Ugh! Loss of litter habbits

[degrassi]

I"m having some issues with my rabbit and his litter habbits for the past few weeks. I"m 99% I know why but I just wanted to confirm. Here is the deal...

My rabbit lives in my room. He is 5yo and neutered. He has always had great litter habbits. He'd have the odd pee accident on the floor next to his litter box but that was mostly because I'd not cleaned it enough that week. So about 2 weeks ago Gimpy started peeing next to his litter box. At first I thought nothing of it, as it was only a few spots over a few days. But now its frequently(2-5 pee spots/day) and poop piles. He is still using his litter box a bit but mostly he is going on the floor.

Now here is the reason I think he has broken his litter habbits. About a month ago our pipe broke in the basement and my dad had to jackhammer the concrete floor. My bunny really didn't like the jackhammer and was pretty pissed off(sitting in the corner thumping) for 2 days. The jackhammering finished and he seems ok(back to normal, still using litterbox). For the past 3 weeks my dad has been renovating my bathroom, which is connected to my bedroom, where Gimpy's cage is. Gimpy doens't seem as scared as he did with the jack hammer but I can tell he doens't like it when there is hammering or sawing. So I'm guessing the loss of litter habbits is from all these disruptions to his routine and the fact that my dad is now always in my room making noise.

Any opinions? Should I be worried? Will his litter habbits go back to normal once the contruction is done? I dont' think I can take having to clean his cage multiple times a day forever.

 

[Maureen Las]

degrassi wrote:

I"m having some issues with my rabbit and his litter habbits for the past few weeks. I"m 99% I know why but I just wanted to confirm. Here is the deal...

My rabbit lives in my room. He is 5yo and neutered. He has always had great litter habbits. He'd have the odd pee accident on the floor next to his litter box but that was mostly because I'd not cleaned it enough that week. So about 2 weeks ago Gimpy started peeing next to his litter box. At first I thought nothing of it, as it was only a few spots over a few days. But now its frequently(2-5 pee spots/day) and poop piles. He is still using his litter box a bit but mostly he is going on the floor.

Now here is the reason I think he has broken his litter habbits. About a month ago our pipe broke in the basement and my dad had to jackhammer the concrete floor. My bunny really didn't like the jackhammer and was pretty p*ssed off(sitting in the corner thumping) for 2 days. The jackhammering finished and he seems ok(back to normal, still using litterbox). For the past 3 weeks my dad has been renovating my bathroom, which is connected to my bedroom, where Gimpy's cage is. Gimpy doens't seem as scared as he did with the jack hammer but I can tell he doens't like it when there is hammering or sawing. So I'm guessing the loss of litter habbits is from all these disruptions to his routine and the fact that my dad is now always in my room making noise.

Any opinions? Should I be worried? Will his litter habbits go back to normal once the contruction is done? I dont' think I can take having to clean his cage multiple times a day forever.

I think that you are probably right on with this. if he has ever lived in another part of the house (somewhere familar)

could you move him until the construction is over?

if not can you possibly put on some classical or soft music on for him to sort of make the sound from the construction not as powerful?
I think that his litterbox habits will return after this is over but it does sound like it is stressing him.

 

[degrassi]

I would move him but his cage doesn't fit through my door so I'd have to take it part and I dont' think that would help too much as he'd still be able to hear it in the other room.

I guess I'll just wait it out and hope things go back to normal once the construction is done.

The good thing is that i'm home all day with him and his cage is right next to my computer. So i'm able to talk to him and pet him to try and calm him down.

 

[Maureen Las]

We gutteda room several moths ago and my buns went through this and survived but there was sure a lot of thumping going on...
the 2 in my avatar ( Daisy and Penn)did get used to an air compressor which was amazing to me.
if any of them had really looked seriously freakedI would have moved them further but they did OK.
Maureen

 

[degrassi]

Good to know someone else has gone through this.

If he was looking seriously freaked out I'd move him, or if the noise was more constant. Right now he is looking ticked off but not like he is freaking out or too scared. He is just sitting in the corner, in his box, looking all angry.

I'm actually surprised at how chill he is. He's never been scared of the vacuum or new things. Like even now, he doens't like the noise but when its quiet, he is right back to being normal(flopping,digging, exploring when I let him out, letting me pet him). I"m glad he doesn't hold a grudge,lol.

I"m just praying the litter issues are temporary. Everytime, as soon as i'm done cleaning up the mess he goes and pees again. I can't believe he has so much pee in him! I couldn't imagine owning a rabbit that never uses a litter box. I guess this is one of those times where you dont' appreciate something untill its gone,lol.

 

[degrassi]

Man, this is getting annoying:faint:I can't believe he can pee this much! As soon as i clean it up, he goes back and pees again.

I really hope this resolves itself soon as I'm going away in 2 weeks and my dad is going to be taking care of my bunny for the week. I know he won't be impressed with cleaning the mess multiple times a day.

Blah!