Litter Training issues

[LadyKat]

[line]So I am a new Bunny owner of Smudge, 6mth none neutered Lion Head Dwarf. He will get neutered in two months.

I have only had him 5 nights but he seems to avoid his litter box at all costs and decided the couch is the best spot to go.

His litter pan is a corner pan and has carefresh (well the Walmart knock off) in it. It is also full of poop and has a urine soaked paper towel in it. This has all been me putting it in there.

In cage he will use one corner of the cage, so I will clean it up, use a bit of water and vinegar to help decent and move the litter box to that corner. He will then use another corner. So I moved the litter box to that corner this time just picking up the poop and putting it in the pan along with the urine soaked paper towel, this time no vinegar. He then used a different corner. It is like he is avoiding it purposely. I then added a hay hut thing and now he uses that as his litter. So I took the hay hut out. But he will sit in the litter pan, even with all the poop in it. Is it possible the litter is to full?

When he has the run of the livingroom/kitchen of my small apartment I take the litter pan out and put it in a corner. Now that he figured out he can get on the couch no problem, he uses the couch as a litter pan. Last night I caught him trying to poop on the couch 6 times in a short period and kept placing him in his litter pan, this process has continued tonight.

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong here? He really is not catching on to this litter training thing.

 

[Ponyta]

Hon, save yourself the grief and wait until he's neutered. It probably wont take until a month or so after he's been fixed. You're not doing anything wrong as far as I can tell, that's just how it is for rabbits who aren't desexed.

 

[Bunny parents]

I agree with Ponyta. Neutering your boy is one answer. My girl loved to poop and pee on our bed too when she wasn't spayed. After her operation, it took a while for her to stop pooping outside of her litter box. However, I must admit, it's been 4 months already after she'd had the spaying but from time to time she still drops some poop every now and then around the house. I think she just wants to claim this is her property, my hubby and I are just residents and she's the owner.
You can try blocking her access to the couch. I did with our bed by putting a plastic pallet on it and didn't allow Kimi to get on the bed for a while. Cleaning bunny's poops and urine aren't that easy. I mean... Even though you clean it out with vinegar, but it's just for human's nose. He still can smell it. You did great, pls don't worry about doing something wrong. I know that it's quite tiring to clean up their poop and pee. Can I ask what kind of litter box do you give to your boy ?

 

[LadyKat]

Smudge has this litter pan with Walmarts version of CareFresh in it.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We have the same pan with Walmarts Pine shavings. All of ours are neutered and they use their pan in the hutch and the litter boxes in the room when they are out, but, and it's a really big one--out of 27 bunnies we've only had one that pooped exclusively in a litter box. Bought a shop vac for that. They all use the box to urinate and that's what is really important.

 

[SOOOSKA]

Hi Kat, your Smudge is very cute.

I would suggest a bigger litter box, and put hay in the litter box. All of mine love to eat hay when they are doing their business.

I actually have two litter boxes in Winston & Vegas cage, however Winston does not have the best litter habits so I put towels under/beside the litter box as he tends to pee pee outside the box. I just live with it and change the towel a couple times a day. The joys of having pets. All my other bunnies are wonderful with their litter boxes even Buttercup who is going to be 13.

Susan

 

[Bunny parents]

I agree with Susan. Maybe you can try giving your bun a bigger litter box. My Kimi loves her litter box, but before we bought this one. We gave her a smaller size and she did use it, but she kept digging out the bedding and moved awkwardly in there, my girl looked like a sardine in atiny can :confused2: Like people, I think bathroom should be with a bit space that you feel comfortable when you're in there, hehe

 

[LadyKat]

Well it looks like my hard work paid off. Smudge now uses his litter box exclusively, pee and poo.

 

[SOOOSKA]

So Kat what did you actually end up doing to get him litter trained. I could use all the help with Winston. However I tend to think it's too late for him.

He's such a Brat, but a darn cute one.:biggrin2:

Susan

 

[LadyKat]

I was really just more persistent then him. Every time I caught him pooping (and I watched him like a hawk) I would throw him in his litter box, errrrr gently place him in it.

Every time I found poop/pee anywhere but the litter box I placed it in the litter, yes even urine soaked paper towel. I would clean any pee spot with a damp paper towel and vinegar. I actually cleaned his whole cage every day with vinegar and water except his litter box. Now that he exclusively uses his litter box I only do the whole cage thing once and awhile.

When he tried to use something else as a litter area, like his straw hut thing I removed it from his cage.

I think that he just finally caught on that I would leave him alone if he used is litter.

 

[Luv Buns]

Way to go!