Please Help with Litter Habits!

[Kelli Cottrell]

Hi everyone,

I'm having continuing trouble with my bunny and her litter habits. She absolutely refuses to use her litter box unless she is in it to eat hay. She leaves droppings everywhere and is constantly peeing on my bed and carpet. She leaves big puddles on my bed and small puddles of pee all around the floor of my bedroom. The small puddles had me concerned so I took her to the vet to have her checked for a UTI but they did not find any evidence of one. She is a year old and has been spayed for seven months. I feel like I've tried every suggestion in the book to get her to take to her litter box. I have even bought different types of litter boxes and had more than one set up at one time to encourage her to not go on the bed and floor but the only interest she has in them is the hay. Does anyone have any off the wall suggestions?? Her messes are beginning to become overwhelming and I've run out of things to try. I pick up her droppings and put them in the litter box and I soak up her pee with a napkin and do the same thing. I've deodorized the bed countless times and bought a shower curtain to drape over my bed but she's relentless. I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can give! Is this still considered marking behavior? Should she still be this territorial after having been spayed for over half a year?

 

[Blue eyes]

The bed can be blocked but the peeing on the carpet is concerning (and not usual). I suspect she is in the habit and is smelling the urine in the carpet. They like to go where they smell it. Could you post a photo of her living space? Since this has been a recurring issue, a photo of the area would make it easier to perhaps spot potential causes.

 

[BugsysPetHuman]

My chap has pee'd on us once or twice and I quickly figured out it was because he didnt want to jump off the sofa on to the slippery floor (we dont have carpet) and back to his cage.

Could she be finding it difficult to get back to her litter box from wherever she is?

Its probably not recommended but we occasionally move his litter boxes and put him in it and pet him whilst he is sitting in it in it's new place. After about 20 mins he accepts the new place. It seems to get him used to having to actually find the litter box to go.

 

[Pumpkin]

I know it will be hard to keep your rabbit in a pen after it has free roamed, but that's what you'll have to do. It's so much harder to litter train when there's a big room to clean up. Keep her in a pen until there isn't a single accident for more than 3 days. My rabbit didn't realize until about 2 weeks, but after seeing me come in, soak up pee, and pick up poop and put it all in the litter box, he finally got the hint. There's probably somewhere in the room that she thinks is more comfortable to sit and pee and poop in than his litter box. But once she starts to do his business in the litter box, she'll never want to go back to doing it on the rug and bed. It can take a while, but it's well worth it. Don't let her out of her pen until she's 100% litter trained. Then slowly reintroduce her to other parts of the room to make sure she continues to do it in her litter box. If she does start peeing somewhere else, redo the whole process again or add another litterbox in the room. Good Luck

 

[Kelli Cottrell]

I had literally just made the decision to do this today! I'll be off to buy an x pen a little later. I'm glad to know it worked for you! Thank you for the response.