Boyfriend wants the rabbits caged up, help!

[Celia & Clover]

I moved in with my partner 4 months ago. I have two bonded rabbits who are litter trained, but still do 20 or so poops outside the litter box a day. The problem is we live in a sharehouse and the only place we can keep them is in our bedroom (3m²).

My boyfriend hates waking up in the morning and having to either deal with the poop until I wake up or vacuum it himself. At this point he doesn’t even like the rabbits because their mess bothers him so much. I feel sympathetic to him because yeah, it’s not nice to wake up in the morning and have poop on the floor. At the same time, personally it just doesn’t bother me the same way. There’s not really enough space in the room for them to be confined to their own area without it being super tiny.

It really seems like we’ve hit breaking point. My boyfriend even suggested that he would move out this morning.

What do I do?

Can I train them to be perfectly litter trained? (Hasn’t worked in the past…)
Should I keep them penned in under the bed when he’s home?

[Hazel]

So they free roam your bedroom 24/7? I guess you’ll have to find a way to cage them at night. Multi level bunny condos can be build in any shape or size you want, maybe that would be an option. I don’t understand why he agreed to this arrangement when he knew the living space would be small and the rabbits would share your room? It’s not really fair of him to now turn around and complain, leaving you between a rock and a hard place. And no, I don’t think it would be appropriate to keep them under the bed whenever he’s home. If a little bit of poop upset him enough to want to move out, I don’t really think he’s up for bunny ownership. What is he going to do when they chew up his phone charger? 😕

[Celia & Clover]

Yep, they’re totally free range in the bedroom at the moment. They always have been since I first rescued them. Right now at nighttime I’ve been using their playpen to restrict them to under the bed as well as stretching space near my side of the closet. I would feel worse about it if they didn’t prefer to spend most of their time under the bed anyway, but they love it under there. Even when I had a really giant room (in my last place) they still preferred to be under the bed mostly.

Aside from the poop, my boyfriend has been pretty understanding about the buns. They chewed up one of his favourite boardgame boxes (he collects boardgames) and he handled it with a lot of grace. Also I’ve made sure our bedroom is super super bunny-proofed.

[HipHopBunny]

Ouch, I’m sorry you are going through this tough situation. 🙁

What is their litter box? Right now for my buns’, I have a short one, which they constantly pee and poop out of. I heard that getting a closed cat litter box though would help with that. 🙂 Maybe, if you don’t have one already, you could try getting one and see if it helps? What I’ve been trying to do, is put a treat or something in there to train them to hop in it, for it is so tall! 🙂

Sorry, I don’t have much advice to offer! Hopefully, you find a solution that you both agree on! 🙂

Wishing you luck!

[shasbun]

Sometimes it’s that the bunnies are kicking out their poop when they hop out of their litter box, not necessarily that they’re pooping outside. I would recommend getting a closed cat litter box or any litter box with high sides if you don’t already have one, since that would help if they are kicking their poop out. Also try putting the litter box in a corner or somewhere he can’t see the poop easily. If you do need to put them under the bed or something, I would recommend getting customizable grids. Sorry… there’s a name for it but my mind went blank. Anyway, try to build a little space outside the bed where they can stretch up with the grids , so that they won’t be crouched all night under the bed.

@Hazel I completely agree with you. If he can’t put up with some poop, he’s not going to be able to put up with the other things that come with rabbit ownership.

[snowballsmomma]

Agreed, this sucks 🙁  I hope you can find a reasonable solution.

It’s tough because it’s hard to get perfect litter box habits with a bun.  Not sure if you ever watched the Youtube channel Lennon the Bunny, but the owner seemed to be able to achieve near-perfect litter training by picking up her bun whenever she could see a poop coming (when Lennon the bun would lift her tail a bit), and carrying the bun to the litter box.  It seems like a lot of work to constantly watch the bun but it seemed to have worked for her.

When the buns poop outside of the litter box, is it right next to the litter box or is just all around the room?  I find that in my case, sometimes poops would fly out when the bun would jump in and out, and so when I got a higher rimmed litter box, it reduced the number of poops outside of the box.  This can also be solved with a closed litter box like HipHopBunny mentioned!

I found this article helped me a bit with noticing small things I was doing wrong which could maybe help you.

http://www.therabbithouse.com/behaviour/problem-litter-training.asp

Also I love the idea of the bunny condo too!

[Bu20055]

I’m sorry about your situation :(. Maybe you could get one of those ikea bench things that you can cut an entrance in and put their box inside of that. That way when poops get out of the box, you won’t see them. A bigger box might also help; my girl was pooping out of her box a ton, but now that she has a bigger box, there’s only maybe 3 or 4 poops out of the box a day. Not sure how big the ikea thing is though so I’m not sure if you’d have the space.

