Tips on keeping bunny dry?

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KieranKD

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Hey all! So recently my rabbit has been having some pretty serious health issues (that we've been to a vet for and are on medication) and I'm trying to keep him as low stress as possible while he recovers. The problem is, he's a very messy boy. I'm not sure if his litterbox habits are a result of him being unfixed or if he's just messy in general but he uses the litterbox.... and also uses everything else. He's always been like this even before the medical issues, but he was keeping himself clean before and now he's not and hasn't been since he got ear mites a few months ago, I assume because he's unwell. His poor butt is absolutely raw and while I'm doing my best to keep him comfy, he's always wet because he actively soils his pen and then chooses sit on it and smush the waste into little patties with his butt.

He was in a solid pan dog kennel in which he pooped in but mostly kept his pee in the litterpan. He's moved to an xp pen during recovery that's bedding is fleece and he's now peeing and pooing everywhere. His fleece is changed every single day but the point remains, he's still getting very soiled and there's no way to keep him unsoiled unless I were to change his fleece every hour on the hour, that's how much he's soiling the fleece.

Does anyone have any suggestions to help keep him more dry and less soiled? I was honestly thinking something like horse pine pellets but I was hoping there was maybe a less messy alternative that wouldn't end up all over my room and still keep him dry and out of needing to have bum baths on top of being given medication and jabs everyday. I was also considering about buying some kind of grate and letting him live on grate with a resting board, but I'm unsure if this is a good idea. I know for a fact he would just soil the resting board and then still sit in the waste on the resting board, which I don't think would help the situation at all.
 
Rabbits usually like to pee on soft things. Could you change to flooring to something like textured vinyl flooring. If he won't chew at it, you could even try a tarp instead of the fleece. But if those options don't work, I've used disposable puppy pee pads to line the floor for a disabled bun I had. For litter boxes, wood pellets work really well at keeping the urine drained away from the rabbits bottom, and are good at odor control and absorption.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html
https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Litter_training
If his bum isn't just getting wet from sitting in the pee puddles, but that he is actually incontinent and dribbling urine, you'll need to get your vet to check him for a UTI and/or bladder sludge, and get the appropriate treatment for whichever the cause of the incontinence is.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Urinary_tract_infection
 
I’m sorry your bunny is going through this. Im thinking maybe you could make a bigger “litter box” for him to lessen the mess and cleaning. I’ve seen people use long plastic storage bins like the kind that are for under-the-bed storage. Line it with puppy pads and fill it with paper bedding to help absorb everything and stay soft. And maybe placing it where he’s making the most patties.
I’m not sure what his other health issues are but I know that my unfixed male would soil fleece like crazy if I put it in front of him so maybe a smaller amount of fleece would help encourage him to go to the big litter box too.

Apologies if this is not helpful. Just trying to get creative and think of ways that would be less mess/stress for you and the bunny.
 
If having everything soft is not a priority (I thought it might be for whatever issues he has), then wood pellets as mentioned by others, would be good. And a grate on top to keep him out of everything. I made my litter box grates out of plastic louver/ ceiling panels from Home Depot. You can get a big sheet to cut to the size of the storage container I mentioned.
 

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