Bunny breaking litter training habbits

[Sb1405]

I’ve had my bunny Appa for about a month now. He’s a 1 1/2 year old Holland lop American mix. I adopted him from a shelter and he was neutered before I got him. We have been working diligently to litter train him and he’s starting to get the hang of it with very few accidents over the past week. Today I had him in his cage (for a few hours which is normal for him. He usually in his cage for 4-5 hours a day when I’m not home) and let him out and within minutes he peed on the floor. So I put him back in his cage for a bit and cleaned up. I let him back out and he was out for maybe 2 minutes and peed again in a completely different spot. So back in the cage he went. I then cleaned how litter box (that was cleaned maybe 3-4 hours ago) gave him his evening salad and after he was done eating I tried letting him out again, to have some free time before I go to bed. And again within minutes he peed on the floor in a different spot. So I put him back in his cage for the evening. Does anyone have any ideas where the sudden need to pee all over the house would form from?

[Wick & Fable]

It’s good that you’re being diligent with cleaning, and indeed, it’s a bit inconvenient, haha.

Putting him in the cage to try and signal it’s bad to do that will not work. It’s better to bring him to *the litter box* each time this happens.

He’s most likely doing this because he’s trying to establish that out-of-cage territory is his territory, and constantly being put back in the cage is making him want to reinforce that every time he’s let out. I suggest a litter box outside his cage, which you can bring him to when he pees outside; this way, he has a place to do his business in the out-of-cage territory. Neutering will help to lessen the marking, but he needs to feel secure that the area is his territory, without peeing places he shouldn’t.

Since you’ve had him a month now and he knows the environment better, he is much more aware that while in the cage, he’s being barred from a lot of his territory, so being in there for hours on end may be getting more and more difficult for him. Even if, with the cage open, he spends time in the cage, it’s the idea of access and control over his space.

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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