Toilet Training

[Lhucky]

Is there really such thing as too late to toilet train my 1 year old bunnies? Before when we first had them, I would let them out of their cage and they would pee and poop all over our bedroom floor. Last week I decided to buy toilet for them. Put them on their usual place where they'd poop and pee. Funny thing was, not 1 of my bunnies use them. My Lhucky used it alright! As her Bed! She'll go there when I make sound and disapprove of her behavior, (whenever she tried to get the toilet tray out of my other bunnies house... Or nip on the cable wires. ) and stays there for hours. When she'd poop, she'll jump out and do her business and walk around the room a little bit and go back to the toilet and sit there for hours. I gave her a bed to stay, ( the dog bed kind ) but she prefers to stay in the toilet.

 

[Azerane]

It's certainly not too late, you just have to be persistent! What are you using as litter in the tray? It looks like you have a blanket in there? Try putting some recycled newspaper pellets or some other type of litter in there as well as some hay at one end (or in a hay rack on the side). The hay will encourage your rabbit to sit in there and eat and likely do poops. Also, whenever they poop or pee outside of the pan, pick it up and put it in the tray, wipe up pee with a paper towel and put that in the tray too. The presence and smell will help them to associate the tray with being their toilet.

Also, your bunny is super fluffy!

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Ahhh I LOVE your bunny! She's SO cute! What type is she?

I agree, be persistant, and if she is not spayed, get her spayed as that can really help. Also, using something like newspaperpellets or carefresh for litter can really help.
Also, yes, sticking some of their droppings/papertowels with their pee on it in the box can help as they'll realize that's where they should be going. If theres another spot they like to go in, put a dish, crock, or toy there to keep them from using that spot. Remember, most bunnies will never fully use the litter box for everything, but you can usually get them trained to pee there, and poop in there most the time; you'll just still probably find a few stray poops around.

 

[whiskylollipop]

What breed is that bunny and HOW does she SEE?

Bunnies can be litter trained at any age. Let her use it as her bed, she obviously finds it a comfortable and safe place to be. Use absorbent pet bedding for litter in your next litter box, bunnies like peeing on absorbent stuff.

 

[Lhucky]

Hihihi... Thanks! the breeder said she's an Angora. Only I think Mix with Dwarf I guess... Lhucky can see. she have 2 big very round eyes. Her hair wasn't really that long, about an inch long only. she doesn't have matted hair anywhere so I just let it be. she can sometimes amaze my husband also, she'll run back home whenever she sees him coming near her. her HusBun on the other hand had had haircut every now and then. like my husband would say "Lhousio's his and Lhucky and the rest is MINE"

here's another shot of my Lhoe-Lhas' sons. (unfortunately, mommy Lhoe-Lha past away last Feb. her 3 babies followed few days after... soo very sad story )
Bugsy ( black and white ) and Thor ( gray and white ) and my filthy little lucky rabbits FEET!!! see how clean their toilets are? Hopefully, they'd learn to use their toilets soon... I just need to be more patient. Sometimes, cleaning 24/7 could really be tiresome. This photo was taken few minutes after we let them out of their cage.

Inside their cage, they use their floor mat beds as their toilets. they have wired floor, so we use mats on half of their cage to give their foot pads protection, but ended up being their toilets and beds at the same time. Outside the cage, scenario was a total opposite. Our bedroom floor became their toilet.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Adorable <3 I think the problem should solve itself if you get them neutered/spayed. Leaving poos everywhere is hormonal marking behaviour, they'll stop doing this once they're fixed.

Those poos look a bit irregular. Are they just squashed/broken? Do your bunnies consistently poo round hard poops? The colour of your grey bun's feet looks like smushed poop, which indicates to me that someone's poos are soft. And that bit of poop in Lhucky's first pics look stuck together with string.

Are you giving them hay?

 

[akdisneypirates]

What about changing their feed?

 

[Lhucky]

they do have soft poops the first few minutes outside the cage though. then became normal round again after few minutes. their vet said to watch for more signs of illness... and that maybe they get too excited or scared when we're around. we tried to give them a chance to run around the room as much as possible for few hours for running excercises and to play with them as well. they have hays inside their cages. I put their hays inside hay ball. although we're not sure if they get enough hay... there were also plenty of hays falls into the litter pan as well. I just put more hays when hay ball's empty.

rabbit savvy vet are very hard to find in our country. even their usual pellets keeps on running out in pet stores. we are forced to change their food with the one available in the market.
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[whiskylollipop]

Getting excited/scared shouldn't affect their poop at all. It looks like a fibre deficiency. Make sure you change their hay every day, rabbits love fresh hay. Also when your preferred food brand is in stock, buy lots of it if you can, changing food types all the time can cause stress to their digestive system.

 

[Azerane]

If you're having to change their food regularly because of availability that could be causing some soft poo. Changing food can often lead to tummy upsets if it's not done very gradually.

 

[Blue eyes]

I put their hays inside hay ball. although we're not sure if they get enough hay... there were also plenty of hays falls into the litter pan as well. I just put more hays when hay ball's empty.
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Those hay balls make it difficult for them to get the hay out, so they likely aren't getting enough hay. They should eat about their body-size in hay every day.

I agree that spaying/neutering will help. Spayed buns actually litter train more easily.

You could try removing the mats that they pee/ poo on and replace them with a plastic box that is set up something like this.

