Fixing my bunny’s weirdly selective litter habits…

[TheVelveteenRabbit]

Hello everyone,

I got my bunny in January of this year, and neutered the following month. I adopted him, so I’m unsure of his exact age, but he’s around 1 year old.

He has a two story hutch lined with soft mats where he spends most of his time lounging. I used to keep him in here when I was at work or sleeping, but I’ve since (probably about 2 months ago) expanded his living space by leaving the hutch door open 24/7 and simply putting a very big x-pen around it when I’m at work or sleeping now.

Before, when I kept him in the hutch when I wasn’t around, he had perfect litter habits (likely because the space is smaller). He has one of those “corner” litter boxes (only on the second floor of the hutch) that he regularly goes in, probably 75% of the time. He will PEE in the box about 95% of the time. I have a rug directly outside of his hutch. At night ONLY, starting around 8pm and ending at dawn, he will continuously poop ALL OVER this rug. The rug will be covered in a sea of poop, and I have to clean it every morning (I’m very neat and hate waking up to this each morning). He will often even lay down flat (legs spread, very relaxed) in the poop. About a month ago, he began peeing on it as well, but NOT consistently (3 times total that I’ve seen). 

I find this so odd because he doesn’t seem to just poop or pee wherever. It seems very selective. He won’t pee or poop on his soft mats, for example (there’s three of them in his little pen area), or the considerable amount of wood flooring in the area. It’s just this one rug and his litter box.

How can I get him to stop pooping (and occasionally peeing) all over the rug? It seems like there’s a reason he’s doing this. I also find it so weird he’ll lay down in his poop after. Any advice on this topic would be appreciated!

[Wick & Fable]

Do you witness active pooping, or is it you end up seeing poop all over the rug? I ask because Wick leaves poop piles around my place at certain times of day, but it’s because he is eating cecotropes and pulls out a dozen normal poops during the journey of eating cecotropes. He’ll go under and keep spitting out normal poops until the cecotropes come out next in line.

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.

[TheVelveteenRabbit]

I witness active pooping, he’ll lift his tail and just go like it’s a gigantic litter box. He poops in his box, but poops significantly more on this rug.

[Author]

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