Litter Box Possessiveness?

[berkua]

So, Piper, my new lionhead/lop mix came to me litter trained.  She is 1 year and 8 months old give or take, and the organization I adopted from fosters the bunnies out.  The woman that was assisting me told me that the foster family handled her roughly, picking her up by the scruff and lord know what else.  

I wrote about Piper charging at my hand when I step into her pen to tidy up in another post.  She seems to be getting used to me going in there now.  I sit in there with her, and pet her, as well as tidy up so she gets a feel for me.  

My next question … and honestly, I would really categorize it as an issue, but I’d like to get some opinions on how to handle it … Piper is great with her litter box.  I have it in the cage that is attached to her play pen.  She jumps into the cage, uses the box, and jumps back out after she’s done.  I have her food and water in the cage, as well.  Until this morning, I also had hay next to the litter box.  

What seems to happen (it has happened 2 times so far) is that when I clean her litter box, she will pee outside of it in the cage, as though to spite me for touching it.  What I do, because I am still trying to get a feel for her litter habits … I will clean the litter out, put new litter in, but then I will take some of the soiled litter, and put it back on the top on the new stuff so she knows that it is still hers and she should use it.  But, directly after I put the box back in, she’ll pee right next to it!  Today, she peed on the hay that was next to it, so I took the hay away, cleaned the pee up, and didn’t put new hay back. 

After that, I am sure she is using the litter box again, but I want to her to be consistent.  I just purchased a bigger box that with go all the way across the width on the cage, so when she is in there, she can’t pee next to it on the 2 sides, but she can still pee next to it lengthwise. 

Anyway … any suggestions would be helpful. 

Thanks!

 

[Sam and Lady's Human]

I’m not really sure there is a fix. Samson is spayed and she does not like me in her pen while she’s in there. She either looks at me and then turns her back, or occasionally charges me. Now I just do all her litter changes and everything when she’s out playing.

Since you have another bunny, she might be feeling the need to mark her territory. I don’t really worry about hay with pee on it, they wont eat it if its bad.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Clean the box when she isn’t there lure her out with treats or time in another room to play.
I find mine naturally feel their litter box is a personal place. So we have a rule, that seemed to come naturally, and that is I never bother them if they are on the toilet. They know it, if I try to brush them in their room they hop off to the litter box, because I can’t touch them there. My bunny kokanee used to hoard items in her box, she was so aware that it was stricty her space.
The reason I’m sharing that is your rabbit seems to be territorial, and has decided to share her area with you but not the litter box-so to avoid offending, let that be her space, you never pet her or bother her when in it. And you clean it when she is away and can’t see

[berkua]

I cleaned Piper’s litter box while she was out playing.  I closed the door to the room, and cleaned her pen and litter.  It didn’t matter that I did it whle she was away, she peed outside of the litter box like she always does.  This is the only time she doesn’t use the litter box.  She is a very good girl … she even used the litter box out in the other room that I bring my buns out to play in. 

The only thing I could think of is adding a litter box to her cage.  So, now her cage looks like this:

 

Piper has a pen to hop out into, so I am not concerned about taking up some more room with another box. 

Does anyone else have any suggestions?  I am at a loss … she is so good otherwise … just doesn’t like me cleaning her litter box.  

Blah!!

[Sam and Lady's Human]

There’s a good chance that corner one isn’t big enough for her, I know it seems like it would be, but maybe she’s hopping in and peeing but her bum is still hanging out?
Sorry I forgot, is she bonded with your other bun yet? It could be territorial marking, like that one box is hers, even thought she’ll share others.

[berkua]

Piper hasn’t urinated outside of the litter boxes since last night. She went outside of the litter box twice … once after I cleaned the blue one, and once after I added the corner box. Then it was back to normal. She seems to only pee in the box that is closest to the corner of the cage. She hasn’t gone in the blue one since I added the corner box.

As far as being too small … it seems to be fine. I can’t fit bigger ones in the cage.

I don’t know how to deal with this one because it only happens once right after I clean the little box and then it is back to normal.

Anyway … thanks for the replies!

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Most rabbits can’t use that corner litter box. I’m not just saying that because I’m trying to make you buy more or something, it’s a common problem I’ve read about with people with similar issues.

[Author]

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