Is there a way to improve my bun’s litter habits?

[Inaya]

Hi everyone!

I have a neutered holland lop, he’s 6 months old.

His main area where all his stuff is, including his litterbox, is in the space outside my bedroom. He mostly pees in his box, but there’s this one wall in my room where he also likes to go. I think he probably goes along the wall as:

a) a bunny I petsat once peed there and we probably initially didn’t clean it enough

b) The first week when I brought him home he was kept there, in my room and his litterbox was along the wall.

We cleaned the carpets and got rid of any scent, but he still decides to go there. When I moved his litterbox there to see if that would solve the case, he would still continue pee besides the litterbox no matter where we moved it along the wall.

For now I’ve blocked the whole wall off with a bunch of objects, but it doesn’t look great and I would like to move them. I want to redecorate my room and add stuff in that area, but I can’t until I fix this issue.

Do you guys have any possible solutions, ideas, or things that have worked for you and your buns!

My bun also poops outside of his box quite often, and I know that’s usually normal, but do you also have any tips to limit that too if possible!

I appreciate your time and attention,

Thank you so much!

 

[LBJ10]

How long has he been neutered? What is is setup like? Is he free-roam in the room?

[Inaya]

He was neutered at about 2 1/2 months old, unfortunately he was neutered really early, we got him after he was neutered.

He is free roam on my whole top floor when me or my sister are with him. Basically me and my sister have an area between our bedrooms where his play pen is set-up, which he stays in at night and when i’m in school. And when we’re home he has full free roam access in our rooms. He’s never gone to the bathroom in her room, it’s just my room (except for some poops.) We also bring him downstairs to the main floor to free roam and he poops quite a lot everywhere, but he doesn’t pee.

 

Thank you so much!

 

[BrunosMama]

Ah, bunnies can be so stubborn!

Depending on how things are set up in your room, you could always put down a washable rug/towel or puppy pee pads. That might work if its just one particular spot along the wall. If he insists on peeing there, at least it will make clean up easier.

Does he pee in front of the objects you moved in front of the wall?

As for the poops in your downstairs area, it could be he is trying to add his smell to the area, if he is only down there occasionally. You could try keeping a litter box down there for him, or even just taking something of his down, like a toy or something.

[Inaya]

Hi!

Yes they can!

That’s what my family was thinking of doing! We have fleece washable pee pads in his pen area so I might buy more of those to but in that area, but they won’t look as nice! But that’s okay its much better than stained carpets!

He goes down almost every day, so I don’t know exactly why he does it. I always bring his litterbox and a few belongings down cause he’ll come down for a few hours and doesn’t understand stairs yet!

Thank you so much! I’m definitely going to order some pee pads!

[LBJ10]

Stupid question – And you’re absolutely sure he was neutered? I only say this because some of this sounds like territorial marking. BUT even spayed/neutered bunnies can mark things. The behavior tends to be much milder though.

This may sound harsh, but your best bet is to restrict his space and go back to litter training basics. Yes, you could put pee pads down as a temporary solution, but that probably won’t address the issue long-term. As Brunosmama asked – Does he pee in front of the stuff you placed over the pee spot? If not, then you could try blocking the area off with grid panels for now.

[Inaya]

Don’t worry it’s not stupid, but yes he definitely is neutered!

He doesn’t pee infant of the things I’ve placed, he only pees once he finds a way behind them and goes next to the wall! I could try placing something to block that area off, but I feel like once I’d remove it he’d probably go back to going there. I can definitely try it thoughh if you think it could really help!

[LBJ10]

Haha! Well, you would be surprised how many bunnies we have seen here that were “neutered by their previous owner” and they actually weren’t. Even ask Brunosmama. 😉

I have found that if something is blocked off long enough, bunnies have the tendency to “forget” about them. That’s why putting something heavy on top of a dig spot works so well.

[Inaya]

I didn’t realize it’d be that common that’s crazy!

That sounds great! I think I’ll try that out for now and see how it goes!

 

Thank you so so much!

[BrunosMama]

Haha, yeah, I’m going through the “told he was neutered but he’s not” right now. I swear, he has the worst litter habits and will just go everywhere BUT his box lol.

I agree with LBJ, though, that fortunately, a lot of times a bun will forget they like doing something they shouldn’t if they aren’t allowed/have access to for awhile. So, hopefully keeping the hot spot restricted for awhile will help and he will forget what a nice spot it was to pee in lol. Then, if you redecorate and rearrange stuff, he may be so curious as to the new setup he won’t worry about the wall spot.

It sounds like your bun is also still pretty young. I’m not entirely sure how it would be for a bun who was neutered at a very young age like your little guy, but he is approaching the terrible bunny “teenage” phase, where they become extremely opinionated and stubborn. So, it could be he will outgrow some of this, too. 🙂

[Inaya]

Awww omg that’s sucks! Good luck with your bun!

Yess I will try that from now on! I’ll just line his play pen along the wall so he doesn’t have access.

Yes, he’s just entered his teenage phase and it’s been pretty crazy! He’s like bouncing off the walls and he’s never been so stubborn, but I feel like he’s becoming very clingy too which I like. Except for the fact that I get attitude any time I step away 😂.

Thank you so much!

[Bam]

I’ve had success with the block-off-until-they-forget-method. My bun Bam suddenly decided that the couch was an excellent pee spot. I blocked off the couch (which meant I had to sit in a sort of cage to watch tv in the evenings). At first Bam was very cross and tried his utmost to force his way through, but eventually he gave up. About two weeks later I unblocked the couch and it was like the couch nolonger existed in Bam’s world. He didn’t get up there again until next spring, that time it only needed blocking off a cpl of days.

Even buns that are neutered young go through some type of “teenage”-phase when they mature into adulthood. Sex hormones are not the only hormones at play, but there’s always some testosterone production in the adrenal glands, both in males and females.

[Inaya]

That’s so lucky! Okay, thank you so much I will definitely start trying this from today. Hopefully it works, thank you so much!

[BrunosMama]

The things bunny parents go through lol!

I’ve had success with this method, too. And a lot of times, they won’t do the bad behavior there anymore and treat it as a normal spot.

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