Poop poop and more poops!! :/

[Rei]

I am fully aware that bunnies will still poop outside the litterbox even when they are litterbox trained, but Molly has been doing it a bit, excessively, lately. There is nothing abnormal about her poop at all. Everything is normal except she is leaving much more than normal outside of the litterbox, including in her cage, and in her hay….now there is no hay in her litterbox so its not like she thinks the hay is a litterbox, and she never pees in the hay either. I’m just getting a tad frustrated having to pick up all this extra poop when she never did this before. If there is nothing to be done about it, then I just have to accept it. Again, I know all bunnies will poop outside the litterbox, but its just seems like much more than normal. Any advice?

[Lazee]

I don’t have any remedy, unfortunately. BB is really good about keeping everything in her box but Furbee goes thur phases. of late it’s been minimul but last week was a disaster. I find if I don’t put down any thing on the floor there is none. but she never pees outside her box, well, hardly ever.

[Rei]

See the thing is, she usually doesnt go all over my floor, but right next to her litterbox on the floor, like she jumps out of it then goes poop…I clean it often. She has one in her cage, and one outside of her cage just to make sure she uses it. She does poop all through her cage tho…sigh

[Lazee]

just checked out your picture albums, she sure is doll.

[Rei]

haha thank you!! I love her so much! After she is spayed I want to get her a male companion

[Stickerbunny]

Most people put hay in the litter box because bunnies like to eat while they poop so it can encourage them to use the litter box more. But, it could be marking, or it could be that the litter box is “too dirty” for her – Powder refuses to use his box if he has to touch wet litter at all, so every time he pees I have to clean it out for him (even though it’s yesterdays news, it is a bit moist, so he deems it too nasty) or he will go right outside the box until it’s cleaned. lol

[Rei]

I clean her litterbox as often as I did when she was using it just fine before….idk if thats the case, but its something to think about.

[Rei]

I guess I will try to spot clean her litterbox more to see if that helps. What a fussy bunny! lol

[Sarita]

It sounds like she has hit puberty and this behavior is hormonal.

[Rei]

Posted By Sarita on 02/07/2012 12:10 PM
It sounds like she has hit puberty and this behavior is hormonal.

Do you think when she gets spayed it will happen less, or will that not make much of a difference??

 

[Sarita]

Eventually it will happen less once she is spayed and matures a bit more.

[mocha200]

 

 

This can be very annoying. My rabbits aren’t perfect and leave a few poops outside of their boxes, but their was a time that one of  my bunnies would poop a lot outside of her box. This is what I did to help it.

Clean Cage Every Day
Sweep up all of the poops into the litter box and quickly spray the floor down with vinegar and water everyday. By putting her poop back into the litter box it helped her know that was where she was supposed to go and spraying the floor down helps any sent left by the poop be  gone. ( I know poop is normally hard and you wouldn’t think they would leave a smell but right when they come out, they are a little soft. Not to sound gross.)

Get Another Box

If your bunny seems to be pooping in another area of the cage try placing another litter box there. Putting another box in her cage also provides more oportunites for her to use it. If she is pooping right next to the litter box she already has (my bunny did that all the time!) Try placing another litter box right next to the one you already have. This really helped my bunny.

Cleaning Litter Box

Cleaning the litter box more  often (as someone else mentioned) may help if your bunny is picky about how dirty it is. After you clean it and add fresh litter, put some of her poops and a paper towel soaked in pee in the box so she knows that’s where she is supposed to go.

Hay

Only provide hay in the litter box, either in the box or in a hay rack above the box. I use a hay rack that hangs above the litter box and I make sure they can’t reach it unless they jump into the box. As someone else mentioned you can also place a healthy treat in the box to make them want to go in it.

I would check out these two articles as well.

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/litter.html#outside-box

https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/LitterboxTraining/tabid/62/Default.aspx

You probably already knew some of this, but hopefully if you do these things and don’t give up, she will be more trained soon.

 

[Rei]

I hope this quoting thing works with the spaces in between…I guess I will see…lol
 

Clean Cage Every Day
Sweep up all of the poops into the litter box and quickly spray the floor down with vinegar and water everyday. By putting her poop back into the litter box it helped her know that was where she was supposed to go and spraying the floor down helps any sent left by the poop be  gone. ( I know poop is normally hard and you wouldn’t think they would leave a smell but right when they come out, they are a little soft. Not to sound gross.)
 

