Hi all! I hope this isn’t a double post, if so, please delete my other post. I’d prefer to keep this one as I’m putting extra effort into it.

I am new to the forum, but not very new to bunnies. I have two bonded sisters and have had them since April. I had a rabbit for a year prior that unfortunately died from dental abscesses after several surgeries and a lot of love. I am also a volunteer adoption counselor at a local rabbit rescue. I did not intend to adopt any other rabbits (I have 6 other pets), but came across an ad on Craigslist to adopt a 1 year old English Lop and fell in love with his pictures.

I adopted Felix Sunday. He is fairly underweight at about 8 pounds and is very picky with food so I’m worried about his ability to gain weight. I immediately brought him in for a checkup with a local vet that I haven’t been to before (our usual exotic vet was booked until Friday). I wanted to get an idea of why his weight was so low (I am unaware of his prior life, the person that adopted him out to me picked him up at an auction and had only had him for 4 weeks) and what I could do to help him. I was also hoping to just get a general idea of his health. Unfortunately, the veterinarian had to be called in for an emergency and I only got about 5 minutes of appointment time with her. I found out his weight, that he hadn’t been neutered (contrary to the person’s statement when I adopted him), and that his ears were surprisingly healthy given his weight and general looks (he had a lot of poop stuck to his tail and side and had red food coloring all over his foot – the person explained that he got into food coloring under her care?). Otherwise, I have no idea on his health. I do have a pre-surgery checkup Friday with our normal vet. I believe he is likely too underweight for surgery. I will trust her advice. Hopefully I can get more information then.

Okay, on to litter issue. When I brought Felix home, I placed him in an x-pen in my bedroom with a litter box with hay, a water bowl, a bowl with Oxbow pellets, and some fresh greens. He has never used his litter box since coming home Sunday. He was peeing everywhere but his litter box… He will jump into the box and then jump out specifically to pee and poop outside the box. He is not in a room with the girl rabbits, so it seems odd that he would be marking his territory, but it is possible. However, it seems odd that he won’t use the litter box in addition to outside of the box. I have since narrowed his space in the x-pen and placed 2 additional litter boxes inside giving him very little space outside the litter boxes. I put a soiled towel in one box and continue to place all poop in the boxes. He is still managing to only pee & poop outside of the boxes. Now he is laying in the area he is peeing in. The litter pans are quite large and have more than enough space for him. I am at a loss for what to do.

My husband wasn’t 100% on adopting another pet. I talked him into it and this is complicating the situation. My husband seems really frustrated and it is understandable. I’m doing my absolute best to clean after Felix several times a day, but it is still a mess. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Some additional thoughts:

• Felix is very picky with food. He eats pellets and some greens reluctantly, but that is about it. He has constant access to hay but has eaten very little since coming home. He has several types of hay – timothy (mostly), oat, and orchard. Maybe his distaste(?) for the hay is making him not use the litter box? It still seems odd that he jumps into them, doesn’t eat hay, and doesn’t use the litter boxes.
• Felix’s pee seems to be a full bladder amount each time he pees. It covers a broad area and is not dribbling. For that reason, I doubt it is a UTI. But maybe?
• Felix does not pee in the same area each time. Before I put in the extra litter boxes, he peed and pooped nearly everywhere that was not the litter box. I tried moving the litter box around, he peed in the area where the litter box was…. super frustrating.
• I’m optimistic things will get better after he is neutered, but I’m unaware of how long that will take before he can be neutered and I’d like to find a partial solution at least before then.

I’m concerned about his well being because of these issues and also his health because of constantly laying in his own urine. I’m frustrated with trying so hard to get him to use the litter. We just bought a new house and are about to move. The pets will all have more space, but my husband is concerned that Felix won’t litter train and will pee all over the house. He seems very sad cooped up in the x-pen. But I don’t know what to do while he is continuing to pee everywhere. If it were just poop, I wouldn’t mind as much. But we are concerned about flooring being ruined with his pee. No worries about us getting rid of him. When I take pets in, it is for life. But I would really like a solution for this for our sanity and his health. Any ideas?

Bonus picture because he is adorbs.