 

[JBun]

If the only time their poop is soft like that is when you first let them out of their cage, and you don't see soft poop in the cage too, then it's possible that one of your rabbits has something called megacolon. It's a genetic trait that white and black spotted rabbits can carry, but sometimes health problems can cause it too. Usually it's seen more in rabbits that are more white with a few black spots, but if you are seeing this, and it's only right when you let them out to play, then it's possible for one of them to have it. Are their poops different sizes, like there will be really big ones and really little ones, and sometimes irregular shaped? I have two rabbits with megacolon, and the same thing happens sometimes when I let them out to play. Right at the beginning there are sometimes a few soft poops, then they are normal after that. You'll want to be careful with their diets. I've found with my two megacolon rabbits, that the best thing in their diet is lots of hay. One can't have any pellets or he starts to feel sick, the other can only have a very tiny bit. Then I feed them grass hay, a little alfalfa hay, and a few non cruciferous leafy veggies. You may find that if you feed less pellets and more grass hay, that the soft poops won't be as bad, and may even clear up altogether.

For litter training, the spot where they like to pee the most in their cage, is the best place to put their litter box. They're still going to leave their poop everywhere, but as long as they pee in their litter box, they are doing good. If you limit the area where they are allowed to run around and play, it will help more with their litter box training too.

 

[Lhucky]

Did I mention that I lived in the Philippines? Hehehe... all bunnies food were imported from other countries. I've never heard of newspaper pellets nor wood shaving pellets. wood shavings we have no pellet. we have 'Chipsi Citrus' animal bedding for rodents. I've seen 4 brands of their food pellets. 2-3 brands of hays. we don't even have critical care here... (Oh yeah, there's this 1 animal hospital said they used to carry it but not anymore.) I have to asked my sister from Singapore to buy me a pack for emergency purposes. (Lhousio might need it after his operation) rabbit savvy vets are also quite hard to find... (I've accidentally stumble upon a local buy and sell website that sells rabbits and give discounts if they get their bunny fixed, asked for her recommendation as she's glad to help.) the vet is a celebrity vet... but when you looked it up the net the place where he works... I have read no 1 positive feed backs... so my mind were still arguing on whether or not I should take Lhousio there. anyway we've talked to him already, schedule is our only problem, my husband's still very bz with his work so I guess we'll just cross the bridge when we get there.

we do buy one or two months supply of their food.. unfortunately when we go back for more, if it's not sold out the store would say shipments still haven't arrived yet. we don't even have appropriate bunny chew toy, I've used the calcium stick for them once the one meant for birds, my husband just have to throw it out, Lhoe-Lha ate a chunkful of it. we also used the scratch pad for kittens, it have to go too, Lhousio nail bleed. all we could do was improvised... Hehehe.

Anyway... Lhucky and the boys are using 1 toilet to pee.... Yey! JBun thank you! Lhucky owes you her 2nd life, hopefully we wouldn't mess it up c",$ although now, Lhucky only doesn't sit on the toilet you can see it for yourself Hehehe.:rabbithop

As for Lhoe-Lhas' babies, I might need help soon... will watch them more closely for now. their poops were really bigger than the 3 adults we have. so far poos size looked quite similar, no drastic change of sizes, aside from un-eaten night poop which are longer. how will we know for sure if they have megacolon? will X-ray confirms it? or blood tests maybe? Thanks again for the help EVERYONE c",$

 

[JBun]

It's nice to hear that Lhucky is doing well. She's a beautiful rabbit

It's pretty easy to tell if a rabbit has megacolon, as their fecal pellets look different than other rabbits 'normal' poop. The fecal pellets for megacolon rabbits will be really big and really little, irregular shaped, and can sometimes be soft and/or spongy. Normal rabbit poop is all generally the same size, and should be round and crumbly. For my two rabbits with megacolon, I have to be more careful with what I feed them. They don't get any sugary treats, ever. One can't have pellets, the other can have a little bit, like half a tablespoon twice a day. And they get mostly grass hay and a little alfalfa hay, and some dark green leafy lettuce, and a little parsley. Luckily they don't have severe megacolon, and don't have to take any medication, but sometimes rabbits with megacolon will need to take gut motility meds on a regular basis, to keep their gut moving and prevent stasis and other gut problems from occurring. You can see in this picture, what my megacolon rabbits fecal poop normally looks like, how it's really big and really small and irregular shaped. And it's always like this. You can also look at this link, to see what normal rabbit poop should look like. If your rabbits are having soft poop or they have megacolon, you may need to change their diet so that they are getting more hay and less pellets.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/drop/Drp_en.htm

 

[Lhucky]

Are these poos look healthy?

 

[JBun]

Are some of them teardrop shaped? That might have to do with not enough fiber in their diet. How much pellets and hay do you feed each rabbit, each day? And about how much do they weigh?

 

[Lhucky]

for pellets, the babies from 3 months and beyond, depends on how much they finished their foods. since they still lived together then, in their bowl we give about 4 cups to cup-ful ( 1/8 cup ) for them to share am and pm. sometimes depending on how fast they finished their pellet in a day. their hay, about 4 handful everyday inside their box house. I guess every 5 to 6 hours depending on how many good hays still available for them to have, we usually still add 2-3 handfuls more. inside the box, it might be easy for them to eat hay but its also very easy to get wet from their pee. and b'coz they love to dig, a lot of hays went to litter pan also. after we got a message from our usual pet shop saying that they only have limited stocks of hays left and will be waiting for their next shipments which date is still unknown, we used hay balls already ( Since April ) then, sometimes the hay ball all day left untouched (if this happens we cut their pellets in half at night), sometimes in less than 5 hours its gone. few still went to litter pan. there. that's how they eat. water on the other hand, they used to drink 750 ml-1000 ml in a day. since they are now kep in pairs, 1 500ml bottle last 3 days already.

 

[Lhucky]

their weight, still unsure. 1 too fat, 2 slim and 1 in the middle.