Help with litter training

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

melly

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2021
Messages
8
Reaction score
2
Location
Hobart, Australia
Hi Guys,
I need help! I have a one year old dutch female and she refuses to litter train. I have done everything, this process has been going on for a year and I'm tearing my hair out. I have had her since she was old enough to leave her mother, she was spayed at around 4 months (as soon as she reached sexual maturity) and I have tried everything. She lives inside. She chose a corner of her cage back when she was around 10 weeks old and that's where I placed the litter tray (combo of newspaper, hay and safe cat litter). She used it, but also used the other corner, so I put another one there too. She then used both for a few weeks, then decided to go literally anywhere she feels like. She doesn't go back to the same places, she will just go wherever she feels like. It's almost like she's marking her territory. She has no reason to do that, as her area has always been in the same spot, I have no other rabbits and I have a cat who I have had for longer than her, is only inside at night and they get along well together (when they bother to interact which is quite rare). Multiple times I have 'started again from the beginning' - enclosed her in a small space, made it slightly bigger when she used the space given respectfully, then slightly bigger again and she always goes back to peeing/pooing wherever she feels. She often spends a week or so in good habits, then randomly will start doing it all over again.
Does anyone have some suggestions? I would like her to be free roaming and I don't know what else to do!
 
She doesn't, she's perfectly healthy and has been doing this same behaviour on and off for a year. There's a lot more pooping than peeing outside the litter tray but when she pees somewhere it's much more annoying of course!
 
Could we have a picture of her set up or environment? I'm wondering about if perhaps she doesn't feel secure or fully trusting/owning of the space. It is possible that, despite them getting along, your rabbit really wants to overwrite your cat's scent in the space. Ultimately your cat is a predator.

This is likely not the case, but 4mo is, in my online perusing experience, slightly young to spay a female. Many vets will wait until 6mo. There is a chance that she might not have fully developed parts in there at 4mo, so not all could have been removed(?) so there could still be some hormonal stuff going on driving this. Again, unlikely, but noted due to the age of spay.

Is there any chance some of the pees are... Sass-driven? For example, my Wick will often pee (such a lovely guy) when frustrated that a bag crinkle did not lead to him getting food. Or if I'm preoccupied and don't pet him long enough.
 
Did this start before the spay or after? About what age did it start and did it start happening when you started expanding her living space? Does it still happen when you confine her to a smaller space, or just when you start expanding her area? So no consistency on where the pee puddles happen, just random?

Any relation to where the pee puddles are and your cat(near cat litter box, cat bed, places where your cat is commonly at)? How does she react to your cat? Does she seem to want to spend time with your cat, lay near your cat, groom your cat? And your cat is or isn't interested, or is your bun indifferent to your cat, chase your cat, lunge, grunt, anything?

Does she get a urine soaked bum, dribble spots of urine, spray urine, or just leave a pee puddle? Is the urine a brownish beige color, any spots of red, or cloudy and white with calcium sediment? Is it thick and creamy, gritty, or pasty at all?

Anything new, different, or change at all indoors or out, around the time this started(new cleaning products, new people, new sounds, new objects or furniture, etc)?
 
Could we have a picture of her set up or environment? I'm wondering about if perhaps she doesn't feel secure or fully trusting/owning of the space. It is possible that, despite them getting along, your rabbit really wants to overwrite your cat's scent in the space. Ultimately your cat is a predator.

This is likely not the case, but 4mo is, in my online perusing experience, slightly young to spay a female. Many vets will wait until 6mo. There is a chance that she might not have fully developed parts in there at 4mo, so not all could have been removed(?) so there could still be some hormonal stuff going on driving this. Again, unlikely, but noted due to the age of spay.

Is there any chance some of the pees are... Sass-driven? For example, my Wick will often pee (such a lovely guy) when frustrated that a bag crinkle did not lead to him getting food. Or if I'm preoccupied and don't pet him long enough.

Her setup is a dog crate with her two litter trays, she mostly uses one and sleeps in the other. This is her secure area, but the crate is open and she has a play area in front of it with a fence around it. I've attached a picture. The space has always been hers and the cat is not allowed near it. They only play together when she comes out of her area and we're supervising. The cat's also not inside the house unless it's night time and he usually just sleeps in another room or on the couch when he's in.

She was the correct age when she was spayed - 4 months was an estimate as I can't actually remember, I think it was later than that and I had a consult with a rabbit-specific vet to ensure she was ready before we booked her in.

Definitely possible and highly likely that they are sass-driven, it's just happening so much that I don't know what to do (daily at least). She's treating her entire area like a toilet and I am constantly cleaning. It's disgusting. She uses her litter tray, but will come out on purpose to pee/poop in her play area whenever she feels like it. I totally understand that there will be a few stray poops, but this is actual on purpose piles of them and peeing at least once per day in the play area. Today I watched her hop out of the litter tray and into the play area to pee against the fence around it. It's completely on purpose and I have no idea why!


IMG_4331.JPG
 
Did this start before the spay or after? About what age did it start and did it start happening when you started expanding her living space? Does it still happen when you confine her to a smaller space, or just when you start expanding her area? So no consistency on where the pee puddles happen, just random?

Any relation to where the pee puddles are and your cat(near cat litter box, cat bed, places where your cat is commonly at)? How does she react to your cat? Does she seem to want to spend time with your cat, lay near your cat, groom your cat? And your cat is or isn't interested, or is your bun indifferent to your cat, chase your cat, lunge, grunt, anything?

