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We have one rabbit, “BunBuns” also known as “Chocolate Terror”. A male chocolate rex, neutered, that we adopted a year ago. His age is unknown but assumed to be pretty young, under two years. Other pets are three cats.
I litterbox trained BunBuns by putting a litterbox in the two places he liked to poop and pee.
It worked better after I got bigger litter boxes and added hay. They are cleaned daily with vinegar water solution. Sometimes he also likes to pee in the cat’s litterboxes.Because BunBuns was such a well trained boy with nary a stray poo pellet, he was completely uncaged at our last home. We left the door open in his cage and that’s where he was accustomed to eating messy treats like strawberries and apples.
Last week we moved to a new house that is literally four times larger than our previous home. We placed a litterbox on the main floor, near the kitchen like his old cage. He uses this to poo and eat hay. No problems there, but he is rarely on the main floor because he seems to prefer the upstairs (3 bedrooms and a bath). He likes to sleep under my bed.
The problem is that he also likes to pee on the carpet in the upstairs bathroom. (It is partially carpeted.) It also seems that BunBuns is trying to poop on every square inch of this rather large bathroom floor. We placed his cage and litterbox in the spot he was marking and while he is using it sometimes, he is still peeing on the rug in front of the litterbox and pooping all over the room. (I use vinegar to clean it up, but enough’s enough!)
I’m still in the midst of unpacking, organizing and cleaning so he is “on house arrest” in his cage to avoid further damage to the carpet. Since I accidentally litter trained him, I am not sure how to address this new undesired behavior.
How can I deter this behavior? Is it territory marking including the pooping? Should I sit in the bathroom with him for 30-60 minutes and frequently guide him into his litter box and praise him when he uses it correctly? Tarp over the area? Put in hardwood floors? ….
Your help is kindly appreciated, thank you!
~Melanie -
Thanks so much both of you for the ideas. I have to admit to committing one of the sins of pet ownership – I adopted the rabbit without fully researching their behavior habits first. I worked in a pet store for years and swore I’d never do that but here I am!
He was spending his “house arrest” in the U.S. standard 3′ cage. I don’t like to leave him in there for more than 8 hours without some exercise or interaction time.
Based on the feedback yesterday morning, I moved the cage into the room where he spent most of his free-range time – my bedroom. He sleeps underneath the bed and that was the only room he hadn’t pooped in. I kept the door closed all day yesterday and he did mark one corner of the room but used the litterbox in the open cage multiple times – success in my mind!
I also did not disinfect the litterbox yesterday, just used water dampened paper towels. I also left some wet litter and a few poops in the box when I added fresh litter.
His litterbox upstairs is kept in his open cage, with water dish etc. I added some alfalfa for a treat to keep him in the litterbox.
Next step I will definitely add another litterbox to the bathroom so he has a choice, and I’ll add another another one downstairs for a total of four. Maybe I’ll need to add a litterbox to each room until he tells me when ones he prefers!
I will check back in with an update in a few days!
Thanks again, I’m very grateful for the service you’ve provided me!
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