[Bu20055]

This is the thing I’m talking about, you could maybe find something similar that fits the space or even make your own

[Wick & Fable]

I want to be clear that I am making no judge or impressions of your relationship. I just want to note that this is something that seems important to have a serious conversation about, mainly if things cannot be resolved in a way he likes, is there room for negotiation, as well as what negotiations are you willing to make, if needed.

Will revisit to post with other suggestions, but any thoughts on an automatic vacuum like a Roomba to clean up poop regularly? Also, I find it hard to believe that poop is the biggest issue, as a rabbit owner haha.

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.

[DanaNM]

Not sure what your flooring is, but maybe a rubber broom (or regular broom if you have hard flooring) would make it less of an issue?

Then rather than having to pick them up by hand or vacuum, he or you could easily just sweep them over towards their box so he wouldn’t have to step on them.

Are the poops random single ones, or whole piles? The random single ones would be harder to deal with via training, since those tend to be territorial marking poops.

. . . 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.  

[Celia & Clover]

I bought a powerful handheld vacuum when I moved in specifically because I wanted it to be really quick and easy to clean up after them. I think his issue is he just finds it gross to see the poop and he’s practically scared of stepping on it. I love that he’s a bit of a neat-freak in general, but it’s a bit frustrating in this context.

[Celia & Clover]

Thanks for all the helpful tips, everyone! Unfortunately my problem isn’t just stray poops near the litter box. I think my rabbits are just super lazy when it comes to the occasional poop. They have a massive litter box filled with hay that they love and they do most of their poops in there. But wherever they’re flopped, or even if they’re just running around, they’ll leave little accidents (not in piles, just spread out). I think I just have some medium-messy bunnies.

@Wick, I’d never really thought of having a roomba. Might be something to try!

[DanaNM]

It is funny… bunny folks tend to realize that bunny poop isn’t gross at all, but I do forget that not everyone feels that way! Maybe he needs some immersion therapy where he has to smash some with his fingers to see that they are just chewed up grass and not smelly or gross? I’m only half kidding!

. . . 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.  

[Bu20055]

Hehe I agree Dana. Sometimes I forget my parents aren’t bunny crazy like me and I have to watch what I say about poop lol. Honestly, bunnies have the best kind of poop of all animals. Its not sticky or stinky 😆 .

As long as the buns do well with the Roomba I think that’s a great idea.  We had one a few years ago and it was great for our messy-box cat.

I don’t know how, but I hit a jackpot with my bun. She’s been here for a month and she’s NEVER peed outside of her box (knock on wood) and when I clean her box, if she has to poop I always find I nice pile in the middle of where her box was lol.

[Celia & Clover]

Oh that sounds so nice! I think you’re right, you hit the jackpot. Bunnies like yours probably explain toilet-training guides that only have two steps 1) buy litter box , 2) put hay in it. As someone who has messy rabbits I find those guides so frustrating haha. I’m very happy for you though! Hope you’re enjoying getting to know your new bun 😀

[DanaNM]

I know the frustration! My two girls have impeccable litter habits and will go in their box, no matter where the box is. Bun Jovi on the other hand will poop in his sleep! But then again he’s 12… so I can’t really blame him!

. . . 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.  

[Joon]

If space is the issue maybe you should consider moving…? Like if that’s a deal breaker and he’s willing to move out over it maybe you guys can just move together to a different place? Keeping in mind that the bunnies will need a space of their own? But also maybe he should get over the stigma that bunny poop is gross? They have pretty dry poop in general so I guess it’s never bothered me much, I’ve def stepped on a couple strays here and there. But also it’s not really fair to your bunnies to be caged due to this issue. Especially when they are use to the open space. While I can sympathize with him on the issue, as it’s hard to adjust to bunny living, it seems he’s put you in an unfair position of chosing his happiness over your bunnies. I’m sorry your having so much stress attached to this situation, new living conditions can be hard to adjust to even for humans. I can tell you are trying to find a solution that fits you both, just try not to sacrifice your bunnies happiness for it, I can tell they are a super important component in your life. If he cares about you, he’ll realize this and that their needs are important to you. It’s all about give and take. Balance. Good luck! Hopefully I didn’t offend you >°< I hope some of the suggestions help and you guys can find the balance.

[Celia & Clover]

Thanks Joon. We have talked about moving and we probably will in the next year or two. For now I think we’ve got it sorted out, the rabbits have about half the room (a little more than half really) to run around in, and they get regular supervised playtime in the whole house. I’m also going to give further litter training another try. They really are quite messy and I think it would be really useful if they could learn to be even a little better. Thank you to everyone and their helpful suggestions!

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