Either more absorpant litter or a bed?

[megan_ann]

I bought my bun two litter boxes.. a smaller triangle-shaped one in her cage, and a bigger one in the bathroom (which is her current play area until we litter-train her better). I got aspen shavings because they were about half the price of CareFresh and I’m short on money right now. Well… her cage has a plastic bottom (not wire) and I line a lot of it with newspaper and then she has the litter box in one corner with the aspen litter in it and some alfalfa (she’s still a young bun-only 3 months) to give her more incentive to use it. She’s doing pretty good USING the litter box, as I put it in her primary pee corner (she is still peeing in another corner of her cage and one spot in the middle about 25% of the time). BUT… she seems to REALLY love it and literally spends 3/4 of her time in the cage there. After only 12 hours the litter was already so damp that her paws were wet from the urine, which means I either need to find a better way to put her litter, need to get her to not be in there so much, or both… because that doesn’t seem very sanitary, but it also doesn’t seem right for it to be THAT damp after only 12 hours.

I had originally put a thin layer of aspen litter in there (and it was very damp after 12 hours), but this time I tried putting in a thick layer of newspaper first and a slightly thicker layer of aspen. I’ll see how that works but… any more tips?

Also, what’s a good way to clean off her paws now?

My roommate thought that maybe she’s spending almost all her time in there because the newspaper lining her cage isn’t soft (but the bottom IS solid and not wire) so we should put a bed in there for her or at least a towel? But then we thought that maybe that would make her start using THAT as a litter box too…  so I thought I’d ask all you bunny experts here.

Here’s a picture of her cage set-up:

[jerseygirl]

Some buns do seem to like hanging out in the litter box. I have 2 suggestions that may get her to sleep elsewhere. 1) if you have room, put a little cardboard box in her cage as a hidey box. Cut of the lid flaps and invert it so the floor of the hidey house is the cage floor, not cardboard. Cut one or two little doorways for her. They looove boxes. 2) See whether you can put in a little sleeping shelf. Another favourite of rabbits is to be up on these to nap. You can cover it with a towel or something. If you try the box option, you may even find she likes hanging out on top of it rather than in it.

Most like laying on the cage floors actually. You could try a little cat bed type thing but not many go for them and yeah, they do become another litterbox.

I’m not sure what you could do with the litter other then trying something else.  You could cover the aspen with a layer of straw/hay perhaps. 
As for her paws, you could give them a wipe or wash using a mild baby soap but any stains from pee won’t wash out unfortunately. You just have to wait for it to shed or fade. She’ll probably do a good job of cleaning herself also.

[Monkeybun]

I have a towel lining the bottom of Monkey’s cage, and she’s good about not using it as a litter box. Could always try it, towels are washable at least

[MooBunnay]

If you are looking for an inexpensive but very effective (in my opinion) litter – you can use horse stall bedding (I use Lonestar Bedding, or Equine Pine), or wood stove pellets. These are pelleted forms or pine which have been baked so they don’t have that pine smell, so they are generally thought to be better for bunnies than pine shavings. These are very absorbent, and I usually get about 50 lbs. for around $7. My bunnies like to hang in their litter boxes too, so they all have large boxes with a layer of hay over the litter so they can lounge. I think the idea of a hidey box is really good, I bet your bun will prefer to hang out in there than in her litter box.

[skibunny8503]

I’d recommend putting a fleece towel down instead of a beach towel because with my experience, my rabbits started digging and chewing them and would have little strings everywhere, so the fleece won’t get caught on their nails or teeth. As for the paws, I’m not exactly sure but I wonder if it’s because of the bedding. My first bun we used shavings and the bedding would be so wet from the pee (his paws were darker so I couldn’t tell as much), but I’m wondering if that’s it. If you want to save money, I’d recommend equine pine or wood stove pellets from a Tractor Supply or maybe Home Depot if there’s one around you. You get 40lbs (really absorbent) and it’s about $6. Lasts me about 2 months.

[Barbie]

Yeah, the wood stove pellets are great – I swear by them now! You don’t have to use too much because when they get wet they swell up and are super absorbant and you can get a huge bag for just a few bucks. Check your local home improvement store or a farm supply store (do you have a Menard’s or a Tractor Supply Co where you are?)

Leroy has two of the small cat beds, one in his cage and then one in the living room. He sleeps in the one in his cage (he’s free roam during the day, but I have to put him in his cage (dog crate) at night and when I’m gone because he’s so naughty!) and every morning when I wake up, he’s flopped out in it. The bed in the living room he doesn’t use as much – he’s usually spending his play time getting into trouble, lol. The beds are faux sheepskin, so they’re probaly pretty comfy. Though he does have a habit of leaving a few poos in it just to claim them as his.

She would probably enjoy a hidey box like Jerseygirl suggested

You could try putting some more hay in the litter box to encourage her to use it for pooping/peeing since rabbits like to poo and munch simultaneously, lol. In the picture it only looks like there are a few pieces – maybe she’s eaten it all, but I usually put a very large handful in the box once or twice a day (granted, I used baled hay and there’s always so much that I don’t have to worry about waste). All rabbits should have unlimited access to hay, and she especially should since she’s so young.

Don’t worry about her sleeping in the litter box – buns seem to enjoy that for some reason.

You probably don’t need the newspaper lining the bottom of the cage, unless she’s having a real problem with the slick surface, though I’d suggest lining the bottom of the litter box with a few layers of newspaper, folded to fit. It’ll help with absorption and makes it easier to clean the boxes – the paper peels out in one piece.

[Adalaide]

Freya has the same little purple littler box. She quickly outgrew it, so when we built her condo we cleaned it and it’s her hay box now. Anyway, we made sure she had a little hidey box like Jersey said for her when she came home. She loved her box and spent most of her time on top of it. She did have issues with pooping in her box, but at least she didn’t pee in it. We could just dump the poo out. I would try some fleece or something, it’ll be fun to dig in and soft to lay on and it’ll be just like wiping her feet when she gets out of her box.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

The only thing I’d caution about is using something soft like a towel in the cage, may promote her to use it as a toilet (because it absorbs and buns seem to love peeing on soft things…) so since your litter training…I’d try it but if she pees on it, I’d remove it and the newspaper. Nothing wrong with her chilling in her litter box, but if the whole cage has paper or towels in it, she may very well just go whereever. If the bottom of the cage is not covered in anything, she’ll likely tidy her litter habits

[Denise12]

I line my cage which is just like yours with card board. I bring home boxes from work, my husbands work, deliveries, etc. It works great. I also have a corner litter box like that and i use Feline Pine as the litter as per the vet’s recommendation. It is super absorbant and doesn’t need to be changed every day. Also the hay goes on that. I also have another corner with towels and another area where I have a silicone loaf pan that she often sleeps in

[angelicvampyre]

I give Anya options to sleep else where but I got her a larger litter box (like yours but bigger) and she LOVES to sleep in it! She even has a hay corner with hay just like her litter tray but nope she has to sleep in the litter tray.

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