Help* Rescues not litter trained

[bellbottomblues]

Hello! I would appreciate any ideas. I rescued 2 angora rabbits (from being snake food) this weekend. I have them set up in X-pens but they pee and poop everywhere. I know I must give them time to adjust. But its a mess! and stinky! I thought of getting cages for them until they start to get the hang of a litterbox. Should I fill the cages with litter AND put in a litterbox? Or will that just let them poop/pee throughout the cage? They were kept in hutches, no hay , on wire. Neither are fixed yet. Currently they are getting dirtier stepping on the loose pee, etc.

[Beka27]

Thanks for saving them from a sad fate!

You’ve just gotta keep cleaning up. You only want litter in the litterboxes, put their hay in there too to encourage them to do their business in the box. Within the next couple weeks they should get better. How soon will they be able to be altered?

[bellbottomblues]

Thanks for your reply. I want to let them settle a bit. Also, I have to get them checked out first to make sure they are healthy enough for surgery. Especially the male who (from what the lady who first rescued him told me) was starved. I have never had a rabbit (spayed or not), who did not use a litter box almost immediately.

[Stickerbunny]

I trained my female (unspayed when I got her) by using the cage she came with (which was way too small) as her litterbox to start with because she was familiar with it – I filled it with litter, let her choose her spots, then slowly began moving the litter out of the bottom of the cage and just into the litterbox. Every day I would take another section of litter up and by time it was all up, she was completely litter trained because she recognized the litter as where to go. My male (unaltered when I got him as well) litter trained himself but he will NOT use a litterbox unless it’s kind of hidden – I have 3 baby gate panels in an open cube for his main one (he won’t use the box without the “corner”) and the other is against the wall with some random items blocking off the space to make it a corner as well.

So my suggestion would be see if they have any specific spots they like to pee in and place a couple of litterboxes there, if you happen to notice any habits like preferring a dark hidden place, try to use that instinct to your advantage. Also, place a couple of pieces of dirty litter (just get it wet) into the boxes so they know the smell and clean up the other areas with vinegar whenever you notice them using it.

What are you using as litter? Some rabbits are highly offended by the smell of wooden litters (my male avoids his litterbox completely if I use wood pellets, but my female is fine with them).

Good for you for rescuing them and it just takes time with some rescues – they were poorly treated, if starved I bet they had to lay in their own waste a lot, they need to get used to being clean, healthy rabbits again.

[bellbottomblues]

Hi Sticker, thanks for sharing, I switched them to cages with carefresh and a litter box too. They both seem to have been kept on dirty litter because of yellow stains. The male English Angora has a raw foot pad which the vet treated and wrapped. His nails needed clipping badly. I will do as you suggest and slowly remove the carefresh bedding as they get better with the litter box. I also ordered Binky’s litter pans and screens (which is fantastic idea!) so they won’t sit in pee. They are both still underweight so I have to wait for their spay/neuter. The female is a french angora and although skittish, she is more active than the male. She is younger too. Only 11 months old. He is 2 years old. I will still let them run in pens but i can’t keep them full time because of the smell and mess. Oh, and I am using paper pellets (yesterday’s news) for their litter boxes.

[Stickerbunny]

It’s best to use the same litter in their pan as they are used to using – so if they are going on the carefresh, add it to the litter pan. You can mix the yesterdays news and carefresh, but they might recognize the carefresh easier. My female is a lot more active than my male too, she’s a little spunky thing that came as skittish as can be thanks to her previous owners mistreatment. Hopefully they get the weight up soon, poor little babies.

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