Parents want me to rehome my bunny.

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newworld191

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I have had my rabbit for around 2 years now. I went to the Topsfield fair in MA and purchased a polish dwarf rabbit female around that time. My bunny, lives in my bedroom. I got her a nice size cage and blankets to prevent her feet from getting hurt. Everything was going nicely, but then she began producing a lot more urine and feces. I think she had been doing the same amount, but I began to notice it more often, due to the smell. I had a grate in the cage, so the spots that weren’t covered by blanket, the poop would fall below, this should have made the nightly cleanup process easy, but no.

My mother is very focused on maintaining top notch room cleanliness. She comes in with a vacuum and proceeds to vacuum the entire room, every night. The entire clean up procedure takes around 20 minutes at a minimum. Regardless, the smell is what has driven my parents (largely my mother) to put her foot down and demand we “rehome” the rabbit. However, she hasn’t yet followed through with her saddening plan. I have scoured the web looking for any sort of way to reduce the odor, but to no avail. My parents have also prohibited the spay/neuter surgery, due to the cost (which isn’t much) the hassle, and the possibility “something could go wrong”

But, I have faith.

I look to the community of rabbit experts to possibly offer up some “solution”. Maybe you know a way to reduce the odor? A way to help me convince my mother? (Doubt it) regardless, in my times of need, I turn to you, experts.

I’ll be monitoring this thread for responses regularly.
 
Hello, and welcome!

So, I’m going to take a guess and say that your bun is /probably/ not litter trained? I they’re not litter trained that’s the first thing I would work on! Just google litter training rabbits and you’ll get a lot of information :)

Secondly, I live in a legitimate tiny house on wheels with my bun...and have people constantly amazed that I have a bunny but they can’t smell him. He’s so odorless because he’s a) litter trained and b) we use a combination of pine pellets for horse stalls covered with his daily hay. I then empty this every four or so ish days, it really just depends on when it gets full... it never smells. Maybe you can try something like that out? I know it works super well for us!
 
Hello, and welcome!

So, I’m going to take a guess and say that your bun is /probably/ not litter trained? I they’re not litter trained that’s the first thing I would work on! Just google litter training rabbits and you’ll get a lot of information :)

Secondly, I live in a legitimate tiny house on wheels with my bun...and have people constantly amazed that I have a bunny but they can’t smell him. He’s so odorless because he’s a) litter trained and b) we use a combination of pine pellets for horse stalls covered with his daily hay. I then empty this every four or so ish days, it really just depends on when it gets full... it never smells. Maybe you can try something like that out? I know it works super well for us!

Thanks for the input! I will definitely look into the litter training! (Just don’t want it to make a huge mess)
 
Thanks for the input! I will definitely look into the litter training! (Just don’t want it to make a huge mess)

Litter training would CONTAIN the mess, not the other way around [emoji3526]. Just make sure to use the pine stall pellets with their hay on top [emoji3526]. Totally takes away all the smell!
 
Litter training would CONTAIN the mess, not the other way around [emoji3526]. Just make sure to use the pine stall pellets with their hay on top [emoji3526]. Totally takes away all the smell!

My rabbits cage is pretty small, and I have a litter box of sorts (no sides to it) nothing is ever really in it, but my rabbit knocks it over, I don’t want that to open with actual litter in it (double the mess)
 
My rabbits cage is pretty small, and I have a litter box of sorts (no sides to it) nothing is ever really in it, but my rabbit knocks it over, I don’t want that to open with actual litter in it (double the mess)

How small is small? Minimum cage size for any bunny is 16 square feet [emoji3526]. And I don’t understand what you mean by a litter box with no sides to it? To contain the litter it has to have some sort of sides to it? I use a Rubbermaid container with holes cut out on either side, so he can get out from two different exits, but I’ve also used cheap litter pans for cats from the feed store... they cost me maybe seven dollars?
 
How small is small? Minimum cage size for any bunny is 16 square feet [emoji3526]. And I don’t understand what you mean by a litter box with no sides to it? To contain the litter it has to have some sort of sides to it? I use a Rubbermaid container with holes cut out on either side, so he can get out from two different exits, but I’ve also used cheap litter pans for cats from the feed store... they cost me maybe seven dollars?

IMG_1560007246.125704.jpg

Here is the current “litter box” sometimes she urinates in there, but nothing consistent
 
It is absolutely do-able to keep a cage odor-free. @thelaurelcrowned is describing the method that works. Having the right litter set-up is the key to having the cage odor-free.

