Doe using nesting area to pee

[NZminilops]

I'm taking care of the neighbours rabbit Clover for 7 weeks while they are travelling around Australia, and I've taken Clover down to the vet who has confirmed that she is pregnant. She's any where between 6-3 days away from having the kits (in my estimation).She has her outdoor hutch and the boxed in part I put fresh news paper and hay in there and over night she's pee'd all over it and poo'd too.How can I discourage this? She isn't litter trained at all and just goes where ever she feels like it. The boxed in area is large and I put a lot of hay in there and it's all wet now and un-usable, I'll end up using all the hay I have if I have to keep changing it every day till she kindles. I don't want to not put hay in there as she could kindle at any moment as no one is sure when she was mated.

This is a pet rabbit by the way and I am really annoyed that they let this happen, they did give the male away because he was 'stinky' which is sad. They don't know Clover is going to be a mama yet, I havn't heard from them since they left.

I'm thinking she needs a litter tray at the other end of her hutch but it may get full of water if it rains so I'm not too sure how to go about it. Any ideas would be great. She does have a roof over the entire hutch and it's nice spring weather here, but rain may drive inside ways.

 

[gentle giants]

Try putting in another nest box, plus the first one. If she isn't nesting yet, you probably have a few days to go yet.She is a first time mom, right? What you need to watch for is her taking mouthfuls of hay/straw and moving around the cage with it. Can you feel the kits moving in her belly? By a couple days before birth,you should be able to see them moving in there when she is sitting still, especially if she is laying on her side. Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[RABBIT#1]

I hope they knew about this. Keep us posted!

 

[NZminilops]

Hi everyone,

My rabbit Dodge has had 11 babies in the past, so I know about the little ones . That's one of her bubs in my avatar, it's all grown up now and it was 4 weeks old in the pic. It was a really pretty rabbit that one.

Clover is a first time mother. I can see and feel the babies moving around inside her - her fur ripples when they move and I can feel them kicking around. She has milk now. She doesn't have a nesting box, I wouldn't even know where to get one from. Can I make a substitute from something else? Like maybe a small wooden draw? With Dodge she just used the boxed in end of the hutch, she knew what to do and was a first time mother as well.

Clover is spending a lot of time just lazing around on her side all stretched out like Dodge did in the couple of days prior to kindling and has gone off her food so I expect it will be sometime in the next 3days. I wrote up about her in the general part of the forum.She's a really great rabbit and I reluctant to return her to the neighbours when they get back :?. They don't treat her very well.

*edit* forgot to mention I added in a litter tray for her, she seems to be using it. I think that she just assumes anything with hay in it is a toilet so I'm just going to have to keep changing the hay out every day till she kindles and hope she doesn't want to pee on her little ones!