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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum BEHAVIOR Empty litter box

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    • LBJ10
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        So we have a weird new behavior going on. Completely out of the blue, Leopold has decided that it is his duty to completely empty the litter box as quickly as he possibly can. I walked in on quite the mess tonight, a mountain of yesterday’s news and poop on the floor. Keep in mind that they have a phone book, several dig boxes, and a couple of cardboard kitty scratching post refills (they love to destroy those). Why on earth is the litter box suddenly a dig box? Poor Wooly! I saw him get in the litter box after Leopold was finished and he looked rather confused. What’s the point in them using the litter box if it all ends up on the floor anyway? Is there any way to curb his “enthusiasm”?


      • Monkeybun
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          You could get a grid to go over top the litter, so he can’t dig it up.


        • LBJ10
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            Hmm, that might work if I could find a way to attach it. Although he has also figured out how to tip the box so that every last bit can safely make it’s way out onto the floor. I’m betting that if he was determined, he would still find a way to get that litter out of there. I wonder what triggered this. It’s like an obsession.


          • Monkeybun
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              Can you attach the litter box to anything so he can’t tip it? Like a side of the pen or somesuch. You can use zip ties, and a little clip so you can unclip it to clean it. Drill little holes into part of the box to get the zip tie through


            • Kokaneeandkahlua
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                You can ziptie the box in place and or secure it with bricks. Try giving him a diggy box (which looks different then the litter box-maybe out of cardboard) filled with shredded paper-and if you observe him trying to dig or empty the litter box, put him in the diggy box. You can hide treats in the diggy box too to encourage the same behavior in a better place


              • jerseygirl
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                  Are Leopold and Wooly permanently together now? Some of this might be due to their new bond and sharing of the box. He mightn’t like how quickly it’s getting soiled or something like that…
                  A bigger box perhaps since 2 are using it?


                • LBJ10
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                    No, they are not permanently together yet. My husband says the hutch is proving to be more time consuming than he thought. So they are still in their separate cages at night and out in the room during the day. Others have suggested I get them an exercise pen, but I haven’t done that yet. It seems like a waste of money since they have their whole room and my husband promises he will have their new hutch done soon. Anyway, this is the third litter box that he is doing this with. They each have their own in their cages and this one is out in the room. There really isn’t anything to attach it to, like the others suggested. This particular box has a high back on it and is lower in the front. I was thinking of maybe getting a small cat litter box to use instead, since all the sides would be of equal height. I’m thinking since he can easily straddle the low side of the box that maybe that is making it tempting for him. As far as the litter box being soiled more quickly with two rabbits using it goes, I’m not sure if that would be it or not. I mean, they have both been using this box with no problem for some time now and I clean it out like I always have. My guess is that it is more of a digging obsession for Leopold… despite the fact that he has dig boxes. Ugh…


                  • Charity
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                      My bun Max would wait until I was in bed for the night and then run into his room and tip his litter box over… the first try at solving this was to jam the litter box between the toilet and the bathtub so that he couldnt tip it with his teeth.  After about a week or so, he discovered he could wedge beneath it and flip it that way, so I ended up getting a giant cat box with a dome lid so he couldnt pick it up or flip it… also, as others have said, the grids do keep those little diggy paws away from poos

                      Just a thought…


                    • LBJ10
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                        Okay, I am about ready to ring that little rabbit’s neck! Agh! I had gotten a larger litter box with taller sides thinking Leopold couldn’t tip it over. I had it wedged underneath a cart in their room. After I had chased Leopold away from the spot he has been chewing on the wall, it suddenly became eerily quiet in there. I went to check on them and there was Leopold just sitting there staring at me. Next to him was the litter box, completely flipped upside down. He had somehow dragged it out from under the cart and then completely flipped it over. There is litter everywhere…


                      • Joyfull_music
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                          I feel your pain 100% I came home from work and a busy day to a mountain of litter and poop infront of her box. And she was sitting triumphantly on her new “den”. When my husband asked what was for dinner, I told him we would be having rabbit stew.

                          (No we did not have rabbit, nor would we ever. We had chili dogs. )


                        • LBJ10
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                            I’m seriously going to cry. I hope my husband has their new home done soon so I can find a way to anchor their outside litter box to something.


                          • Michelle&Lolli
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                              Awww…I’m sorry. I know how frustrating it is. I fought and fought with Eddie about his digging in his litter box. I ended up just making his whole cage his litter box as that’s what he was doing anyways. Just ticked me off to no end when he’d kick litter 3 FEET outside his cage though.

                              Is it possible to just take that litterbox away and make them go back to their cages to go? Maybe he just doesn’t like that litter box. Have you tried different ones?


                            • LBJ10
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                                The reason there is a litter box outside the cage is because this particular location somehow became a second potty spot. Well I know how it became one. It is because Wooly couldn’t get in and out of his cage by himself (the rabbits had split days in the room before I started bonding them), so the litter box was originally for him. Leopold just started using the box and I kept it there because anytime I moved it, they would still pee and poop in that spot (on the floor, of course). Wooly has been staying in Leopold’s cage lately. He has no problem with the cage litter box, but he still wants to use this one during the day when they are out. Once the new cage is done and in place, I should be able to tether it to the foot of the cage since my husband is giving it “legs”. I suppose that won’t stop Leopold from digging. If he doesn’t stop them we might have to resort to litter screens. Oh, and to answer your question, this is the second one I have tried.


                              • Michelle&Lolli
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                                  Ok. I’m just as stumped as you are! And I really do feel your pain! They get so stubborn sometimes. lol

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                              Forum BEHAVIOR Empty litter box