Bunny refuses to use litterbox!

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DaisyE

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I have been trying to get my boy to use the litter box, but he refuses...& actually puts his butt up to the bars & pees thru them onto my floor :yuck
I got him a high back corner litter pan & have followed your advice on here by putting his peed on bedding in it & putting the litter pan in the corner he uses...no luck!
He actually unhooks the litter pan & tosses it lol.

Any advice or tricks...
 
How big is the corner box? I know your bun is a Standard Rex, so like 9-10 lbs? Most of the corner boxes I've seen are pretty small and most buns don't fit in them passed baby-hood. Unless you have a big one, but I've never actually seen a BIG one.

You could try to put some sheets of cardboard around where the litter box is, to keep him from peeing out of the cage. Is he near the litter box when he does that? Has he picked his own corner to pee in and is the litter box in that corner? If not, you might try moving the litter box to the place HE wants to pee. I would also get him a bigger litter box, like a big/shallow storage bin or a large box. His box may be too small, sometimes they're just picky about the actual box.
My bun will potty in one place in my floor, even with her 2 litter boxes in the kitchen. I have to put the litter box in JUST the right spot so she'll go in the floor. I have a 4 lb Dutch, who has a really big litter box in her cage and then a laundry basket type thing in the kitchen that she goes in. There is enough room for her to lay in both of them and stretch out. Sometimes they like to do that.

Also, getting him neutered will probably help. I know you were wanting to wait a little while to help him get used to your house before you sent him for the ol' snip. But maybe getting him neutered sooner rather than later would be for the best.

If he's tossing the box around, you might want to drill some holes in it and zip tie it to the side of the cage.
 
It could be too small, I just didn't want to take space away from his cage...I took out his big igloo coz as he started getting more comfortable he would go hyper doing binkies & bang into it etc. so now he has the whole cage to go hyper in lol :) the litterbox is big enough for his butt tho.
I did put the box in the corners he was using, but he seems to keep changing which corner he wants to pee in & sometimes its not even in a corner!
I guess I should start getting his neuter sorted...hes settling in really well, eating hay & greens...recently introduced some carrot & a grape for a treat...had no tummy issues. Then I let him out & all he wanted to do was cuddle in my arms & be petted which was really sweet :brownbunny
 
He likes to wipe his chin on me too lol almost like hes nuzzling me...its cute!
 
He likes to wipe his chin on me too lol almost like hes nuzzling me...its cute!

He's claiming you as 'his' human. He must really like you :) I'm glad he's adjusted well and is feeling more at home and happy now.

I agree with Morgan, that he may just need a bigger litter box. Sometimes rabbits can just be picky about it and want lots of space to pee. I would suggest a large rectangular cat litter box, or similar plastic bin. It may also have to do with the litter as well. I was using pine pellets for litter and my new rabbit wouldn't use the litter box. I decided to try carefresh and she was so happy she started rolling around in it. I guess she just wanted something soft to pee in. Now I just use pine pellets with soft hay layered on top and that seems to work as well. Cheaper too! Also having his hay either in a corner of the litter box or having a hay rack hung above it, helps encourage using the litter box as they like to poop while they eat. Just making it a nice place to hang out in should help. And don't worry about it taking up his space, he'll just incorporate it into his play, but hopefully not by digging in it :) If you want to expand his space a little, you could add a shelf or two in his cage, depending on the space available. To keep him from moving the litter box around, the zip ties will work, or if you want to be able to easily remove it, you can attach it to the cage with clips.

Feel free to post updates. It's nice to hear he's doing well. He sounds like he really is a big sweetheart :)
 
Since he has peed outside of the cage what I would do is to purchase a plastic storage box and use that as a litter box. I would get one with side high enough for him not to be able to pee out of and would start with cutting just one area shorter on one side that he can easily hop over to get into the box.

If he seemed to not like going into it I would then try completely cutting the side previously partially cut so that the whole side was short enough for him to easily jump in while three side remained high.

I have two small buns that share a seven foot cage and have a storage box that fits completely across one end of the cage, when they get to playing they will just run and hop into the litter box and then zoom back out so in that regard they did not loose any play space.

My other bun started moving his litter box but would pee in the corner where it had been. On one side of his litter box I drilled a total of four holes, two on each end. I then made two loops with a zip tie, one loop for each set of holes. I then bought some very plain shower curtain hooks. I connect the litter box to his cage by passing the hook through the loop and hook it around his cage wire. Not sure that makes any sense, I could post a photo of that would help. That has worked well. He can't move the litter box and I can unhook the litter box easily and quickly and I don't go through a ton of zipties.
 
