Suddenly peeing next to litterbox?

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 20sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 8 months ago by JackRabbit.

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- 07/28/2014 at 7:35 AM
  JackRabbit
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  5451 posts
  Aside from occasionally digging in the litterbox, in the last couple of days Moshi has started hanging his butt out of the litterbox to pee.
  
  It’s not everytime, but I’ve actually seen him do it. In the common play area, he likes to kick litter out so he can better smell where Kieko has peed. He’s been doing that forever — but twice, he’s been digging and then backs up to the edge, hangs hit butt over and pees. At first I thought he was marking, but after sharing the same litterbox in the same common area for 9 months and now he suddenly needs to mark?
  
  Yesterday, we put down fresh fleece on the floor of Marlee and Moshi’s area. We also moved their “bedroom” crate to the opposite end of the area and put their cardboard kissing booth back in there (we swap their tunnels, etc. out occasionally so they seem “new”). While we did not wipe down the floor of the “bathroom/kitchen” crate, we did vinegar/water the litterboxes. About an hour afterward, I found a large puddle of pee immediately outside and up against the “entrance” of one of the litterboxes. We’ve changed things before and he hasn’t done this.
  
  The only other thing that has changed is that our dog passed away Friday night (dogs and buns were on different levels of the house but you could hear Mysti’s coller tags from the bunny area).
  
  Could any of theses changes suddenly make my most easy going bun decide to hang his butt out of the litterbox to pee? Moving the “bedroom” crate did get Marlee thumping for about 15 minutes), but she’ll thump if we do anything that her royal highness doesn’t approve of. But Moshi? Changes usually get him binkying!
  
  Any ideas?
- 07/28/2014 at 8:48 AM
  Tessie
  Participant
  1231 posts
  It’s a common problem and one I’ve had a few times!
  
  It happens when the sides of the litterbox are too low, or the litterbox is more full, thus making the sides effectively lower.
  
  They don’t realise they’re hanging their butt off the edge cause the sides are low. If that makes sense?
  
  Anyway, unless you’ve changed litterbox, you’ve probably just filled it up more than usual. Or he’s kicked the litter up against the side in a heap and is sitting on the heap. It’s easy to fix!
- 07/28/2014 at 10:17 AM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  So you think he doesn’t realize his rear end is hanging out of the litterbox? Kieko has always peed in a corner, bit Marlee and Moshi seem to pee wherever in the litterbox they happen to be standing. It just seemed odd to see him — it sure looked like he backed up until he felt a breeze and then let go! He’s always been so good about going in the litterbox (yet later flinging the poop out of the litterbox when digging — making a digging box *tonight* after the mess I found this morning!!).
- 07/28/2014 at 10:29 AM
  Tessie
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  1231 posts
  Yes, the sides are too low or it’s too full
- 07/28/2014 at 4:32 PM
  manic_muncher
  Participant
  1061 posts
  Bumpy started doing the same backing up thing and I got super lucky to see it, if his butt had been -any- closer, he would have peed on the floor. I changed from a cat litter box to a tote with 6 inch sides, he’s never gotten close to doing it again.
- 07/28/2014 at 4:49 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  Manic – did you cut an entrance to it or does he just jump over he side to get in?
- 07/28/2014 at 9:16 PM
  JackRabbit
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  5451 posts
  I got xl cat litter boxes (had to be able to fit two boxes in the one dog crate (aka “bathroom/kitchen” crate). The sides are seven inches tall — seems to keep the litter and pee contained, but I’m concerned that they may be too tall for Marlee (she hit her foot the first time she jumped in and slipped on the bottom of the litterbox one time jumping out). May end up having to cut an opening. Does 7 inches seem too high?
- 07/28/2014 at 9:18 PM
  manic_muncher
  Participant
  1061 posts
  He hops right in. I’m guessing when he’s older I might have to cut out an entrance. But yea… he knows exactly what it is and will run down the hall, bounce into his pen and bounce into the box, easy-peasy.
- 07/28/2014 at 9:20 PM
  manic_muncher
  Participant
  1061 posts
  I’d keep it the same, give her a few days to get used to the hop. If she still is slipping maybe have to adjust something for her. Hmm how old is she?
- 07/28/2014 at 9:38 PM
  JackRabbit
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  5451 posts
  They’ll both be a year old beginning of August. He’s 4 pounds, she’s 3 pounds — stretched out with legs behind, she’s a good 3 inches or more shorter than he is. At full sprint, she gracefully jumps over Moshi (when he’s laying down in the way) with room to spare. With the crate floor being plastic and the litterbox floor being slippery, I just don’t want her to hurt herself. Moshi has already moved all of the litter to one side of each litterbox so there’s the litterboxes have nothing on one half and litter mountains on the other half.
- 07/29/2014 at 12:48 AM
  manic_muncher
  Participant
  1061 posts
  lol I gotta tell you about Bonnie’s (the flemish) box. I got it with the understanding that she’d be able to use it once full grown and have plenty of room to eat hay and lounge about. It’s one of those full-length under-bed totes, like 40 inches long. And it has wheels on it. I tried to pull the damn wheels off like I did with Bumpy and Clyde’s boxes, but couldn’t get them to budge by hand. I didn’t bother trying to use anything to help pop them off, as I just couldn’t be bothered at the time with that!
  
