets even after I wash them. In order to remove the smell from  their sheets, I put vinegar as well as soap in the washer. This doesn't remove the smell completely but, the smell is less noticeable. 

To remove the smell completely, let the sheets/blankets soak in vinegar. Some washers have a soak setting and it really comes in handy. I put at least 1 cup of vinegar for sheets/blankets. Fabrics hold onto smells a lot more than plastic litter boxes. 

What if you cleaned all their belongings but, your rabbit is the one who smells? 

Rabbits themselves don't always smell. They like to clean themselves and keep themselves clean. Even their droppings don't smell so bad! Because rabbits love to clean themselves, they don't need an occasional bath like dogs. But, sometimes rabbits do get smelly.

Rabbits have scent glands. They have some under their chin and either side of their rectum. The scent glands under their chin are used to mark their territory. These glands generally stay clean but can become inflamed. If this happens take your rabbit to the vet.

The scent glands by your rabbit's rectum can hold a build up of wax causing your rabbit to smell. You do not need to give your rabbit a bath. Bathing your rabbit is not necessary unless your rabbit is covered in gunk from head to toe. There is an alternative way to cleaning your rabbit's scent glands. 

The video below displays how to clean your rabbit's scent glands. 

The next video provides some important and helpful tips for cleaning your rabbit's scent glands. The video is a bit longer but, it provides a different perspective of the same steps from the video above.