I will have a look for a bigger high back pan...I need to visit Petsmart, theres only a small pet shop in my town & my job is only a small chain store too...so don't sell that much small animal gear...just glad they sell Oxbow (after not having it for years, only Kaytee brand)
There is a shelf that goes with my cage (its a critter nation) hadn't thought about using it for him...it may work to give him even more space....something for me to try out!
Thanks for all the tips! & awww I'm glad he loves me so much haha, now I know what it means! :)
Also, I found out the whistling noise he was making is him snoring....coz he only does it when hes laying down resting lol. But I will still get it checked just to be sure :)
 
I like the storage box idea too...my fiance can help me modify it. Hopefully we get some success....the peeing outside the cage is not much fun lol its always A LOT too! When it first happened my dog got the blame coz I didn't think the bun would stick his butt up out of the cage & pee!
 
This is my temporary litter box. Its done pretty well so far though.
2jcbuap.jpg


Its like one of those laundry sorters. I had an extra one, couldn't find my spare litter box in the barn so this was it! haha. Surprisingly enough, she hasn't peed through the holes. It took her about a day to realize that one side is lower than the others, so she peed over the side once the first day and then never again. I actually think the holes are too high for her to pee out of. But your bun is bigger than mine! LOL
I fill it with a layer of pine pellets and a big pile of hay and she loves it.
 
Thats a creative idea! Maybe I could get something like that....even if it takes up half the cage, it would work coz if he can go in and out he can still play...
Right now the cage has its original pull out flat floor then a huge pan on top of it [had to modify so I could put bedding in without it all falling out]....I could maybe take the big pan out & just have half the cage a litter pan & the other half just blankets for him...I just don't know if he would use the pan to poop coz he seems to poop EVERYWHERE lol.

Can see the litter pan I got in the background...I thought if its big enough for his booty he would use it! Excuse his demon eyes haha phone cam...& yes he is a big bun!
 
I bought a littler box from petsmart that works perfect for my rabbits. It has a high back and its really big. I don't how much space is an issue in your cage (don't know what you have setup), but it works perfect for my two BC with standard litter boxes they would stick their butt out and pee on my carpet
 
It looks like in the pic that you have bedding in his litter box as well as throughout the cage. Is that correct? Having bedding throughout the cage as well as the litter box can be confusing to buns so just have it in the litter box.

As far as pooing everywhere, most buns are considered litter trained when they pee only in the litter box. Most tend to poo elsewhere. He could also be marking his territory with his poo. My intact male flemmie used to do that. Over time he slowed down till once a week he might leave 5 poos and that was it. Everything else was in his litter box. Some buns mark with poos more than others but he could slow down as well.
 
He can probably sit in the box, but its not big enough to do anything in. Like, he can't walk around it or lay in it. They like to be gross and lay in their litter boxes.

And is your cage still filled with bedding? Heres a refresher in litter box training!:
I agree with PaGal, once you get all the bedding out of the cage. When you have bedding everywhere, it makes them think that the whole cage is a litter box. So if you took all the bedding out except for the litter box, that would help. Then soak up the pee with a paper towel, put it in the litter box, and sweep up the poops and put them into the litter box. That will help him not be so confused about where he's supposed to go. I don't know if you have one already, but a little hand broom with dustpan is a bunny cages best friend. I got mine at Walmart for like $1.50.
Anyway, you're probably always going to deal with stray poop, its just part of bunny ownership. But if you stay really on top of cleaning the cage out and putting everything in the litter box, that will really help. Maybe enlist a kid to do it!
When I was first litter training my baby bun, the first few weeks, I didn't clean the litter box completely out. I left a little soiled litter in there, so she could still smell that was her place.
But, I think that getting him neutered would help the most with getting him litter trained.

If you do take all the bedding out, he probably won't need a ton of blankets. I think that most rabbits like to lay on hard surfaces. But fleece blankets are the best for them.
 
Ah ok...I thought I had to start out all bedding, move the peed on bedding to the litter pan til eventually he just uses the litter box...
I redid the cage today...took out the deeper pan & he now is just on the original cage floor [which has traction so no slippin slidin] I noticed when I checked on him this morning before I did the cage that there was a lot of pee & poops in the litter box...yay!
So I'm hoping the new cage layout will help & I left some soiled bedding in the litter box...it does need to be bigger tho! I think I will just look online & order one.

He made a mess with his hay lol.
 

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