Litter Training NOT WORKING

[zomkitty]

OKAY so I searched but i didn’t exactly find anything that matched my question precisely.

I have a young buck not neutered (will be. he’s too young right now but not a widdle baby)
I got him almost 3 weeks ago.

When i brought him home in his new rabbit cage (piece of crap that needs to be replaced by a bunny condo i’m making this weekend), and he immediately took well to the litter box which i always top with hay. When he came out to play he would poop and pee everywhere at first but that slowly started to go away and there’d only be the random few droppings and a tiny pee spot every couple days. Mostly used the litterbox and the corner where the water bottle is for poop sometimes. At first I had bedding down for him and I noticed he’d pee sometimes in the middle of the cage/near his hidey house. At first that wasn’t really a problem because i had bedding but yesterday I changed the cage and put some safe fabric down for him instead and kept the bedding only in the litterbox with the hay. When I awoke this morning I found he had peed ALL OVER the cage. Not just in one spot, literally everywhere drenching the fabric. but the corners are all dry. Its just the middle of the cage. I was under the impression rabbits prefer a clean quarters and to urinate and defecate in a particular corner so I’m a bit confused at this behaviour.

The House Rabbit Handbook said it takes 2 days to 2 weeks to litter train. What am I doing wrong? I want him to have a cozy home and when the condo is built i’ll have linoleum tiles on the flooring and i don’t want him to pee everywhere :< I realize this problem settles a bit when the rabbit is fixed but he's too young as far as i know.  Any response greatly appreciated.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Remove all soft fabrics and bedding from the floor until he is litter trained. It’s just too tempting to pee on it. Have only bedding in his litter pan. Quickly wipe up any messes and place them in the litter box. Also, you may not get good results until after he is neutered. The urge to mark is just too overbearing for some bunnies. How old is he?

[RabbitCare101]

I have a young male and he won’t use he’s unless the side is cut of

[Sarita]

Part of the problem is the bedding all over the cage, his age, and possibly the size of the cage.

Young rabbits are generally harder to train too. Some rabbits just catch on better than others too. You pretty much have to work with him and also find the spot where he is peeing and place the litter box on that spot.

[zomkitty]

Posted By Sarita on 11/06/2013 01:55 PM

Part of the problem is the bedding all over the cage, his age, and possibly the size of the cage.

Young rabbits are generally harder to train too. Some rabbits just catch on better than others too. You pretty much have to work with him and also find the spot where he is peeing and place the litter box on that spot.

What should i have on the bottom of the cage?

Also, started on the rabbit condo. should be finished by friday/saturday because i need to get some wood for the floor and 2nd level.

[Kbana]

Buns don’t need anything on the bottom of their cage. When they are having a hard time litter training anything soft will entice them to have accidents. The plain surface of the cage is just fine. After he is neutered and trained you can reintroduce soft fabrics like fleece back into their habitat. Mine had the same problem but once I removed everything soft he started using his box more consistently.

[BerrySoda]

Mine starting using what I thought would be the ‘bed’ area to poop and wee, so I stuck the litter box there and she sleeps just on plain paper in the afternoon sun or on the window sills inside. Generally yeah, don’t put soft cushy stuff everywhere, just where you want him to go. And it helps (if he is just going to the toilet any old place) to take steps to make sure that he isn’t going on his food. Keep the hay up on a wire rack, hay ball, or bowl etc, ’cause for a while mine just started peeing and pooping on the hay she was meant to eat! so I had to keep on chucking it all out and cleaning everything that was soiled.

[zomkitty]

Yes I really need a wirerack for hay because its mostly just soiled whenever i put it in. Cage is free of bedding and there have been no accidents IN the cage (save for a few poops in the food dish?) but its almost like he holds it all in to get out of his cage and have a poop fiesta all over my carpet. Which I personally don’t mind. nothing a dustpan and broom won’t fix but its a little unsightly for guests. Hoping this will change over time?

And he has two litter boxes, one in his cage and one in the room where he’d been peeing. He still piddles a bit outside of the box though. I think because he doesn’t want to hop into the box (which is shorter than a regular litterbox for cats and as tall as the little jump he needs to make from the cage to my floor). Thinking about cutting into one of the sides to make him want to walk into it rather than jump even though I KNOW HE CAN xD

[BerrySoda]

Hmm. Can you partition off the carpeted areas at least for a little while to get a routine going? This is just a theory, but I think if he couldn’t go there, he would probably pick somewhere (such as in a corner) to do the majority of his business, and then you could place his litter tray there.

Then after a while, let him back onto the carpet area and he might go play in there but still think “Oh my toilet is over there, I will go back there to poop!” Mine does an almighty dash to her loo from the carpet like a person with diarrhea or something lol.

Mine chose her own toilet area in the house, which is in a corner in the dining room, so I have put her tray there and she only goes in there even though there’s carpet in the lounge where she does all her binkies and running etc. But she decided to go on the couch one time when she realised she could jump up on it! It’s an old couch but I don’t particularly want wee all over it, so I blocked it off and she just has gone back to doing her business in the litter tray in the corner I think they get tempted with any soft materials until they are fully toilet trained and or neutered. Mine is only a young one and not desexed yet either.

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