Still not using his litter tray- after six months

[jcottonl02]

Ever since I got Benji, I placed his poos and the hay he had weed on, in his litter tray and placed his litter tray in the corner he seemed to prefer, and within a few weeks he was perfectly litter trained. Perfect. And has never stopped being like that.

I tried the same with Pippin when I got him. Obviously I wasn't too worried before I got him neutered that he was not using his litter tray properly, but afterI got him neutered he still doesn't use his litter tray.

I put it in the corner he seems to like best...and then he changes his mind and wees somewhere else. Then I put the poos and weed-on hay into the litter tray and put it where he then seemed to like best. But he never uses it. At all!!

This means that when I empty Ben's litter tray in the morning (takes 5 minutes) I have to fully clean out Pippin's bedroom, and it takes a while. I wish he would just use his litter tray, but I can't seem to encourage him enough to do so.

I've almost given up trying. Is it something I am not doing? Or doing wrong?
Any help? Pleeeaaaseeee

 

[spoh]

Have you tried putting his hay right in the litter box so that if he wants to eat hay he has to sit in the box? What do you have on the bottom of the cage?

My lucy has two litter boxes, one has her food bowl sitting in it and the other has her hay, if she wants to eat at all she is sitting in one box or the other.I have had to try a few different things because she has had a couple of potty issues but has been great since I started this.

Hope this help,

Joy

 

[jcottonl02]

Thanks for the reply.

Well the hutch is double storey, but he never wees down the bottom. He only wees in his bedroom.

The bedroom is small (like you would expect a bedroom to be), perhaps a third of the width of the hutch, so I have a small, triangular litter tray in there.It is definately big enough for him to sit in, but I am not sure there would be enough room for his food bowl too.

His hay rack is in the major part of the hutch, along with his food bowl.

I line the floor of the hutch with newspaper and then hay.

His bedroom is filled with hay, very full every night because it is quite cold here at the moment (not quite cold enough to snow though).

So I would assume he would have lots to munch on in his litter tray.....

I use wood pellets too......is that significant?

Maybe get a bigger litter tray to give him a better "chance" of going in it?

Thankies

 

[spoh]

I don't know anything about outside buns so I might be way off but maybe because there is hay everywhere he just munches wherever he happens to be at the time so that is where he potties too. Lucy is an indoor bun and her cage bottom is totally clean other than miscellaneous pieces of hay that she scatters here and there so if she wants hay she HAS to sit in the box. I understand that you can't do that because of the cold, hopefully somebody with experience with out side buns will pop in and give you some advice.

Oh, and I put wood pellets on the bottom of both boxes and then just put hay at one end of one and sit her food bowl in the corner of the other.

Sorry I'm not more help!

Joy

 

[jcottonl02]

No- you've been great- thanks! I realy appreciate ur replies.

Yes I see what you mean....maybe it is cos he just has loads of hay to munch.... I am at a bit of a loss really.....

Hopefully some people with outdoor rabbits will give me some advice. (well...they are outdoor rabbits technichally, as their hutches are outside and they sleep there, but they are inside the house quitea lot of the day!!!!)

 

[jcottonl02]

No- you've been great- thanks! I realy appreciate ur replies.

Yes I see what you mean....maybe it is cos he just has loads of hay to munch.... I am at a bit of a loss really.....

Hopefully some people with outdoor rabbits will give me some advice. (well...they are outdoor rabbits technichally, as their hutches are outside and they sleep there, but they are inside the house quitea lot of the day!!!!)

 

[Little Bay Poo]

Let me start off by saying that both our bunnies are neutered but are still very territorial. That is why the following method worked for us.

Ronnie used to only use his litterbox to pee. He'd create mounds of poo elsewhere in his cage (luckily we had him on a wire floor so he wasn't directly sitting in it). Then one day we put Billy into Ronnie's cage, and Ronnie into Billy's cage (in hopes of getting them used to each other's scent so we could eventually try to bond them). Billy marked Ronnie's litterbox with poos and pees, because Billy loves to mark territory.

When Ronnie went back into his own cage he remarked his own litterbox to get the Billy smell away. Ever since then, Ronnie has been using his litterbox very consistently, for poos and pees! It wasn't our original goal but it was a nice benefit of switching the rabbits.

So maybe if you get your other rabbit's scent in Pippin's litterbox, Pippin will use it to remark it as his territory. Do this a bunch of times and hopefully he'll start using his litterbox consistently.

 

[jcottonl02]

What a fab idea- thank you very much. That is something I hadn't thought of but it makes perfect sense!
Will try and let you know!