I actually already do this. I always put the poops right back in the litterbox, and she looks at me like, what are you doing? I put those there for a reason! lol

Get Another Box

If your bunny seems to be pooping in another area of the cage try placing another litter box there. Putting another box in her cage also provides more oportunites for her to use it. If she is pooping right next to the litter box she already has (my bunny did that all the time!) Try placing another litter box right next to the one you already have. This really helped my bunny.

Unfortunately, her cage isn’t big enough to accomodate another box. I don’t have the room for a large xpen or NIC, so she has a cage. Its roomy, but not big enough for a second box in there. She still gets lots of exercise cuz I always have her out of her cage when I’m there. In 2 months I will be moving and will have plenty more room for her.

Cleaning Litter Box

Cleaning the litter box more  often (as someone else mentioned) may help if your bunny is picky about how dirty it is. After you clean it and add fresh litter, put some of her poops and a paper towel soaked in pee in the box so she knows that’s where she is supposed to go.

Ok I will try this.

Hay

Only provide hay in the litter box, either in the box or in a hay rack above the box. I use a hay rack that hangs above the litter box and I make sure they can’t reach it unless they jump into the box. As someone else mentioned you can also place a healthy treat in the box to make them want to go in it.

I do have a hay rack I could put that above her litterbox I’ll try it out tonight.

 

You probably already knew some of this, but hopefully if you do these things and don’t give up, she will be more trained soon.

 

 

[mocha200]

Until you move do you have a bathroom that you could put her litter boxes, food and water dishes it so she can have more room? A cage isn’t very big for a bunny.

[Rei]

Posted By mocha200 on 02/07/2012 01:07 PM
Until you move do you have a bathroom that you could put her litter boxes, food and water dishes it so she can have more room? A cage isn’t very big for a bunny.

 

See I’m in my early 20s, and still living at home, was going to college and all that. I’m actually lucky my dad allows me to let her run around my room at all. He definatley won’t tolerate her being outside of my room. I will be getting my own place by April though. I give her as much time out of her cage as I can. I hate as much as anyone that she doesn’t have more room. There just is no other option at this point.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

You might need a bigger box. Lady has a tendency to kick out poops as well as just back up too far and poop out the side >.<

[mocha200]

Oh ok. I understand the parent issue. I live at home as well.

[Rei]

Posted By Sam and Lady’s Human on 02/07/2012 02:07 PM
You might need a bigger box. Lady has a tendency to kick out poops as well as just back up too far and poop out the side >.<

 

Her cage is where she poops most outside her litterbox, and there is a catsized one in there :/  out in my room there is a smaller one, one of those boxes made for corners. It is in fact small and I do notice she kicks some out when she is done, but she is still pooping away from the box too.

[Rei]

Ok I cleaned her cage and litterbox, put all the stray poops in her litterbox, and put her hayrack above the litterbox. Hopefully this works.

[mocha200]

Let us know!

[Rei]

Posted By mocha200 on 02/08/2012 11:15 AM
Let us know!

 

I’ll post an update in a day or two to see if she is improving

[Rei]

Well, I don’t have a positive report…I cleaned her cage, spot cleaned her litterbox, put her hayrack above the litterbox, and keep putting the stray poops in her litterbox, but she is still going outside. Now I’m frustrated I guess I should be thankful it isn’t pee at least.

[mocha200]

do you see her pooping or do you just see it later? If you dont see her doing it it could be sticking to her feet when she jumps out

[KytKattin]

I really do think she just needs to be spayed. It might not fix it completely, but since it needs to be done anyways, it certainly won’t hurt to do it for two things now instead of one!

[Rei]

I think some of the poop might be sticking to her feet when she jumps out, but there is way too much for it to all be for that reason. I’m very frustrated its like she doesn’t even care that she JUST was in the litter box she feels the need to leave 10 poops outside of it as soon as she hops out. She peed on my bed yesterday too, something she has NEVER done in the last million times she has been on there. Fortunately she only peed on a scarf (that always is on my bed, like a long one that drapes across for decoration) so my bed didn’t get wet, but still. She isn’t allowed on there now and she thumped 5 times to let me know she wasn’t happy about it! lol

[Sarita]

It’s age related more than anything. Spaying will help as well as getting older.

[Rei]

I really hope so…I love her but I’m so frustrated right now. I feel like we are going backwards in her behavior. Her surgery is next month. Keeping my fingers crossed!

[Author]

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