Constant litter digging driving me crazy!

[evilbunny]

I have a female albino lop who won’t stop digging in her litter box.  I’ve had her for about 5 years now, and she was spade just over 4 years ago.  She lives in a two story hutch, but has supervised time running around the house every day when I am home from work.  For the last few months, she is digging in her litter box and kicking the litter everywhere on a daily basis.  This is a huge waste of litter, and not to mention a huge mess that I have to clean virtually every day.  She has been using Yesterday’s News for litter almost the entire time I’ve had her, but for whatever reason starting a few months ago, she has to kick all the litter out of her box on a daily basis.  I have given her digging boxes filled with shredded paper and she does use those as well.  But when she tires of them she goes right back to the litter box.

I can’t take it anymore.  My patience for this behavior is wearing very thin.  Please help.

[JK]

Gee that does sound like a pain!  A lot of people here use those covered cat litter boxes.  Have you tried that? Hopefully someone else will have another idea.  Welcome here to this great site!

[evilbunny]

Thank you for the welcome knowltons4. No, I have not tried a covered litter box yet, but it’s not that I don’t want to. The problem comes down to the location in her cage where the litter box goes. Since it is a two story hutch, I have the litter box on the first story under the ramp to the second story. This is likely the best fit for a litter box in this hutch, and finding a litter box with high sides or a cover that will fit under the ramp is proving difficult. I will keep up the search for a better litter box if there is no way to curb this behavior of hers.

[Sarita]

Have you tried those cat litter boxes with the grids? They are actually the “sifter” boxes but when I’ve had to use them I only use one of the sifters in the box and then change them out to clean the other sifter. Not sure if that would fit under the ramp though.

[COOKIE'N FLUFF MOMMA]

You could also make some kind of screen or grate to set over the litter to keep your bunny from digging in it. That has really helped with keeping the litter in the box at my house. They just pee through the grate, simple as that! Just make sure the holes aren’t to big so those bunny feet dont get stuck

[evilbunny]

A grid or grate sounds like a promising idea, but I’m not sure how much my bunny will like not having direct litter contact. I’ll definitely add this recommendation to my list though. Thanks!

[Beka27]

you could try a new litter, or a mixture of two. it’s possible that the behavior would stop if the new litter is “less fun” to dig in… and if not you could revert back to the YN and figure out something else. some bunnies are diggers. maybe she just now figured out she likes to dig…

or invest in a good hand vac… ;o)

[MarkBun]

That’s strange, Maryann did the same thing right around her 6 year mark.  I did change the style of litter pan though in order to accomodate two buns so maybe now she just likes having the litter to dig in.

What I did is that I went out and bought a litter box that had a lip around the top of it.  The walls are also a little higher than normal but this has stopped all litter spraying from digging because, well, they just can’t get it out anymore.

If you get this type of litter box, it might solve a lot of issues:

This pan has a high wall to reduce the flinging of litter and the ‘sifting pan’ could act as the grate – just put the litter below the level.  My litter pan looks similar to this one except the lip on the upper wall is a bit more pronounced.  But it works great, I just snap off the top and pour the bad litter into the wastebasket.

[evilbunny]

What other types of litters do you recommend Beka27?

[evilbunny]

I’ve looked at those litter pans at the store markusdark. They look like a promising solution.

[Beka27]

personally i use an off-brand pressed paper pellet. i know the YN is recycled paper, but what i use is larger in size. there is carefresh which a soft litter. it probably wouldn’t “fling” as well, altho i can’t guarantee this as i’ve never used it myself. some people use wood stove pellets, they have the added bonus of being very cheap. aspen supreme is another kind that i hear is great for odor control as well. it’s just a thought. you could get a small bag of something and try mixing it in with the YN to see if it helps.

[Hedi]

I have found that a covered litter box kept my buns from digging and pulling everything out of their boxes. Can you reassemble the cage to allow for a covered box?

I have found that the only time my buns destroy their litterboxes is when I am late feeding them in the morning or if I go one day long in cleaning out their boxes. I know its their way of being upset with me. I cant blame them but sometimes I just cant help it.

With our covered litterboxes my husband had to cut an opening larger than what the cat box offered because w/ the lid on there was that division and Cooper is a large bun. Just make sure if you have to cut the hole larger not to cut it all the way down. I tried to tell my husband that and he cut it down to the bottom anyways and every once in awhile they would dig everything out of the covered box. Oh well.

Your other option is a tall sided cat litter box that way it would be too much work for your bun to pull everything out over the tall sides.

[Scarlet_Rose]

I use a small wire cooling rack and imbed it into the litter and cover with some hay so they do not miss the direct litter contact. You can also use harware cloth to imbed in the litter as well (it is basically mesh wire in a square pattern).

[WhitneyS]

I second this. It’s what I use and I’ve never had a problem!

[evilbunny]

I ended up just getting a litter box like this but without the internal sifter and it seems to be holding the litter in very well!! Thanks for the help!

[WVrabbitlover]

Several of our fosterers in the Buckeye HRS use cooling racks in the litter boxes and it works. I’m also told that a non-stick cooling rack is especially good so it can be cleaned very easily and nothing really ‘sticks’ to the rack. My rescued bunny sits on a cookie cooling rack above the litter, while at his pet sitter’s house, and it does not seem to bother him. He is a constant litter digger also!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hi Sue! I think I may have started the cooling rack thing as I told my local HRS manager about it several years ago and she said she was going to spread the word. LOL Small world huh? Anyhow, I do have a concern about the non-stick cooling racks, have any of their rabbits tried chewing on them at all? Because the coating is known to be toxic.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome Sue!! Great ideea with the cooling rack! Do you have pictures of your bunny to share?

Scarlet what coating is that? I’ll watch for that!

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