Litter training

[Merci]

Hi guys,
I’ve just joined the page and I’m like looking for some advice and tips.

I bought Misty 3 weeks ago when she was 15 weeks so she’s about 18 weeks now. She has a litter tray in the corner of her cage since day one. When shem’s in her cage, she will only use that to pee, however as soon as she’s out and about she will pee om my bed and sometimes on people too. She’s too young to be neutered, but I know what should hopefully stop her peeing everywhere.
However she has a poo everywhere, she never uses her litter tray for that. As soon as she has a poo I pick it up and put it in her litter tray. But she still doesn’t seem to get the idea at all. I put her hay in a ball above her litter as I know they like to eat while they have a poo.

Not really sure what else to do. Any advice would be appreciated!

[GlennTheLionhead]

Hi!
You should upload a picture of the little baby, hope she’s settling in okay,

What you’ve explained all sounds like the behaviour of a sexual my maturing bunny, and at 18 weeks it’s the time you’d expect it too. She’s peeing on your bed because she’s saying this is mine and other people to either say your sitting on my chair or I’m the boss of you. This will stop within a couple of weeks after she’s been neutered, you may have to train her a little by cleaning up any pee with tissue and putting some of it in her litter tray for the day and same with poos(it sounds like you know this already though).

Dropping poo is actually another way to mark the area that’s their’s, in the wild they poo all around their territory to warn off intruding bunnies. A good way to tell the difference between territorial poops and normal poops, normal poops will be a clump of about 20 in the same space (not literally clumped together, that would be concerning) and territorial ones will just be random poos all over the place.

Sometimes even after a spay/neuter they will always leave the odd poop in their favourite space but it will be so little and in frequent that it doesn’t bother you.

Just hang tight till she can be spay and be patient, all of this should go away. Bunny’s are very rewarding and loving pets if your patient.

Hope that helps

[Merci]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your reply. I was just concerned because people say on some sites their bunny has been using the litter tray since day one. So I wasn’t sure, whether I’m doing something wrong. Expecially with the pooing as she litterally has a poo eveytime she jumps! As I said she won’t pee anywhere else but her litter tray when she’s in her cage, but Im hoping once she’s old enough to be neutered she will stop peeing on my bed (and me).

As I never had a rabbit before, I’m not not sure what to expect. I’m feeding her unlimited hay and the amount ot pellets advised on the bag. Sometime her pee is white or dark orange, and I was really concered about her first, but I know it’s all down to what they eat.

She’s actually settling in really well. First she was scared, but now she is really active and loves to be around us. Unfortunately my phone wont allow me to upload a photo, but I will attach one later.

[Wick & Fable]

People are more likely to be vocal when something is “good” about there rabbit, so if someone has a rabbit that naturally picked up litter habits, it’s something they really like to share! But don’t worry if your rabbit doesn’t, because there are plenty that do not and need training.

I’ve had Wick for 1.5yrs and I still do litter training tactics, like saying “good boy” from across the room when he goes to his litter box, and being on guard to move him if he pees outside.

When training, just remember to consider how your rabbit is thinking because they are not going to understand things like “I peed on the carpet and that’s why I’m now confined in my pen.” The first step is to associate peeing and pooping with the litter boxes, so by moving poops and putting soaked pee rags there, that helps, but for a lot of rabbits, like Wick, you need more than that. Perhaps moving the rabbit in there after each accident. This is typically the most effective and commonly used technique.

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.

[Merci]

Thank you for the honest replies. It’s good to know she isn’t the only rabbit that doesn’t naturally do it. I m really patient with her as I know it can take a while with other animals too.

Thank you for the tip of putting her in the litter tray, i Will try that and hopefully it will help. I read some negatives comments about that, as some people say they will take it as a punishment and they might be against it even more. But I will give it a go and hopefully it will work.

I really appreciate all the help. I don’t know a lot of people with rabbits so it’s good to get advice from people that actually own them.

[Wick & Fable]

Some people do describe it as punishment, but that usually pertains to people putting their rabbit back in their cage because of an accident, so it’s a ‘time-out’. You are right that this does not work and causes more frustration.

Mysuggestion is simply putting them in the litterbox, not locking them in their cage. So the rabbit may still be frustrated that you put him/her somewhere she didn’t want to go, but after repeated times associated with “this happened right after I peed/pooped”, the message may get across.