Does she get a urine soaked bum, dribble spots of urine, spray urine, or just leave a pee puddle? Is the urine a brownish beige color, any spots of red, or cloudy and white with calcium sediment? Is it thick and creamy, gritty, or pasty at all?

Anything new, different, or change at all indoors or out, around the time this started(new cleaning products, new people, new sounds, new objects or furniture, etc)?

It's been happening both before and after the spay. It's like she just refuses to be trained. Sometimes she'll seem trained for a couple of weeks, then go right on back to doing it again. No relation whatsoever to wear she pees, a different spot each day. She doesn't have access to the cat's area and he doesn't have access to hers. When they see each other they play together, bun is way too active to sleep beside him or chill in any way. She doesn't grunt or anything, and he is mostly indifferent to her but will sometimes play with her - they chase each other when they play. She likes to spend time with him, but he's not that interested.

No indication of any illness - no dribble spots, wet bum etc. She just hops over to a place, pees, then hops away. The urine is sometimes white, but mostly browny yellow.

Nothing's changed. She got a new crate about 6-8 months ago, but her area stayed the same and the change didn't effect her litter training, in that it was still just as bad as ever.
 
Hi Guys,
I need help! I have a one year old dutch female and she refuses to litter train. I have done everything, this process has been going on for a year and I'm tearing my hair out. I have had her since she was old enough to leave her mother, she was spayed at around 4 months (as soon as she reached sexual maturity) and I have tried everything. She lives inside. She chose a corner of her cage back when she was around 10 weeks old and that's where I placed the litter tray (combo of newspaper, hay and safe cat litter). She used it, but also used the other corner, so I put another one there too. She then used both for a few weeks, then decided to go literally anywhere she feels like. She doesn't go back to the same places, she will just go wherever she feels like. It's almost like she's marking her territory. She has no reason to do that, as her area has always been in the same spot, I have no other rabbits and I have a cat who I have had for longer than her, is only inside at night and they get along well together (when they bother to interact which is quite rare). Multiple times I have 'started again from the beginning' - enclosed her in a small space, made it slightly bigger when she used the space given respectfully, then slightly bigger again and she always goes back to peeing/pooing wherever she feels. She often spends a week or so in good habits, then randomly will start doing it all over again.
Does anyone have some suggestions? I would like her to be free roaming and I don't know what else to do!

Ive never had experience with this but all I can say is if she changes where she likes to use the litter tray then you should pick up all the droppings and put them into the original litter tray… could take time but it always works for me!! Good luck;)
 
Ive never had experience with this but all I can say is if she changes where she likes to use the litter tray then you should pick up all the droppings and put them into the original litter tray… could take time but it always works for me!! Good luck;)
I've beeb doing this for a year unfortunately and it's had no effect on her. I put the droppings back in the tray constantly and spray the area with a spray made for small animal pee/poo cleaning to take away the smell so she doesn't go back there but she goes back anyway and happily uses both her tray and any other area she feels like.
 
Peeing near the fence is most often a territorial thing. So I would suspect this urine marking she's doing has mostly to do with your cat and territorial insecurity.

How exactly do they play together, is this play through her pen separating them, and what do you mean 'they chase each other when they play'?
 
Peeing near the fence is most often a territorial thing. So I would suspect this urine marking she's doing has mostly to do with your cat and territorial insecurity.

How exactly do they play together, is this play through her pen separating them, and what do you mean 'they chase each other when they play'?
The cat's not even usually in the house when she does it. And she pees anywhere she likes, it just happened to be at the fence today.

The cat's not allowed near her area. They play together only when they're both out and in the living room together with me or my partner. The cat will chase her and then she will chase the cat. She doesn't show any signs of being scared - she usually initiates it and loves to climb on him. He's very gentle with her and has never hurt her.
 
Ok, not the cat then. It looks like you have a soft flooring surface down in her pen. Some rabbits, even litter trained ones, can't resist peeing on soft things. Have you ever tried a hard flooring surface in her area before?
 
Ok, not the cat then. It looks like you have a soft flooring surface down in her pen. Some rabbits, even litter trained ones, can't resist peeing on soft things. Have you ever tried a hard flooring surface in her area before?
No I haven't actually, she hated the floorboards so I got her a soft rug! Haha maybe I've been too nice! I'll try a hard surface! Thanks 😊
 
No I haven't actually, she hated the floorboards so I got her a soft rug! Haha maybe I've been too nice! I'll try a hard surface! Thanks 😊
It should be non-slip. Try textured lino or stable matting.
 
Yeah, that's most likely the problem. My rabbits are litter trained, but will always pee on anything soft. Solid hard flooring can cause sore hocks to develop on some rabbits, even textured lino. So if you find it to be a problem for your rabbit, what I've used for mine is the foam puzzle mats, provided your rabbit doesn't want to chew them up, which can be a digestive hazard. The foam mats provide some cushion and also a non slip smooth surface to discourage peeing on. A solid foam rubber exercise mat would also work well.

Though with the puzzle mats, watch for pee accidents seeping through the cracks. My rabbits would still occasionally have a pee accident. I sealed my mats with matting tape. A plastic sheet underneath is also a good idea, to protect your floor underneath in case of any leaks. But hopefully there won't be any more accidents for your rabbit once the flooring is changed.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top