Bonded Pair Litter Issues

[Gallaghers]

 

About a year ago, I bought a young, small, male bunny from a local pet shop. Beau was a joy to train—very sweet and used his litter box with only the occasional two or three pellet exception. My one complaint is that he is a little destroyer. He loves to tear up anything and everything (paper, cardboard, hay thrown everywhere, digging up rug fibers, etc.) I don’t really mind as he really only interacts with his own stuff. I am concerned for the future as it is my goal to let him roam free in the main floor of my house which has rugs as well as tile and hard wood. But back to my problem—Several months ago, I decided Beau was lonely so I went hunting for a mate. I adopted Ellie from a local animal rescue. She is also young (about a year old) and slightly larger than Beau.

 

During the bonding process, I found little pellet presents all around both of their pens (though primarily in Ellie’s) everyday. I was assuming that this was just part of the bonding process—marking their territory and pronouncing dominance. Two or three times, I even found the floor wet next to the litter box in Ellie’s pen. I, again, assumed that this would die off once they get used to each other.

The bonding took 3 weeks.  Ellie and Beau are now living together in a pen/condo environment. Ellie’s poor bathroom habits have seemed to carry over to Beau now as well. It is not uncommon to come into the pen to find a damp floor. It isn’t always in the same corner or the same places. We have found urine in the condo as well as on the hardwood floor in the pen almost everyday. There are 30+ pellets left outside of the litter boxes

 

I provide several litter boxes (3). I use Carefresh and change the litter in each of them everyday or every other day, depending on which box it is. They seem to prefer a corner shaped box I have sitting just outside of the condo door but all the boxes do get their fair share of usage. I have a separate container for hay, which they somehow physically get into to poo and pee though I made sure it was too narrow for a bunny body.

 

Any ideas of what I can do/try? I want to let them roam around my house but I can’t even try until they learn to use a litter box more consistently. I know it is never a perfect situation… I’m just hoping for some ideas on advanced litter training for bonded couples.

 

Thanks!

[Sarita]

I have to wonder if perhaps the corner shaped box is too small for the pair.

If it were me, I’d try a larger one. My pairs sometimes like to get in the litter box together – not sure why, but they do.

[RabbitPam]

When you clean the urine on the floor with a paper towel that soaks it up, place the soaked towel into the litter box so they can smell it there.
You can put a bit of it into each pan so they clearly get a whif of it in all of them.

Then I would put a small pile of hay in a corner of each box as well. Bunnies will actually munch on hay in their litter box and poop simultaneously, so it entices them to be in the pan itself.

[jerseygirl]

Since Ellie is almost 1 yr old, I assume she had was trained at the shelter. What type of litter did they use? Did you use something similar to begin with? It could be Beau’s habits have lapse due to hers. Perhaps if hers improve, he may follow suit. I feel your pain though. My bunnies litter habits are no longer ideal.

[Gallaghers]

I went out after work today and bought a large cat litter pan that they both are fitting in nicely. I added some hay to the corner of the box also to encourage them to use it more. I put a little of the soiled paper towel in there too so they get the idea.

Ellie’s foster mom was using Carefresh, like me. I took a few of her things with me when I adopted her and I made sure to continue on using the same products she was using to ease the transition.

Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll let you know how it goes.

[Author]

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