Help with Litter Training Please

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Minnow

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Location
Kakabeka Falls, Ontario, Canada
I just got a 1.5 yerar old Holland Lop that was supposed to be litter trained. For the first two days I kept him temporarly in a large dog crate with a solid bottom and made a tempoary litter pan out of a box with wood pellet litter. So he was using it for pee, but pills were still spread around and he did pee once on the dog's bed while out of the cage. (we let him free roam in the evenings in the rec room while we are in there).

Anyways, a I found a really nice bunny cage but it has a wire floor :(. So ever since I moved him into his new cage (2 days) and started to use a plastic (dish pan style) litter box he is no longer using the litter box but peeing through the wire floor (although it does seem to be in the same spot).

I put some newspaper around so he has resting spots off the wire. And this morning I moved his litter box to the spot he was peeing through, so hopefully he will use it.

I don't want to mess around with his cage any more to cause any more stress. But I have another pan that I was going to put in there tonight and see if he want two. One for sleeeping and hone for litter. Maybe that will help? Should I just put a bunch of hay over his litter? Would that help?

Thanks
 
Here's the idea: Stick some hay in the litter box. This will encourage Minnow to go in the litter box. Mainly just because they go while they eat and he'll get used to it. Also, bunnies 99 percent of the time pick a corner where they want to go. Put the litter in that corner. As a general rule, its harder to litter train a bunnny on wire. If i were you, I'd just scrap it with a litter box and let the droppings go through the wire. For many years that how we've done it with our bunnies. Consider putting a carpet square in the cage for the bunny to keep from getting sore hocks and as a resting spot. Just doing stick it in the corner where he goes potty. ALSO, if you are using a litter box, I would always leave some droppings in the box when you clean it. Even a papertowel with some pee on it, so they smell that that's where to go.
 
Thanks for your reply. He is using the litter box for the most part but is still having at least one pee a day outside of it, perhaps 'over the side'. The litter box is large enough for him, and I have put an additional 'sleeping box' in there that he just hangs out in. He also has a resting board to get off of the wire and gets let out for a few hous every day. I also add hay too.

I think that it's weird that he is going on the side of the cage too and not right in the corner. So I put the box where he was going but still he has a pee over the edge.

Would be lining the bottom of the cage with newspaper help since he will notice the pee? I'm open to getting another cage but this one is very nice.

Thanks
Chantal and Minnow :)
 
Is the cage you got perhaps used? If it is, I'm wondering if he can smell the other rabbit and is marking his cage (spraying the sides). Is he neutered? If he's not, he's going to be more territorial.

Another thought is perhaps the litter box you got doesn't have high enough sides, so, as you stated, he's going over the side. Gus used to do this in his high-backed corner pan (he used it sideways!) until we got him a full-sized cat box. If the box is tall enough, could you be putting too much pellets into it? When the pellets swell, they take up a lot of space! Dunno how much you put in, but when we clean his litter box we only put in enough pelletsto cover the bottom.

Definitely moving the box to the spot where he's peeing and adding hay will help. It could just be a case of him getting into the habit of using the new pan in the new cage.

Hope that helps!

Rue
 
Thank-you very much. I think, as you said the sides are not high enough---and I'm putting way too much pellets in to it. I just didn't realize. Because he is trying and just going over the side and he is not spraying at all. I know where there is another litter box so I'll try that. Thanks!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top