forgot how to use the litter box

[Alina]

Okay so most of you know I have a new addition to my little family. A 2 year old Himalayan dwarf lop that is very overweight.

We brought him home Monday night, and put him in his new NIC condo, when previously he only had a teeny tiny cage. He is pooping and peeing EVERYWHERE. I’m so baffled, the previous owners said he was littler trained. I realize that sometimes with change comes forgotten litter manners, but this is just weird. He sits in his litter box all day, and gets out to pee and poop.
He has a little bed and a towel in there that he has shown interest in laying on, but he just lays there and pees. I don’t get it!
Another thing that is odd, he pretty much just pees in his box during the day, but at night we come out and it’s a total disasterous mess.

I have new litter in his box, hay, I put his stray poops in there and then some pee soaked rags. He still pees everywhere else at night.

 

I realize this could also be because he is obese, and can’t make it to the litter box in time.

 

Any suggestions?

[Monkeybun]

It is likely a territorial thing. Most bunnies do it when going to new places. He will relearn the proper way soon

[Alina]

Okay I feel foolish. He kept peeing in this corner, and I totally forgot they pick the corner they want. So I got a bigger litterbox and put it there. The problem appears to be solved.

[jerseygirl]

That’s great! Bigger boxes often solve the problem. I was going to say find out what litter the former owners used but it seems there is no need now. : ) He might like one box for sleeping in and one for toileting also.

[loomistunes]

I am new here and read your responces and hope I have gotten an answer to my problem.. I have 2 baby bunnies who are sharing the same cage.. We they were distributing the regular bunny behavior and peeing a corner so I put a litter box in that spot and they started peeing in another corner.. I am hoping a bigger litterbox will be the answer

[RabbitPam]

Loomistunes,
Welcome. I don’t want to hijack this thread, but I want to caution you about having 2 babies in the same cage – it should be temporary and they should each have a separate cage with separate litter pans in them as soon as possible. That will also help to solve a peeing outside the box issue.

The reason is that you cannot know what the gender of a bunny is for certain until they start to reach their sexual activity age, and that is much, much sooner than people realize. Weeks, not months. If they are opposite sex, no matter if a vet has examined them and said otherwise, you can have a pregnant doe on your hands quiet soon. Being siblings doesn’t matter, and vets are often surprised when they schedule a neuter and end up doing a spay.
So while they’re still babies, get some supplies to separate them. It’s much easier to train them to have good litter and other habits this young, too. They will start to act out in a few months due to hormones but that will be normal. They really shouldn’t be bonded until after one or both is speutered.
Oh, and please start a new thread. We are very demanding here: we want to see pictures of cute new bunnies!!!!

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