Going potty out of bounds

[BookerTRabbit]

Lately Booker has been going potty outside her litter box. Mostly poops, but probably pee at least once a week or so, right where I out her food and hay! So strange. I try to pick them up and put them back in her litter box, but she seems to keep doing it.   Any tips ????

[PeppersMama]

my rabbit just started doing this, never pee, but poops every where in his cage. I think mine is doing it because i just made him free range in my room all of the time. He never goes outside of his cage, but i think hes adapted to having his entire cage as his litter box because now he has my entire room as his play area. Its alot more of a pain to clean. Is she spayed?From what others have told me, i would look at age, if shes around 4 months shes probably going through her hormone stage right now causing her to forget her potty training. If she hasnt been spayed, you can get her spayed and then retrain her.

Edit: just read your profile and it says shes spayed. so im not sure what to suggest. There are lots of people who will come on to help though

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

If it’s all of a sudden, like she had pretty good litter habits before you may want to take her to the vet for a checkup. A bladder infection can cause this- although she could just be miffed at you and peeing, or feeling like she needs to protect her territory; Or if they hay is on the ground, she may think it’s fine to pee on it, lots of us keep hay in the litter box since they like to eat while they go to the bathroom.

[BookerTRabbit]

Thanks guys! Yes, she is spayed and lshe is pottying on and around her hay feeder. Sometimes she takes hay in her litter box, so maybe she is just getting confused.  She just turned one in October, so maybe she is just going through a phase. It seems like if I put new toys in her cage and she doesn’t like them she will pee on them, so maybe she is not happy with her furniture arrangement. I will try moving things around a bit for her.

[jerseygirl]

She may be telling you she doesn’t like changes by peeing as K&K said. It’s contrary because if it’s behavioural, she could be telling you she wants a change or telling you she doesn’t like a recent change! Have you changed type of hay, feed, litter material?

If you do change things round do so with caution! Maybe start any changes with the litter box. Put some hay in one end to munch on. Maybe even increase the size of box. If she is miffed, wont be a big deal if she pees on the offensive item seeing as it’s her litter box! If she was wanting a bigger better box and uses it-that is also good. It’d be a win – win!

[BinkyBunny]

Did you say she actually takes hay into her litterbox, or did you mean she will eat hay hay in litterbox.   Either way, it’s  a good idea to have a fresh hay in there throughout the day.

I’ve recently had the same problem with stubborn Rucy. But I think i FINALLY am solving the problem.

I recenlty took down their pen (I never locked it anyway, basically free range). Well, Rucy for some odd reason insisted on going on the outside of the box. I started cleaning the boxes twice a day as that seemed to help Rucy with what I thought was her Neat freak behavior. That did help, but then every few days it would happen again. So just recently I decided to work in the bunny room during the time this seems to be happening. What I noticed is that she didn’t seem to like to go in the litterbox that Jack had been in. Typical gal – avoid the loo after man has been in there.

ANYway, I thought well, how the heck am I going to fix THAT problem. Jack will go in both boxes. So I put Jack’s favorite hay (Oat) in one box (Rucy doesn’t like Oat), and I’ll put Rucy’s favorite hay in the other. That definitley helped but there was still the problem happening occasionally.

Part of it is that a habit had sort of set-in, AND I also noticed that Rucy is more driven to poo according to the room, and Jack will just go in the box whereever it is, unless a strong habit is formed (not like I can move the box all of sudden completely across the room – I would have to do so gradually)

So that meant, that I had to be there to catch Rucy in the action. This mostly happened in the evenings, and so I have been doing stuff in there for the last few nights, and will continue to do so to catch her when she decides she doesn’t want to go in. Like tonight, Jack decided to mess with HER box, and then left a nice pile of poo in there, and she didn’t want to go in. She ran over sniffed the box and then started to take the pee position next to the box. I imediately scooted her in the litterbox anyway to say…it’s fine, pee over his poo! She did.

So, I say, if you can, spend time with observing your bunny and try and catch her in the act and get her to the box and offer her hay and healthy treats once she’s in. (Though having a handful of fresh hay in the box already should help too)

Keep us updated.

[skibunny8503]

Mine has been doing this for sometime also but he’s 12 years old and I think he just doesn’t care anymore.  He still goes in his litter a lot.  We never saw him actually do this but some how he peed out of his cage, like stuck his butt up in the air and went…weird.  Our vet thought he might have the e. clulicli (not sure on the spelling) since his head tilts a bit and she said you can get that from eating food with urine on it.  We try to clean the cage as often as we can though.

[BinkyBunny]

Well, wow, that puts a whole new twist on the this. 12 years old – that’s just wonderful! Does he have a rabbit buddy that has e.cuniculi? It’s true e.cuniculi can be passed via urine, but it has to be passed via another bunny. Has his head always been tilted?

Does he seem to have any troubles moving around – just thinking with his age, things could be getting more difficult, maybe even arthritis.

Try getting a lower box, or cut the box extrance to lower it – just be sure to sand down the sharp edge as it will scrape. There actually is a lower box made especially for bunnies who have problems getting in. I couldn’t find it quickly by googling, so if I can find it later, i will post the link

[skibunny8503]

 

Nope, he’s all by himself.  He just seems like he leans like he’s falling asleep when he’s sitting still.  He moves around ok, no trouble at all.  I brought him to the vet because I was almost 100% possitive he had a cateract in his left eye and it turns out he did and an imature one in the other.  That might explain the head tilting.  The vet said he could have e. cuniculi (she does specialize in rabbits…but she was rather young) and gave us some antibiotics if he did have that and also some eye drops and said if we wanted she could do more tests and even take out the cataract.  He’s completely fine and we’re so tight on money that we didn’t take him back.  I know that sounds so bad.  I think he’s just getting up there.  I’ll look into that litter box, thanks!

[BinkyBunny]

Head-tilt can be caused by other things too. But when you have the $$ I would suggest getting the titer test to see if your bunny has been exposed. Plus, then later IF he does get more symptoms, you can get another test and compare the titer readings and that may help determine what is the source of the “worsening” situation.

EDITED:  OH GACK!  I keep forgetting he’s 12 years old.  What I just said may work better for a younger bunny, so I’ll keep it there for other’s to refer to.

Since he hasn’t been around other rabbits, IF he has it, it could have been passed down from the mother.  An  estimated 1 in 4 rabbits have it, so it’s not uncommon, but it is good to know for the future because though many bunnies never show symptoms really throughout their life, they can get worse if their immune system suffers – either from stress or just in the aging process. The treatments that are specific for e.cuniculi can help get the titer numbers down (kill off the parasite, though most meds so far don’t completley kill it all off – just enough to keep it under control) Do you remember the type of treatment they originally used for e.cuniculi?

My bunny Bailey (she’s passed now) had e.cuniculi and was treated. It did help but as as she aged she had set-backs, and since we knew already her situation we were able to get treatment fast. (Note: she did not die from e.cuniculi, she had another illness that took her)

 

OH, and I almost forgot.  There is a website dedicated to people with bunnies who have head-tilt.   http://www.onthewonk.com/

 

[skibunny8503]

I can’t remember the meds for sure since they either thrown away or still at my parents house but it was white and we gave it to him through his mouth.  He’s not worse but he’s not completely better.  I’ll have to go see him this week to see how he’s doing.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Let us know how hes doing! {{VIBES}}

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