Good for months, now issues

[BrianM]

We’ve had Thumper since July of 2017. He came to us potty trained. In the first few weeks he would poop everywhere but that ceased, it seems as he got used to his new home. Thumper was born on Valentine’s Day, 2017. Today he’s 14 months old. He was on young rabbit food since we got him and several weeks ago started to switch/introduce adult rabbit food (pellets) to him. We mix some young & adult food together each night. Since the introduction of the new food he poops everywhere in the cage. He used to poop (probably) 90% in his box, 10% elsewhere in the cage. Now he’s messy and poops everywhere. The changing of the food is the only difference that is apparent in his life. He gets plenty of hay, water bottle is always full, he gets to roam outside of his cage for hours everyday. The hay has not changed, nor has the water. The cage is in the same place it has been since we brought him home. The food is the only explanation we have as to why he now poops everywhere. He does still poop a lot in his litter box though. That has not changed. But daily I’m cleaning up his poop and it’s very much mixed in with the hay. I try and separate the hay from the poop when I clean, well because otherwise it is a tremendous waste of hay. He plays with the hay, pulls it out of the bin, and so on. It then gets mixed up with the poop. I do not believe he is neutered. But again he has been good for so many months and now something has changed. Could the change in food be the issue? And I can’t help but to think that he poops more than he ever did. It’s the same solid, round poop, nothing liquid or non-normal, it just seems like more than ever before. I’m sure this can be changed/fixed but I’m at a loss as to what has happened to begin with. We love our Thumper and want him to be happy & healthy. But why is he pooping everywhere in his cage!?!? I read a whole bunch of posts on here about training, re-training, and so on but wanted to pose my specific/unique issue/question to the forum. Thank you!

[DanaNM]

Since his poops are normal (not excess soft cecatropes?), my guess is that it’s hormonal rather than the food. When he poops outside of his box, are they piles of round poops, or scattered around? If scattered, it’s marking (hormonal).

Also, is there any bedding in his cage? That can also confuse litter box habits.

Putting the hay in a hay rack can help with waste. I tend to put a layer of hay in the box, but then most of it goes in a rack attached next to the box, otherwise my girl just pees on all of it!

. . . 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.  

[kurottabun]

It’s possible that the new pellets are more fibrous, so he actually produces a lot more poop than when he was eating the old pellets, which is why the amount of poop outside of the cage also increased relatively.

As Dana said, it could very well also be hormonal. Hormones are unstable things and can kick in at any random time, die at random times, then come back again (hence the term “hormonal” lol), so it could be a coincidence that his hormones started to rage at the same time you changed his pellets.

For separating the hay and the poop, you could try getting a litter box with a grate on top (I use it myself). It helps greatly in keeping the hay clean. Unfortunately my bunny doesn’t eat enough hay if it’s in a rack, so I’ve had to discard the rack and just put the hay on top of the grate. Some smaller bits may fall through when Kurotta eats it, but wastage is very minimal.

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