....oh, you just posted while I was typing. No wonder bunny doesn't go in that box -- there is no litter inside it! It also looks rather small. Take the food bowls out of there. Forget the hay bowl -- that doesn't hold enough hay. A rabbit should be eating his body size in hay every day.

I'll attach a photo of a proper litter set-up. It uses the wood pellets that were already mentioned. These are super cheap if you get them from a hardware store. A huge 40lb bag costs just $4-$7 .

upload_2019-6-8_8-28-42.png

Please also click on the following link to see necessary details for using and maintaining the litter box correctly to make it odor-free. With this set-up, you will be able to go at least 4 days between cleanings -- all with no odor. The link provides explanation of what to avoid doing and how to make this work to your advantage. There are more photos with more explanation.
 
It is absolutely do-able to keep a cage odor-free. @thelaurelcrowned is describing the method that works. Having the right litter set-up is the key to having the cage odor-free.

....oh, you just posted while I was typing. No wonder bunny doesn't go in that box -- there is no litter inside it! It also looks rather small. Take the food bowls out of there. Forget the hay bowl -- that doesn't hold enough hay. A rabbit should be eating his body size in hay every day.

I'll attach a photo of a proper litter set-up. It uses the wood pellets that were already mentioned. These are super cheap if you get them from a hardware store. A huge 40lb bag costs just $4-$7 .

View attachment 41251

Please also click on the following link to see necessary details for using and maintaining the litter box correctly to make it odor-free. With this set-up, you will be able to go at least 4 days between cleanings -- all with no odor. The link provides explanation of what to avoid doing and how to make this work to your advantage. There are more photos with more explanation.

My rabbits cage at this point in time is pretty small! I don’t know if a large box would fit inside. I attached an image of the cage. IMG_0247.jpg
 
That is a very small cage. Does bunny get daily exercise time outside the cage?

Take a look here about cage sizing:
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/2019-cages-add-your-photo.93422/

The photos on that thread may inspire you with ideas as well.

It is fine (preferable even) for a litter box to be large enough for a rabbit to stretch out and lay in. The larger boxes stay odor-free for longer too.

Check here for more on cages.
 
That is a very small cage. Does bunny get daily exercise time outside the cage?

Take a look here about cage sizing:
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/2019-cages-add-your-photo.93422/

The photos on that thread may inspire you with ideas as well.

It is fine (preferable even) for a litter box to be large enough for a rabbit to stretch out and lay in. The larger boxes stay odor-free for longer too.

Check here for more on cages.

My rabbit knocks that purple one you see in the image around, sometimes even turning it over. The litter box would have to be heavy enough to be unable to be turned, otherwise it would create a mess. I have attached an image that will hopefully show you the small amount of room I have to place a cage.
 
My rabbits cage at this point in time is pretty small! I don’t know if a large box would fit inside. I attached an image of the cage. View attachment 41252

That cage is about the size of my buns litter box...You can, for about 100$ TOPS build a really nice enclosure [emoji3526]. I have done enclosures using wire storage panels and using puppy pens with plywood for the base and linoleum on top. I can upload pictures in a few hours of some of my cages.
 
My rabbit knocks that purple one you see in the image around, sometimes even turning it over. The litter box would have to be heavy enough to be unable to be turned, otherwise it would create a mess. I have attached an image that will hopefully show you the small amount of room I have to place a cage.

IMG_1560009165.635740.jpg
 
That cage is about the size of my buns litter box...You can, for about 100$ TOPS build a really nice enclosure [emoji3526]. I have done enclosures using wire storage panels and using puppy pens with plywood for the base and linoleum on top. I can upload pictures in a few hours of some of my cages.

Do you think I can attempt the litter training with such a small cage?
 
Try Sweet PDZ + pine pellets. It's an ammonia absorber, sold for horse stalls to reduce the urine smell. You can buy it in bulk from the feed store for a much better price than online, just sprinkle a layer under the pine pellets (or shavings) when you change out the cage. https://sweetpdz.com/

I'd also check those urine guards; they look like they don't cover the corners very well, and thats where the rabbits normally pee. Some of that smell might be coming not from the tray, but from any urine that might escape the cage.
 
Try Sweet PDZ + pine pellets. It's an ammonia absorber, sold for horse stalls to reduce the urine smell. You can buy it in bulk from the feed store for a much better price than online, just sprinkle a layer under the pine pellets (or shavings) when you change out the cage. https://sweetpdz.com/

I'd also check those urine guards; they look like they don't cover the corners very well, and thats where the rabbits normally pee. Some of that smell might be coming not from the tray, but from any urine that might escape the cage.

It appears the urine guards aren’t fully compatible with the cage. I have been unable to discover the brand of the cage unfortunately.
 

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