Desperate - Litter training!

[ShreddersMom]

I am a new bunny owner. I have had my bunny for about a week now. The first night he used his litter box perfectly, since then it has been a nightmare. He just doesn't seem to even realize he is going anyhwere. He just hops around and poops everywhere. In his bed, litter box and all over the floor. I had him free range but now have him X penned in a corner with a litter box, bed, hut and dishes.

I have tried things that I read off the internet but it's tough. He doesn't really like timothy hay so putting that in the box doesn't help.

I am getting desperate because he is getting worse with his habits not better and I don't want to have to find a new home for him but I might be forced to if his toilet habits don't improve. I was looking for a free range bunny and when I got him was told he was litter trained but of course this is not the case.

He is a two year old lop mix and he is not neutered. I know that neutering them usually improves the habits but he doesn't even seem to have litter habits at all, just kind of goes everywhere. Will neutering still help? What exactly will neutering affect? Please help I am so lost here. :bunny5

Thank-you in advance any and all advice is needed and appreciated!

ShreddersMom

 

[JBun]

When you say he just goes everywhere, do you mean he is peeing all over, or is it just the poop? What type of litter box are you using and is it big enough for him to comfortably move around in? A rabbit is technically considered litter box trained if they consistently pee in the litter box. Leaving poop all over is a whole other matter. Rabbits territorially mark with their poop, and sometimes their urine especially for unaltered rabbits. With an unneutered buck, they are even more driven to mark their territory. Along with this is the fact that this is a new area/home for him, so he is even more inclined to mark his territory. Often this will subside a little or completely once a rabbit is settled into their new home(sometimes takes a few weeks). But how much it lets up depends on each individual rabbit, as well as the fact that your bun is unneutered. Neutering does usually improve litter box habits, but how much again really depends on each individual rabbit.

For now it is good to limit his area and keep him in his pen, as this will help him establish that area as his territory. Though the poop marking in his own pen may not completely clear up, as rabbits often will still leave a few poops around. Once he has settled in you can start letting him have time to explore new areas, but keep in mind that sometimes when a rabbit is let into a new area they will want to start poop marking that area for a while until they've established it as their territory. Unfortunately this marking behavior is just part of a rabbits nature and something you have to learn to work with.

If you do opt for neutering, it usually does help with the marking behavior as well as other unwanted hormonal behavior like humping and spraying, but also keep in mind that it can also sometimes affect their personality, and sometimes bucks won't be quite so affectionate after they are neutered.

Regarding not liking timothy hay, this can be affected by getting too many pellets, as well as a rabbit not liking a particular hay. What amount and type of food is your bun fed, what is his weight, and have you tried any other types of hay? Even a different batch of the same variety of hay can make a big difference in whether or not a rabbit will eat it.

 

[ShreddersMom]

Thank-you so much for your response.

In terms of litter, he had a big cat litter pan that you could fit two rabbits in it easily. Then I also got him a flatter pan for hay but he just peed in it once. So I ended up putting litter in that one and hay and torn up paper in the large one. He seems to love the little flat one with the litter and he will lay and roll around in it but not exclusively poop in it. He still leaves pellets all over.

In terms of peeing he has peed in the box sometimes but other times just on the floor. There doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern in the way he goes either urine or stool. No particular spots just sort of around like you said.

In terms of food, he does get a lot of pellets and I did look up the amounts today and he is approx 4lbs so from what I have read that is 1/4 cup pellets then, is that correct?

What worries me is that it has been a week without improvements. Is this a small amount of time for bunnies to get used to things though? How much time without improvement should I give until I consider neutering or other solutions?

 

[JBun]

First off you want to check his bum to make sure there isn't urine soaked fur or that he isn't dribbling urine, which could indicate the pee accidents are due to a health problem. You aren't seeing red urine or thick sludgy urine are you?

What I would do if I was dealing with loss of litter habits due to marking behavior, is temporarily reduce his area if it is too large, and basically fill up the remaining space with large litter boxes. You can buy large mixing tubs at home improvement stores, that are used for mixing cement and mortar. I got mine for about $6 and they are about 27-36" x 20-24". Then you fill up any available area with them. Give it a few days to a week, then pull one litter tray out(the least used one) and see how he does. If he continues using the other litter trays without any accidents, then a few days later try pulling out another one(again the least used one). And continue on this way until back down to one litter box, leaving the one he uses the most. You are basically shooting for all peeing to be in the litter box. The poops will probably take more time and even then there will most likely still be some left around his pen. Then once he is good about using his litter box in this area, you can gradually start to expand his pen area back if you had reduced it.

After several weeks of trying this, if this doesn't clear up the pee accidents, you may want to consider neutering. Most often this greatly improves litter box habits and helps reduce or eliminate territorial marking behavior. But again, no guarantee as this varies with each rabbit. Generally speaking though, it most often does help, and with bucks usually quite a bit. But I would give the additional litter boxes at least 3 weeks. This territorial marking really can take some time to settle. Oh, you don't happen to have other pets in your home, as this can also affect territorial marking?

For the pellets, it would be around 1/4-1/2 cup, depending on the type of pellets you feed as well as your buns metabolism. Usually they should finish up their pellets within half hour to an hour, when split into two feedings(which I prefer instead of one large feeding of pellets), and snack on hay the rest of the time. It would probably be best to gradually reduce the amount over a week or two, then keep a close eye on whether or not your bun starts eating hay. You just don't want to suddenly decrease his pellets by a lot, and have him go on a hunger strike and still not eat the hay, as this could lead to a gut slowdown, which causes slow motility and can lead to serious digestive issues. If you notice he doesn't compensate for less pellets by eating hay, you may have to start trying different varieties to see if that works.

 

[Aki]

In my experience, neutering helps tremendously with that kind of problem. I never got a single pee in the wrong place after neutering. Nevertheless, you got a boy so I would still expect some poos outside of the litter box (yeah, boys are little pigs no matter the species...).

 

[ShreddersMom]

Thank-you this is so helpful.

I have actually included one very large litter box with hay and paper and one with litter. And today I woke up with a lot of pee in the big paper litter box. Then as I was watching him hop around I watched him sitting in one litter pan, deliberately hop to the big paper litter box, take a pee and hop back to his gravel one.
I think he enjoys laying in the gravel on and going in the other one.

He is still a long way because he pooped all over everywhere else where there was no litter boxes so I think I will try to include more. That's a great idea!

As for health problem, his urine is normal and his habits appear to be marking not health. But I will still keep an eye on it.

As for the pellets I will start gradually decreasing as I have been giving him too much. I will monitor the hay intake because I am not hopeful for him liking the hay. He seems to take absolutely no interest, and no nibbles.

Aki - Would you say that male rabits are generally messier and harder to littertrain than females? Also will neutering affect the pellets or just the urine?

Thanks!