Forgetting litterbox training

[TH004]

Hello all! Please help us! Our bunny of 5 years (she’s older, she’s adopted) has been amazing with her litterbox since I trained her nearly 5 years ago. Every so often she has an accident. For the past 3 days, she’s urinated in her cage, outside of her litterbox. She seems to try to cover it with a toy (her favorite ones– laundry detergent caps). When she’s done this before, it’s because her litterbox wasn’t cleaned to her high standards. But now, I’ve been doing it every day and it hasn’t stopped. Could something be wrong? We did recently move her cage from a bedroom to the kitchen area, so she’ll have a bigger area to hop when we are home. Could she just be mad? (I compare her personality to a 2-year-old child sometimes and other times to a teenaged girl… both are loving but have their moments :-P) Thanks for any and all help!!

[Monkeybun]

Some bunnies don’t like change, especially if it’s sudden and they had their old stuff for a very long time.. like 5 years or so She may also be just marking her new territory. Was she spayed do you know?

If she is older-older, then it may be an age related thing. Could be alot of things really. Has she been straining to pee at all?

[Beka27]

It could be marking from the change in location, but at her age, I wouldn’t hesitate to get her seen by a vet for a full check-up. When bunnies become ill, litter habits are the first to go, and it’s usually very suddenly.

[Elrohwen]

It could be something like a UTI, rather than peeing outside the box on purpose. Since she’s older, I would get her checked out by a vet.

[TH004]

She is not spayed. She had two owners before me and by the time I realized the benefits of spaying her, local vets refused to do it because of her age. I haven’t noticed her having trouble peeing. She is drinking a lot more than she used to. I put this stuff in the water that takes away some of the smell of her urine, but she loves the taste! We’ve been doing that since April.

Thanks for all the advice! I’ll take her to a vet to make sure all is a-ok.

[Andi]

Anything from changing litter, to moveing habitatis around as already mentioned can through a bunny off and send their litter habits out the window. Because of her increased water intake AND this change to not peeing inside the litter box, I think it’s a good idea to take her to get looked at. Let them do a urinanalysis and see if anything up.
Hope the trip goes well, and ur bun is back to her normal litter habits in no time.

[RabbitPam]

You definitely want to establish her with a good local exotics vet at her age, since you may be seeing more of the vet in the next few years.
Another thing to watch for is whether she is having any trouble with her legs. If she is getting arthritis, she may be resisting the climb into the litter box due to some pain (it can be common to onset in rabbits) and you might need a litter box with lower sides. If that’s the problem, then the vet will need to give you a treatment for that as well since she will be diagnosed.

Spockie was on glucosamine when his back legs started to go, which helped him feel better among other meds. But he couldn’t make it into the litter pan at all and I bought special rug remnants (Palace Pet Beds online) that absorbed pee and were washable. He clearly wanted to use the litter box, he just couldn’t make it. Incontinence is a sign of serious issues, but when treated well it can be disabling but not fatal. A disabled bunny can be a joy for years, so this is the worst case scenario, but there’s lots of help if it’s not a condition that will go away. In your case, it probably is a much more treatable issue and will go away for now. It can be as simple as the litter box location displeases her.

[TH004]

Thank you all for all your help! I’m so glad you all told me to take her to the vet (friends thought I was overreacting). The vet couldn’t get a urine sample while there, but in her examination she discovered discharge coming from my bunny’s nipples. She put her on an antibiotic with hopes that it will cure what’s going on there and any possible urinary track infection. She’s on the treatment for 2 weeks and we’ll re-evaluate her at that point if the problem doesn’t go away. We’re very hopeful this will do the trick and it’s not more serious!

I’m so grateful I can come on here and get great info on how to take care of my baby girl! Thanks again!

[Beka27]

Oh good! I’m glad they put her on antibiotics just in case. Keep us posted on how she does. Do you have any pics of your girl that you’d like to share?

[TH004]

I just downloaded some pictures and updated my profile! I love the pix of Max and Meadow hanging out. I’d love to get a second rabbit, but I don’t think mine would go for it. She’s kind of a jealous girl 😛

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