one step forward, 6 back...

[loppalove]

I am desperately trying to litter train one (the newest addition) of my buns, Henry. I give him frequent time out of his normal cage, in a 3x3 (maybe a bitlarger) enclosure, with a litter box, and a handful of hay inside the box, with food water near by. He pees in the box, but poos all over the place. In fact, in his cage, he is more disciplined about where he goes than when he is in the larger enclosure. It isnt too large I dont think, but i am just not sure why he is pooing all over, but peeing in the litter box ?? the other bun gets run-time in the same enclosure too, but seperately. He is also a male. Is Henry pooing to mark?



The long term goal, is to train him so that he is very, very reliable and can be completely loose with a litterbox to use.

Thank you for any advice in advance.

 

[Spring]

Hi there!

Is Henry neutered? If not, that's probably were most of the problem stems from. Intact bunnies often have trouble with training because of the urge to be territorial and mark everywhere! Especially if there was a previous bunny in the same enclosure, he will definitely want to remark it as his own.

Neutering helps, but pooping outside the litterbox can be a hit and miss. If there's a trace of another bunnies scent, even the best of litter trained bunnies will mark intact or fixed.. just something that happens with multiple bun households!

Good luck!

 

[loppalove]

no neither are neutered, yet. Wednesday they are both going in for the big SNIP SNIP. I was originally quoted 110 per rabbit by my normal vet for neutering, but found a place that does it for $65 each. SO they are going in on Wednesday.



Thanks for your reply Spring

 

[SweetSassy]

Neutering will help. plus it will take time. Atleast their peeing all the time in their boxes. That's a good thing.

 

[loppalove]

SweetSassy wrote:

Neutering will help. plus it will take time. Atleast their peeing all the time in their boxes. That's a good thing.

i just went and got another enclosure, so that they can have their own runs. I think they were marking after each other before. So now, they each have their own litter box and play area. Individual toys, water bowls etc. And I got feet of remnant carpeting at a carpet place and cut it in half to put under them, so the accidents arent going into MY carpet...lol.

 

[SweetSassy]

sounds good, that should help :biggrin2: keep us updated.