Pooping under my desk?

[chiefofsages]

So, my almost-2-year-old rabbit has a cage in my office. Except in rare situations, the door is generally open and he can come and go into the cage as he pleases. I keep a child gate in the doorway of my office so that people can say hi to him and he can hear the sounds of the house as well as get some heat.

My problem is this: he LOVES to poop under my desk.

He has a litter box in his cage, and it's a large one. He frequently uses it. I don't have any issues with him peeing around the room (that I know of), only pooping. He does use his litter box for that, too, though.

While I don't mind a few little "treats" here and there on the carpet, he has fixated on the area under my desk. I'm talking like... 50+ pellets a day. There might be 10 throughout the rest of the carpet in the entire room. And it's not the spot on the rug, because yesterday I re-arranged the room, moved the desk, and he still pooped under there.

I have to vacuum almost on a daily basis. Tonight, when I went to vacuum, I didn't even have enough time to wind up the cord and place the vacuum into the hallway before he was under my desk pooping again (less than 60 seconds from vacuuming up the old poop).

I just tried putting a litter box under there (finally caved), but he was very quick to try and move it. When I stopped him from moving it, he kicked half the stuff out of it before finally settling in and pooping. I can't stop him from moving it when I'm not there.

Any suggestions?

 

[ShreddersMom]

My rabbit used to LOVE moving his litter box around too! He always wanted it in the centre of the room and I obviously wanted it under a chair and out of the way. The way that it fits, it is held in place by the chair so may try to put something very heavy in there so he can't move it.

As for the whole pooping elsewhere, you could try to keep him penned up in a smaller area around his litter box to help him only go in his litter box and then gradually expand the area so he continues inly suing the box.

Additionally, try to simply block off the area under your desk while he is free to stop him from pooping under there.

 

[ShreddersMom]

Also I don't know if he is neutered but that might help litter habits as well!

 

[JBun]

Well, he's obviously claiming it as 'his' territory for some reason. Not much you can do to change that besides blocking off or putting something there to contain it, provided he's neutered. You could try a hay box there to see if that works. If he still tries to dig it out, try one with high sides, or if he still wants to move it, secure it somehow so it can't be moved. You basically want to distract the behavior by giving him something to do that he likes, and encourages him to poop inside the box and not outside it.

 

[chiefofsages]

The litter box didn't work. He just pooped next to it.

So, I'm going to try and find another kiddie-gate and see if I can block it off when I'm not in the room.

 

[chiefofsages]

It's getting much worse. Now he's running over and pooping under it constantly, despite my shoving him out from underneath. (I know shoving is bad, but he won't move with a slight nudge.) He didn't use the litter box, and then I even tried a gate. He just pooped in front of it. Yesterday, when I tried to move him from underneath, he spun around and peed everywhere.

He is not neutered, which I get. He's marking his territory. But, he's never been this bad before. My office smells terrible, like his poop and pee are becoming more pungent, not just more visible. It's only been in the last few weeks, and he's WELL past the beginnings of sexual maturity. He's about 2 years old, and he's never displayed these habits before, even last spring, when he was a year old.

I'm planning on getting him neutered ASAP, but I'm curious as to why he's only starting these habits now?

 

[JBun]

It seems to me that he may be marking that area as that is where you would generally be. So it may have to do with marking your 'shared' area, marking you as 'his' person, or possibly being upset that you leave him. This could be happening now due to the onset of 'spring fever' and it's only this spring that he has developed enough to have it cause an issue with marking behavior. Neutering may be your answer. There's no guarantee it will completely correct the marking behavior, but in most cases it can cause a significant improvement, and even completely correct the behavior. I just had my 2 yr. old buck neutered a week ago, and already he is calming down some. It can take about a month though, for the hormones to really settle. Neutering can also lessen the musky buck scent, usually quite a bit. Though neutering is most often a safe surgery, especially when done by a good rabbit vet, just be aware that any surgery carries risks, as well as a very rare risk of possible undesirable behavior changes. It's not common, but just something you should be aware of when making your decision.

If he is marking because he is upset that you leave him, then that would need a different solution.