Some advice please

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Juier58

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Hi all,
I am a new bunny owner and I need some advice please. Dottie is a 7 month old lion head rabbit. She has a bit of an eventful start to life due to other rabbits being mis sexed, but alway well looked after and loved. When she came she was using a litter tray to have a wee in but since I cleaned it out she is just going wherever she wants and I have never caught her going! Any ideas on how I could get her back in the litter tray please. I do have a smaller litter tray in her pen but she just uses this to eat her hay from, should I take this out to encourage her into main litter tray I'm not sure what to do. She has only been here a week which I recognise that this has been stressful for her.
Also she is a jumper! Her pen does not have a roof to it and although I have tried closing the door at bedtime she just jumps out so I now I just leave it open, has this been a good decision? (She is not distructive) I don't want to stress her unnecessarily as we have a trip to vet on Wednesday. Thank you Julie
 
To get her to use her litter box again: make sure that it is adequate size, cat litter boxes are often used for bunnies. If you have bedding in her cage, take it out and only use litter in the litterbox as it confuses them. She’s only been with you for a short while so, she’s probably quite confused and is marking her territory. When she pees, wipe it up with a paper towel and put the paper towel in the litter box. Then wipe the area with 1:1 white vinegar and water solution. Do the same with the poops after picking them up and putting them in the litter box. If she isn’t spayed, spaying will help especially at this age.
As for her jumping: you can get a higher Xpen, 4ft is a good height I think.
You can keep the door open as long as the room is rabbit proofed though.
 
Apollo’s Slave said:
To get her to use her litter box again: make sure that it is adequate size, cat litter boxes are often used for bunnies. If you have bedding in her cage, take it out and only use litter in the litterbox as it confuses them. She’s only been with you for a short while so, she’s probably quite confused and is marking her territory. When she pees, wipe it up with a paper towel and put the paper towel in the litter box. Then wipe the area with 1:1 white vinegar and water solution. Do the same with the poops after picking them up and putting them in the litter box. If she isn’t spayed, spaying will help especially at this age.
As for her jumping: you can get a higher Xpen, 4ft is a good height I think.
You can keep the door open as long as the room is rabbit proofed though.
Click to expand...
Could you just clarify for me do I take the whole litter tray out of her pen or just remove the substrate and pee pad liner?
She is going to the vet for her vaccinations and I am going to discuss getting her spade as I know this will help with her potty training.
Thank you for replying and your advice.
 
Attaching a picture on her set up and her litter box, will easier help us to see how the set up look like ☺

Also she's in a age where she will do things outside her litter box which is pretty normal with that age.
 
This is her pen and her outside litter box. In the morning when I get up all her poop is in her pen
 

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Juier58 said:
Could you just clarify for me do I take the whole litter tray out of her pen or just remove the substrate and pee pad liner?
She is going to the vet for her vaccinations and I am going to discuss getting her spade as I know this will help with her potty training.
Thank you for replying and your advice.
Click to expand...
Her litter box looks like a good size. Is that the one that is usually in her pen? She’s quite young, so she might just be getting distracted. I would just say, pick up and clean any messes she makes, if that makes sense (I can be quite bad at describing things). Limiting her space could help too, so just keeping her in a smaller area, rather than free-roaming the house or a room.
 
Juier58 said:
This is her pen and her outside litter box. In the morning when I get up all her poop is in her pen
Click to expand...
Apollo’s Slave said:
Her litter box looks like a good size. Is that the one that is usually in her pen? She’s quite young, so she might just be getting distracted. I would just say, pick up and clean any messes she makes, if that makes sense (I can be quite bad at describing things). Limiting her space could help too, so just keeping her in a smaller area, rather than free-roaming the house or a room.
Click to expand...
Thanks for replying. I do understand ho hard it is to describe things. I have never put the big litter tray in her pen as it is so big and wouldn't leave much room in there. The tray you can see in her pen is set up like a litter tray with substrate and a pee pad liner but I have only ever seen her eat from it without actually get in it.
I do put any poop I find into the litter tray but as for the pee I have never actually see her go in order to mop it up and do the same with her wee! Although I have only found 4 wee stains on the carpets.
She does spend a time behind the sofa as I guess she feels safe there.
I will get her spade asap as I know this helps.
 
I can only see one picture. A large blue cat litter box. It seems that you’ve only had her for a short while, so she’ll likely get better. Especially after being spayed ☺️
 
Juier58 said:
This is her pen and her outside litter box. In the morning when I get up all her poop is in her pen
Click to expand...
Just a note of caution. It may not take her too long to decide that those curtains are good for digging. I have had curtains that 'pooled' on the ground like that and discovered multiple holes chewed in them courtesy of my rabbits.

If you've only had her a week, I'd be cautious about cleaning the litter box too often. In fact, I'd go as long as you can between cleaning at first. She needs the litter box to smell like her urine so she returns to it again and again. They naturally choose one spot to potty, so by cleaning it out too soon, it can confuse her.
 
Blue eyes said:
Just a note of caution. It may not take her too long to decide that those curtains are good for digging. I have had curtains that 'pooled' on the ground like that and discovered multiple holes chewed in them courtesy of my rabbits.

If you've only had her a week, I'd be cautious about cleaning the litter box too often. In fact, I'd go as long as you can between cleaning at first. She needs the litter box to smell like her urine so she returns to it again and again. They naturally choose one spot to potty, so by cleaning it out too soon, it can confuse her.
Click to expand...
 
Just went back and read more. I'd guess that if she's hopping out, it is from her upper shelf then on to the couch. If another pair of grids were placed across the top beside the other two on top, I doubt she'd be able to jump out.
 
Thank you I will do that in regard of the litter tray.
I am keeping a very close eye on the curtains, although at the moment she seems more interested in the carpet! 👀
 
Blue eyes said:
Just a note of caution. It may not take her too long to decide that those curtains are good for digging. I have had curtains that 'pooled' on the ground like that and discovered multiple holes chewed in them courtesy of my rabbits.

If you've only had her a week, I'd be cautious about cleaning the litter box too often. In fact, I'd go as long as you can between cleaning at first. She needs the litter box to smell like her urine so she returns to it again and again. They naturally choose one spot to potty, so by cleaning it out too soon, it can confuse her.
Click to expand...
To be honest I am not too sure, all I know is that I closed the door late evening. I was sat on the sofa sorting out my glasses etc for the night I heard a noise looked round to see this grey fluff ball flying towards me. It was so funny one of those times you wish you had a camera!
 
Maybe your girl is a climber, one of my bucks jump and then start to climb the last part, so he didn't need to jump the whole way:rolleyes:

You can put a sheet over if she still manage to escape her pen.
 
Hermelin said:
Maybe your girl is a climber, one of my bucks jump and then start to climb the last part, so he didn't need to jump the whole way:rolleyes:

You can put a sheet over if she still manage to escape her pen.
Click to expand...
Thanks planni g to make some changes tomorrow!
 
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