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.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Ah, teenage buns, aren’t they just a treat? This is a tough phase indeed, so I hope that you can get some help with the answers given here. As you said yourself, most problems will be fixed after she’s been… eh… fixed.
It’s quite a shock for some people that their cute baby bun suddenly turns into a raging hormonal anarchist. Many bunnies are given up around this age because people find them unmanageable and become frustrated. I’m very happy to read that you’re so patient with her.

Some rabbits can be quite lazy, and may find that it’s too much of a hassle to go back to their litter box. Placing one or two extra litter boxes around the room may help to reduce incidents. Praise works best with rabbits, as do treats. Praise her if she’s doing well, that will be very motivating for her. Corner model litter boxes may be a problem for some rabbits. If she frequently misses the box, try to look into a rectangular cat litter box with higher edges. Surprisingly, plastic storage boxes work too, for the really creative pee-ers.

We had to re-train our bunny 2 years ago because he’d never been box-trained. He was house trained and used to go in a corner of his cage, as he had been doing when he still lived at my BF’s place. But my back issues kept flaring up and lifting the entire cage was becoming too heavy for me. We tried it with a corner model litter box, but that just became one big mess. Now we have a rectangular box which spans the entire width of the cage with high edges.
Breintje has a tendency to lift his tail up really high while he’s peeing, so he even peed over the edges of cat litter boxes. At my wits end I went shopping for storage boxes and I found one which fits the cage perfectly. It’s 40*30 cm which is about 1/3rd of his cage, it fits really snugly with no room for misses. His hay rack is above it, because it’s his favourite lounging spot. Its edges are 10 cm high, and now he really can’t miss anymore. (Although I wouldn’t put it past him to secretly practice on doing a handstand, so he can still pee over the edge )

Best of luck with Misty and I hope that she’ll improve her habits soon!

[Merci]

Wick- I though the same thing, that if I don’t lock her i the cage she wouldn’t take it as punishment. I am going to try that as I though that will be a good idea, I just didn’t know as there was many negative comments about it.

Ellie- I am hoping that the pee will stop. To be honest, I am not so bothered about her poking everywhere as it takes 2 second to pick them up. However, she loves being on my bed and everytime she goes on there, she has a pee. It’s not that much of a pain at the moment as it’s so little it’s easy to clean up, but I assume as she will grow this will get bigger. So I do hope she will stop eventually.

As she is so tiny she’s pretty good at using her corner litter tray. She only likes to pee in the corner anyway and when I used a box before, it didn’t work as she would sit in the edge and manage to pee behind it. So I think this corner litter tray works really well for her as long as she’s in her cage or on the floor. I’ve got one of the metal balls that I fill with hay right next to the litter tray so she has to jump in the litter tray to be able to reach it, but she still goes around her cage and has a poo everywhere else.

I will try getting more litter boxes and putting it around the house. I have bought a little litter tray and been putting it on the bed when she jumps on, filled with some of her poo. I’m hoping she will start using that. I do try to praise her when she does actually uses the right place ( but its very rare).

She is literally my love, so I hope the peeing will stop soon.

Thank you for both of your helps. I have uploaded a picture of my tiny little girl now.

[Merci]

Wick- I though the same thing, that if I don’t lock her i the cage she wouldn’t take it as punishment. I am going to try that as I though that will be a good idea, I just didn’t know as there was many negative comments about it.

Ellie- I am hoping that the pee will stop. To be honest, I am not so bothered about her poking everywhere as it takes 2 second to pick them up. However, she loves being on my bed and everytime she goes on there, she has a pee. It’s not that much of a pain at the moment as it’s so little it’s easy to clean up, but I assume as she will grow this will get bigger. So I do hope she will stop eventually.

As she is so tiny she’s pretty good at using her corner litter tray. She only likes to pee in the corner anyway and when I used a box before, it didn’t work as she would sit in the edge and manage to pee behind it. So I think this corner litter tray works really well for her as long as she’s in her cage or on the floor. I’ve got one of the metal balls that I fill with hay right next to the litter tray so she has to jump in the litter tray to be able to reach it, but she still goes around her cage and has a poo everywhere else.

I will try getting more litter boxes and putting it around the house. I have bought a little litter tray and been putting it on the bed when she jumps on, filled with some of her poo. I’m hoping she will start using that. I do try to praise her when she does actually uses the right place ( but its very rare).

She is literally my love, so I hope the peeing will stop soon.

Thank you for both of your helps. I have uploaded a picture of my tiny little girl now.

[Author]

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