  Anyway! She’d run around in the pen and end up sliding it from one side to the other. Half the time the litter wasn’t even on 1/3 of the box… just the plastic sitting there mocking me.
  -runs thru clockwise, box moves to right and smacks against pen-
  -runs thru counter-clockwise, box moves to left and smacks against pen-
  The hubby told me I needed to put something in there so it would sit still.
  -waves hand dismissively-
  yea yea ok.. next time I change the box…
  
  Well I just happened to be standing near her pen when she started in on her bunny laps… she hopped in and rode the box to the other side. And as I stood there laughing and thinking about what I would use to stop that action from happening… she turned, while still inside the box and hopped to the other side, making the box roll to the other side. Then she did it again in the other direction. I stood there and watched her bounce back and forth, inside the box, from one side to the other just making the box roll back and forth and crash into the pen; head shaking, ears flapping, heels kicked up. She was having a blast. After about 7 or 8 times, she hopped back out and went on to eat, drink and do other rabbity things.
  
  I wonder what she’d do with a skateboard. Anyway! I found that somehow, the litter always managed to go back into place eventually, I guess with all the rocking motion it just naturally settled. lol
- 07/29/2014 at 8:44 AM
  JackRabbit
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  5451 posts
  Um, Manic, it looks like she already has a skateboard! Could you just attach some fleece bumpers to the cage to muffle the noise so you don’t have to take away her fun?!?!
- 07/29/2014 at 10:18 AM
  manic_muncher
  Participant
  1061 posts
  lolol maybe, but I can’t be bothered to try to find anything to make it stop. It only annoys him sometimes, and honestly, I was only going to make it stop because I thought it would make her unsure about using it if it were rolling around like that.
  
  Have you decided whether or not to cut down a side on your new boxes for Marlee yet?
- 07/29/2014 at 11:18 AM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  Haven’t decided. I’m going to watch her again tonight. I also need to center the hay racks over the new larger litterboxes and see where Moshi is going to build the litter mountains after that so I know where NOT to cut an opening. It may be that once the litterbox floor has been peed on and jumped on enough that it won’t be slippery.
  
  Edit: I’m a firm believer that anything with male body parts should have its own bathroom . . . If I could convince my bunnyies of that I wouldn’t be having this problem!
- 07/29/2014 at 12:22 PM
  Stickerbunny
  Participant
  4128 posts
  Hehe bunnies do like to do this. The regular cat boxes (XL, largest they had at the pet store) are just too short. My Powder does it too. Their “main” litter box is the bottom of one of those stupidly small pet store cages, never had an accident over the side of that one. Their regular cat boxes I just pushed against the wall, he’s less likely to stick his butt against the baseboards. Stickers actually sits OUTSIDE the litter box (directly outside of it) and pees, so I keep saran wrap on the floor around their boxes and just pull it up and toss it when it gets messy.
- 07/29/2014 at 1:10 PM
  JackRabbit
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  5451 posts
  Saran wrap pee catcher . . . the number of things that saran wrap can be used for continues to amaze me!
- 07/29/2014 at 1:13 PM
  Stickerbunny
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  4128 posts
  Haha yeah, it is a useful product. I tried grocery bags and trash bags, but they just moved them around. The saran wrap holds onto the floor through their hopping.
- 07/29/2014 at 3:00 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  I want a litterbox on wheels like Manic has — no need for saran wrap, bunny just stays in litterbox and rides around the house! But, Moshi would turn it into bumper potties or want to drive Marlee’s litterbox and somebunny would get his butt nipped . . . just like children . . .!
- 07/29/2014 at 3:10 PM
  Stickerbunny
  Participant
  4128 posts
  lol knowing my two, they’d end up tipping it over if it was on wheels. They already push their boxes around like mad things!
- 07/29/2014 at 3:19 PM
  manic_muncher
  Participant
  1061 posts
  I’m gonna try to catch her doing it on video for you guys. That’s a really smart idea with the saran wrap!
- 07/29/2014 at 8:02 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  We had an xl litterbox with a cushy blanket in it out in the bunny area. I put it there thinking one or both would sleep in it. Nope. Marlee would occasionally sit in it, but Moshi would drag and push it around with her in it. He tried, but never got it flipped over.
  
  Manic – you HAVE to get that on video! BTW, Marlee can barely see out of the new litterboxes unless she’s on a litter mountain. This morning she was laying on the side of the mountain eating hay!
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