Bunny won't pee in litter box?

[bpeacock313]

I have 4 month old mini Rex named Poe. I picked up a litter pan from the store and placed it in his designated "poddy corner", but he refuses to use it as a litter box! He uses it as a bed most of the time, I've even moved the pan every time he chooses a new corner as his bathroom but he just moves on to a new corner. I've been placing his soiled bedding in the pan hoping that he will take the hint, but he hasn't yet. What do I do???? Please help!!!

 

[honeybunnies]

Hi,
To start with litter training, I would suggest that you choose not to give them too large of a floor space area, as this way they don't have as much choice as to where they can potty. Then you could increase the floor space area, once they are co-operating as you want them too.

Hope this helps!

 

[bpeacock313]

I've tried limiting his space by placing some of his food bowls and chew toys there, buy he still pees in whatever spot he pleases, sometimes even in his food bowl if it's in the way! Is there another way I could limit his floor space so that he has to pee in the litter box?

 

[lovelops]

Are you placing this in his cage or X pen area? I tried this with my Agouti Chica and even placed some of her soiled wee wee pads in the litter box corner and she was frightened of it. I think I started that too late with her. She will turn down the corner of her bedding and use that area as her bathroom.

Vanessa

 

[PaGal]

To litter train keep litter or bedding only in the litter box and not in the rest of the cage as this can confuse the bun. Either hang a hay rack above the litter box so that then bun has to be in the litter box completely to munch on the hay or place hay in a corner of the litter box.

You want to make sure your bun can completely fit into the litter box.

Pick up any poo outside the litter box and place it in the litter box. If the bun pees outside the litter box then soak up some of the urine with a corner piece of paper towel and place this in the litter box. Clean up the remaining urine with a vinegar/water mix which will eliminate all smell so the bun does not urinate in the same spot based on smell.

Buns do tend to like to pee on soft objects so you may want to keep any soft beds or blankets out of the cage at least until the bun is litter trained.

Confine the bun to a limited space until it is litter trained. Once it is you can then slowly open up more space to the bun. For a larger space you may need to use more than one litter box.

A bun is considered litter trained when it pees in the litter box and no where else. It is a very rare bun that will not drop at least a few poos outside the litter box.

If a bun is dropping a lot of poos outside the litter box then it may be territory marking which should get better over time.

Spaying/neutering a bun may help with litter habits.

Good Luck!

 

[bpeacock313]

I'm using the same bedding as I am using for his litter box, so I'll go out and get some litter pellets to see if that will work! Thanks!

 

[bpeacock313]

Oh and his litter box is in his cage, I don't have a pen I just let him roam the house. He only pees and poops in the cage, though.

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

Sometimes you have to start out with more than one litter pan, sometimes you need several, depending on the rabbit and how much space they have on their enclosure/cage. The type of litter pan is important. If it's too small or too big that can be a problem. I had to try two sizes for Sophie. Even though I thought a small kitty litter pan was big enough, she didn't prefer it, plus her rump was always sticking out the corner of it and pee was getting outside the pan.

Proper placement of the pan is important too. They prefer peeing in corners so having the pan in a corner is ideal. As the others stated, place urine soaked papertowel in the pan so they get used to that smell being in their pan.

You also have to make sure you remove all urine smell from the cage in the areas where he's peed other than his pan. Use vinegar or you can buy enzyme spray that also eliminates all pet odours.

Also, if he's not neutered, that may be making things difficult. Often when a bun that's marking territory gets fixed, they will get better with peeing....although not in every case.

 

[bpeacock313]

So i got some litter pellets to use for his litter pan, and I cleaned his old corner with a vinegar mixture to get rid of the smell, also placing a used towel in his litter pan hoping he would use that, and he still isn't!!! What am I doing wrong?

 

[smitchell721]

I have a mini Rex I just bought in December. I had tried the litter pellets and he basically "boycotted" his litter box. What he seems to like the best is the care fresh paper litter/bedding with a layer of wood shavings on top. I bought a big bag of the rabbit friendly aspen shavings for $12. I work from home most days so I have an ex pen set up in my office. At first I had a litter box in every corner and I would move them to his hutch at night. He was neutered right after Christmas. Now I've gotten down to two boxes in his ex pen and have even been able to keep an old piece of fleece in his hidey box without him peeing on it.
Side note though.... After his neuter, I was told to keep him quiet and confined for 10-14 days. I had to block off one level of his hutch so he wouldn't hurt himself. That short time of confinement made a big difference in his litter habits.

 

[shiroun]

10-14 days? Jesus my buck didn't spend more then 6 hours recouping. My doe...she's gonna need all that time.

Anyway give him a treat when he uses it, every so often.

 

[bpeacock313]

Bun still peeing anywhere but the litter pan. I've tried blocking off different corners but she will just pee on whatever is in her way. And she was born in September and I've had her since October and she never had a problem with pooping or peeing outside the cage when I let her out around the house; however, within the past 2 weeks she has consistently been pooping, and a lot, all over the room, which she never used to do! How do I teach her not to poop outside of her cage? I need to focus on this before I keep trying to teach her to pee in the correct corner of her cage.

 

[JBun]

If your bun is still not spayed you will likely continue to have problems. Mature rabbits are driven by their hormones to mark their territory. This includes peeing and poop marking by leaving fecal poop everywhere. Spaying is going to be your best chance at changing this behavior.

A bun is considered litter trained if it pees in the litter box. If it consistently poops in there too, than that is a bonus. Rabbits sometimes won't be as good with the pooping in the litter box. Spaying usually will help improve both of these behaviors, but of course there is no guarantee.

Another consideration for peeing everywhere, especially if there is any dribbling of urine or urine soaked fur, is a possible UTI.