Recent Lack of Peeing in Litterbox

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This topic has 8sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 8 months ago by SarahRose.

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- 07/22/2014 at 1:30 AM
  kcomstoc
  Participant
  625 posts
  Hello to everyone, this is Keri’s boyfriend Josh. I’m writing this because Keri has been working so much lately, and hasn’t really had time to herself to be able to post. Getting to the problem, our newer bunny Gamgee has stopped having good litter habits. It started about two weeks ago, for reasons that I haven’t quite figured out yet. I have figured out that the places that he urinates are generally very close to where the source of hay is (and he also leaves concentrated piles of feces in the same area), which is also very close to his litterbox. I should mention that 99% of the time this happens in our living room where they come out to get exercise. The other 1% is on the first floor of his cage, and I’ve moved the hay source to the 2nd floor with no change. I have also moved the hay source in the living room, but he still goes near that area. I’ve tried removing the hay source for a couple hours at a time after it’s been eaten, and it still occurs. We’ve now had him for several months, so I’ve tentatively crossed off marking territory as a reason. Part of me believes that he is sick, but there aren’t any outward symptoms showing. The other part of me (which is very likely wrong), believes he’s being lazy. It’s become more frequent in the past couple days, even though I clean it up thoroughly and use white vinegar to remove the scent. I really need help with this one.
- 07/22/2014 at 1:53 AM
  Tessie
  Participant
  1231 posts
  Is he neutered?
- 07/22/2014 at 3:31 AM
  kcomstoc
  Participant
  625 posts
  Yes, for well over 6 months. I forgot to mention too that the litter boxes we use are the plastic pans that has a screen covering the litter (which is horse pellet bedding).
- 07/22/2014 at 4:22 AM
  Tessie
  Participant
  1231 posts
  Hmmmmmm. :/
  
  So, am I right in understanding that he’s going near the litterbox, and wherever you put hay?
  Could you try just putting hay in the litterbox, nowhere else?
  
  Is the litterbox big enough?
- 07/22/2014 at 5:44 AM
  kcomstoc
  Participant
  625 posts
  I was a little hesitant to try that because I didn’t want him associating hay with peeing. We did try it though, and it worked for that day, but we didn’t try it again the next day. I don’t think we had a problem with it the next day, but I don’t remember. Last night he did it twice in places nowhere near the hay, and I had even put a towel down that I used to clean up his urine so that the area smelled like him. He hasn’t been zooming or binkying as much the past couple days, but it has been very hot in the apartment. They tend to stay near the iced water bottle we give them to keep cool. He did binky once the other day and he hasn’t been sneezing as much lately so I don’t really believe he is sick in any way (though I know they hide it well). He’s still eliminating and eating everything in sight.
- 07/24/2014 at 2:04 AM
  kcomstoc
  Participant
  625 posts
  Just a quick update. I’ve sort of minimized the number of times he’s done it while outside the litter box by putting the hay behind me so I can hear when he stops eating the hay. Then I give him a gentle nudge towards the litter box. It’s worked successfully three times so far today. Maybe after a couple days of doing this he’ll be back to his good litter habits :-). Thanks for helping Tessie 😀 You gave me the idea to put the hay closer to me.
- 07/24/2014 at 8:27 AM
  Tessie
  Participant
  1231 posts
  Oh, good! I didn’t think I’d been much help at all, haha!
  Glad to hear it’s going better
- 07/26/2014 at 1:55 AM
  kcomstoc
  Participant
  625 posts
  You did 🙂 still seems to be hit and miss though. A few minutes ago he went in a place that is literally an inch from the litterbox (no hay nearby either), almost like he doesn’t want to use the energy to get in it. But just a second ago he hops right in and goes. I really don’t understand it at all. I can’t find logic to this bunny lol.
- 07/30/2014 at 6:35 PM
  SarahRose
  Participant
  4 posts
  One of my bunnies is doing that too. I have two, Vincent and Beatrice, who are estimated at 2 and 3 years, respectively. We got them about 4 months ago from a rabbit rescue and they are neutered and spayed. At first the litter training went great and we expanded their running area to include our whole living room. Vincent will pee in the litterbox some of the time, and he’s kept his out-of-box pooing to a minimum, but he’ll still occasionally pee outside the litterbox, instead he pees right next to the litter box. There’s no issue with him peeing elsewhere in the house, it’s always near his cage. They have two large litterboxes outside the cage, two smaller ones in. Their cage is a fairly large two level condo, which they seem to like, and like I said, he’ll use the litterbox most of the time, so I don’t think it’s an issue with his litter.
  Looking forward to hearing anymore tips.
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