Adult bunny slowly losing litter habits

[Sunny]

Hi all!

I’ve had my bunny since she was a baby and although she never had the best litter habits she mostly peed and pooped inside her litter box. Even when outside the cage, when she had the urge, she quickly ran inside a litter box to pee.

I spayed her when she was one year old. Since then and over the years I noticed a slow change in her habits. It started from peeing on the floor of the cage every now and then and very slowly progressed to peeing outside the cage and everywhere. Even if there is a litter box right next to her, she prefers to pee and poop on the floor or on her bed, and usually steps on it and makes a complete mess. Now that she’s 5 years old, she almost never pees in the litter box, and I can’t let her free roam cause I swear it seems like she pees everywhere on purpose and loves to smell like urine 🙁 I have placed a towel inside the cage, next to the litter box, to absorb the urine and keep her feet as dry as possible, but I have to change the towel twice a day cause it gets really soaked…

I would discard any urine infection since she’s been on antibiotics due to a respiratory infection and the treatment didn’t improve her behavior. The vets also ran some blood tests on her and the kidney parameters seemed normal. I would guess this loss of habit has been caused by moving to different houses over the years. I understand that a change in environment can make a bunny want to mark the new territory, but after months in one place this marking behavior doesn’t settle down…

I’ve been trying to re-train her doing the usual, soaking the urine in paper towels and placing them inside the litter box, cleaning the stains with vinegar and reinforcing with treats when I see her pee inside the box. But it is not working at all…

Do you have any advise to litter train a veeery stubborn and messy bunny? I’m really losing my patience 🙁

[DanaNM]

Can you describe her cage set-up in a bit more detail?

Some bunnies really can’t have any soft things at all in their pens, especially on the same level as their litter box. One of my buns also couldn’t have hay accessible unless she was sitting inside the box.

The general advice (once medical issues are ruled out, as you have), is to confine to a smaller space, and set up the pen so food, water, and hay are only accessible from within the litter box, with a solid hard floor in the rest of the pen. Certain litters, like carefresh, seem especially good for litter training as the soft texture encourages them to pee on it.

Having a very large box with a low side also encourages the bun to hop in to use the box. At 5 there is a chance she could be getting a touch of arthritis that might make her get a bit “lazy” with her box habits.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[LBJ10]

I agree with Dana. The best thing you can do is go back to litter training 101. And yes, I would look into seeing if she has some arthritis developing. Something as simple as a litter box that is low on one side may help.

[Sunny]

It didn’t occur to me that it could be arthritis, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she had it because I’ve noticed her hind legs are a little bit stiff and she’s rather lazy and clumsy. She doesn’t seem to have any problem jumping in and out of the litter box or cage though (when she feels like it).

My cage set-up is very simple. In one side there’s the litter box, which is sufficiently large for her size I think, and shallow (about 4-5 cm). The litter I use is recycled paper pellets and I always cover the surface with some hay to make it softer. On top of the tray I placed her wooden hay rack. It is somewhat accessible from outside the litter box but I’ve always seen her eat inside (and the majority of the poops are inside the box). The rest of the cage is covered by a towel because she has delicate feet (she’s had pododermatitis once and normally her feet are a little bit irritated).

When I’m at home the cage is always opened for her to come out when she wants to, but as I said she’s quite lazy and spends all afternoons inside, eating and sleeping… mornings and nights are the happy hours. Of course she likes to sleep over the towel and if she needs to pee she doesn’t bother to move a few centimeters to go inside the litter box, she just does it right there where she’s at. When she’s out of the cage stretching those little feet she also pees wherever she’s at when she has the urge, she doesn’t have a favorite place to pee.

I’ve tried to re-train her, removing the towel during the day if I can supervise her and placing it back in the night, but after days she continues to pee in the spot. I’m scared that if I remove the towel for good she’ll pee on the floor and step on it which could worsen the irritation of the feet, specially when I’m not at home or at night :S

[DanaNM]

Hmmm that does sound like a touch of arthritis. You might ask your vet about a low dose of daily metacam going forward (it could also be a trial to see if it helps). Does she have additional boxes in the room?

Maybe switching litters would make it more enticing?

Your description of her slowing down and stiffness do sound like arthritis. I used to give the Oxbow joint support treats to my girl, and I think they helped her? At least she liked them as a treat. 🙂

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Sunny]

Thank you Dana 🙂 I’ll take her to the vet as soon as I can. Hope we can manage any discomfort she might have…

I’ll buy the Oxbow joint support in my next online order, but I’ll have to do some research on softer litters, since here in Spain we don’t have Carefresh 🙂

She does have more shallow litter boxes in the room and around the house, but she ignores them even if they are close to her… bunny’s a little mess haha. Would you advise me to completely remove the towel? or at least when I’m around… keeping an eye on those feet.

[DanaNM]

Maybe temporarily to see if it helps? If it doesn’t help to remove it then you could prob put it back.

One other thought crossed my mind. Forum moderator Wick’s bunny will completely lose his box habits when he needs a tooth trim. Something about being in pain just makes him very lazy about going to his box. So it might be worth doing a thorough dental exam as well, just to rule that out. Bunnies are so good at hiding symptoms, somethings things manifest in very strange ways!

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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