ZoeStevens
Well-Known Member
A week ago, my rabbits went on a couple trips to the vet (emerg / regular rabbit vet) for a GI slowdown. After some time and sub-q fluids, he is doing much better and poops are nearly back to normal (varied sizes, but mostly regular sized, and lots of them). BUT he seems to have lost his litter training and is peeing on the floor of his cage (he still uses his litter box too), on me and on the floor. He does have control, he is choosing to pee, he is just not exclusively doing it in his litter box.
This is annoying, but he is also very prone to sore hocks so standing in pee has been aggravating his skin. He is an angora so his fur really absorbs the urine if he stands in it for any amount of time. I have been sudocreming and baby socking him for a few hours a day to keep the skin from getting too angry, but longterm this isn't a viable solution and I have been leaving them uncovered most of the day because I want them to dry out and not stay moist all day.
Last time I had to litter train them, I had to pretty much confine them to their cage and let it get filthy for them to learn to keep their pee in the box and it worked well, but that would be hard on his feet. The socks help, but they so absorb any pee he's standing in so I can't leave them on 24/7.
Housing info: they are in a 4 x 4 dog run / pen thing. No bedding. The flooring is a yoga mat covered by a rolling chair mat and they have some cardboard boxes to go in/on, They have a large cat-sized litter box with wood pellets and I put a smaller litter box in in a corner he was peeing in a lot this week.
I also have two memory foam pet beds, but they have been peeing on them so I took them out because they stay damp forever.
So, I have been percolating a plan and I was hoping you guys could advise me as to whether any of this is counter-indicated for any reason (my main concern is the hocks - at the moment they are fine, callused and a bit redder than usual, but no sores or great loss of hair).
My plan is to keep them in their cage for a while, hopefully until this gets sorted out. Is less exercise a risk with the recent GI slowdown?
Do a full cleaning of the cage floor so there's less lingering pee smells all over it. Although since they are going to make a mess of it anyway that's probably not super necessary.
Put something on the bottom of the cage, I was thinking either cardboard or fleece blankets. I have never known them to chew fabric so I feel pretty fine with putting fleece blankets (which I know are safest). I want something to absorb some of the pee and be soft, but that will not be deep bedding or anything that will simulate the litter box.
Should I keep him socked all the time? Sometimes? Never? I don't think it's a pressure-on-hocks thing (he is underweight and nails are clipped etc), just a skin sensitivity thing.
My other concern is that the vet said he was probably more like 7-8. I got him a couple years ago from a breeder who said he was 1 at the time and I believed her, but she also said his snuffles and runny eyes were from a draft and that they would go away. So, who knows, but I am worried that all this is symptoms of deteriorating in old age. Nothing to be done about that for now though. Do rabbits age well?
This is annoying, but he is also very prone to sore hocks so standing in pee has been aggravating his skin. He is an angora so his fur really absorbs the urine if he stands in it for any amount of time. I have been sudocreming and baby socking him for a few hours a day to keep the skin from getting too angry, but longterm this isn't a viable solution and I have been leaving them uncovered most of the day because I want them to dry out and not stay moist all day.
Last time I had to litter train them, I had to pretty much confine them to their cage and let it get filthy for them to learn to keep their pee in the box and it worked well, but that would be hard on his feet. The socks help, but they so absorb any pee he's standing in so I can't leave them on 24/7.
Housing info: they are in a 4 x 4 dog run / pen thing. No bedding. The flooring is a yoga mat covered by a rolling chair mat and they have some cardboard boxes to go in/on, They have a large cat-sized litter box with wood pellets and I put a smaller litter box in in a corner he was peeing in a lot this week.
I also have two memory foam pet beds, but they have been peeing on them so I took them out because they stay damp forever.
So, I have been percolating a plan and I was hoping you guys could advise me as to whether any of this is counter-indicated for any reason (my main concern is the hocks - at the moment they are fine, callused and a bit redder than usual, but no sores or great loss of hair).
My plan is to keep them in their cage for a while, hopefully until this gets sorted out. Is less exercise a risk with the recent GI slowdown?
Do a full cleaning of the cage floor so there's less lingering pee smells all over it. Although since they are going to make a mess of it anyway that's probably not super necessary.
Put something on the bottom of the cage, I was thinking either cardboard or fleece blankets. I have never known them to chew fabric so I feel pretty fine with putting fleece blankets (which I know are safest). I want something to absorb some of the pee and be soft, but that will not be deep bedding or anything that will simulate the litter box.
Should I keep him socked all the time? Sometimes? Never? I don't think it's a pressure-on-hocks thing (he is underweight and nails are clipped etc), just a skin sensitivity thing.
My other concern is that the vet said he was probably more like 7-8. I got him a couple years ago from a breeder who said he was 1 at the time and I believed her, but she also said his snuffles and runny eyes were from a draft and that they would go away. So, who knows, but I am worried that all this is symptoms of deteriorating in old age. Nothing to be done about that for now though. Do rabbits age well?
