Litter Training Un-Neutered Rabbit

[mrsmeyers]

I'm attempting to litter train our unneutered rabbit who is a little more than 1 y/o. He's been an outdoor bunny until this week. With winter ending, I thought it would be a good time to see how he'd do indoors (he needs to shed that winter coat, anyway!).

My plan is twofold: litter train him in a cage and then transition to an x-pen.

I put a litter box in the corner of the cage where he normally pees. So far, he's been peeing in the litter box.

Pooping is another matter. First, he pooped all over, marking his territory. Okay. But now he's found a place where he likes to hang out. Not only does he hang out there, but he's pooping there too, NOT in the litter box. This favorite spot of his is actually right in front of his litter box and between his litter box and food/water crocks.

Should I get a second litter box that takes up this entire area since that's where he likes to hang? There's the chance he'll pick a new favorite area and do his hanging-and-pooping routine there instead of a new litter box, but what do you think?

Btw, when I see poop, I pick it up and put it in his litter box, hoping he'll get the idea. Is this the right approach?

P.S. I've read that litter training unneutered males can be difficult and seems to be a reason many people give for neutering rabbits. Frankly, he's the only rabbit, is VERY mellow and doesn't spray, so I really don't see the need to put him through anesthesia and incur the expense of neutering if we don't need to.

 

[Country-Girl]

When I had a male rabbit he refused to poop in the litterbox. It was really annoying haha. I never got him to learn he was very stubborn

 

[Azerane]

It may take him a bit of time to pick up on it, being unneutered he's less likely to poop entirely in his tray since he'll also use them to mark his space. But he's also only been inside for a week, so give him time

Sounds like you're doing the right thing though, I would continue as you are, and if given another week you're not seeing any more improvement then it might be worth trying an additional litter box.

 

[JBun]

You are probably getting a poop pile there because that is where the food is, and rabbits poop while they eat. Usually when they are marking territory, there will just be scattered ones everywhere. If you want to contain the poop while he eats, then you will probably have to have a set up where he has to be in his litter box to eat his food, by hanging a food dish in or next to it, and either have a pile of hay in there or a hay rack hung above. If you only have a small litter box, you may need a larger one for this to work.

 

[mrsmeyers]

Thanks, everyone.

I have hay and a hay pile in the litter box, but the litter box is admittedly smaller than I'd like. He sits in there and eats hay and pees.

But you're right. He sits by his food/water and poops. The poop is mainly in that spot. Does it make sense to configure things so that his food and water crocks are only accessible if he's sitting in a litter box? That's what I'm thinking of doing.

 

[pepsipooper]

I am not sure weather i have a boy or girl dwarf as it dislikes being turned over and now altogether hates being picked up but my bun leaves poops all around in front of the litter box (which i use 24 beer flats) it pees in it most of the time the other times on my boyfriend (poor guy) but the poops end up all over

 

[FreezeNkody]

I have 2 unfixed males and both are super good at using the box. I put one everywhere they hang out and with in 3 days they both use it with exception of the territorial poop I've had no problems

 

[mrsmeyers]

You are probably getting a poop pile there because that is where the food is, and rabbits poop while they eat. Usually when they are marking territory, there will just be scattered ones everywhere. If you want to contain the poop while he eats, then you will probably have to have a set up where he has to be in his litter box to eat his food, by hanging a food dish in or next to it, and either have a pile of hay in there or a hay rack hung above. If you only have a small litter box, you may need a larger one for this to work.

After moving things around, we're still no better than we were before. He was doing great, peeing in the litter box. This morning I found pee elsewhere and nowhere near the food. Same with the poop. Here's his M.O.: no matter how I configure the cage, he finds a clear spot to sit and lay around. He tends to stay there, too. And wherever this spot is, that's where he poops. This spot is now nowhere near his food/water crocks. There's no poop/pee near his food.

I'm not sure what to do next. I could add a second litter box, but I think he'd just sit and poop in the area where there's no box. The way he seems to work, his entire cage should be filled with litter boxes! I'm thinking my next step should be to add a litter box and then make his food and hay completely unreachable unless he's in one of the litter boxes, like JBun suggested.

My question is: if that works and we can finally transition to an XPen, do I have to have the food/hay set up the same (i.e. only accessible if in a litter box)?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[PaGal]

I have an unneutered male that I got at ten weeks of age. It took three days to litter train him to pee only in the litter box. Poops took longer. Most buns will drop some poops no matter what. It is rare to find a bun that leaves all poops in a litter box.

You may want to try confining him to the cage for a few days to see if that helps. They do potty while eating so making it so he can only eat if he is completely in the litter box does help. You want a litter box that he can completely fit into with some room to spare. I have noticed with my bun that now and then he pees outside of the litter box but it is an accident. If some of his hay falls from his hay rack into his litter box and he backs up to eat it then part of his bum hangs over the side. If he happens to pee then the urine winds up outside of the litter box. Maybe that is why you found pee outside of the litter box when he had been doing well.

You may need to get a larger litter box. One thing that works well is a plastic storage box. If you get a tall one you can cut part of one side down shorter so your bun can easily hop in and out. I have this set up for my girls. Because of the tall sides I was able to improvise and hang their hay rack (or what I use for one) inside of the litter box. Hay that gets knocked out while they eat is contained in the litter box. When they decide to spray it is also contained in the litter box. And nobunny's butt ever hangs out of it. I will probably eventually get the same set up for my male.

 

[mrsmeyers]

Thank you for the input.

He has a large litter box (I got a new one several days ago) with hay piled on the side opposite the "business end." He is confined to a cage and has been since Day 1 of this endeavor. My next step is to add a second litter box and put his food and water crocks in it, opposite the "business end."

I'm confused as to how this litter business is supposed to work after he graduates out of the cage (by "graduates" I mean he poops in the litter boxes and is "trained"). Do I keep his food and hay in the litter boxes once he moves to an x-pen set-up for good? Right now I feel like this is less litter training and more like me following him around with a shovel and making it impossible for him to poop anywhere but the litter. Does that make sense?

 

[PaGal]

It could take anywhere from a few days to a few months to litter train. Buns are considered litter trained when they pee only in a litter box, nowhere else. My intact male did take quite a while before he stopped dropping a lot of poops outside of the litter box.

Once he is litter trained then you can slowly allow him more space. You just want to add a small amount of space at a time as long as he keeps using the litter box. Yes, you want to keep his litter box and hay/food set up as it is when he becomes litter trained. Most buns can be very particular about where they want their belongings

Really though he has not been indoors for very long at all and it may take him longer to pick up on it especially being intact.

 

[mrsmeyers]

Got it. Thank you for the clarification! He's definitely peeing in the box (except for the one accident). He even pooped in it yesterday, but overnight pooped in his favorite lounging spot. I usually clean up his poops ASAP and put some droppings in his litter box as a reminder.

Sounds like I need to be more patient ...