Ouch! I know how hard 50/50 litter box skills can be! 😆

Yes, neutering should help with this, but it won’t be an instant miracle, it will only allow you to train him to use the litter box! 😆 There is a very helpful website in the RABBIT INFO that helps with this! 😀

Wishing you luck! 😀

Neutering will make it quite a bit easier to littertrain him. Rabbits mark their territory with both pee and poop. The urge to mark territory is stronger in intact rabbits, because it is important for reproduction. Even neutered rabbits will still mark territory if there are other rabbits nearby. It is an i.portantmeans of communication between rabbits.

Digging and other seemingly frenzied behaviors are in part due to your bun’s young age. Young individuals, especially teenagers (your bun is a teenager right now), are more active than babies and adults. Neutering wont “cure” that altogether, but it may help, and it will subside as the rabbit reaches adulthood. Part of it may be a bit of boredom and youthful restlessness, so it is important that he gets time for exercise outside his enclosure. Chew toys or fresh apple-or willow twigs and small branches can help too.

Fleece blankets to dig in and drag around are also often popular. I had one young bun who spent many productive hours stuffing a big blanket into his cardboard house, then pulling it out again. Customization (“bunstruction”) of cardboard houses (an upside-down cardboard box with two door holes cut out on opposite sides) is another popular rabbit pastime.

For pre care: He should eat right uptil you drop him off at the vet. No fasting for rabbits! It good if you pack him a little “lunch bag” with stuff he likes for when he wakes up post surgery. Fragrant herbs, hay, pellets, small piece of fruit -he can pretty much have anything he likes.

Ask the vet for a painkiller -some wont give one but others will even if you don’t ask. Pain meds actually helps with healing, because pain can cause a bun to stop eating. Eating is vital for a swift recovery.

When he gets home, he will most likely be a little groggy. Give him water in a bowl if he normally has a bottle, he may not want to bother with a bottle.

Most young boys bounce right back from a neuter like nothing even happened, but some do feel under the weather and may need a warm water bottle or handwarmers wrapped in a towel. The most important thing is to get him to eat before you go to bed for the night. In case he wont eat, you need to syringe feed him Critical Care or pellet mush.  (This will in all likelihood not happen, since a neuter is “surgery light” -but its always good to be prepared.)

The first few days post surgery he should preferably not jump or do binkies. Check the incision-area daily for swelling and seepage. Its good if you can get someone to help you hold him for the daily incision-check. If you feel unsure about what you see, you can ask us here 🙂

I always like to mention that there are times that even neutered rabbits will be non-litterbox adherent, dig, chew, etc.. Many of these are natural, rabbit-things to do that are often exacerbated by hormones, so neutering can reduce it, but there are rabbits (like my Wick) who still poop and pee pretty… liberally outside the box. He also still gets into multi-day funks of wanting to dig up carpet.

Neutering should help. Can you also describe his set-up a bit more or post some pics?

Restricting the space can help get litter box habits in order (which you’ll have to do after his neuter anyway). Some buns also can’t have any soft things or mats around during training as they get confused. One of my buns would pee and poop anywhere there was hay available, so I had to have the set-up such that she could ONLY access her hay while actually sitting in the box.

Certain litters are also helpful for training. Carefresh seems to be really good. Something about how soft it is really triggers the bun to pee on it.

I’ve seen some litter training setups where the food and water bowls are also only accessible from inside the box, just to get the bun to spend even more time sitting in the box.