Litter training question (newcomer to rabbits!)

[Andy]

Hi all

We’ve just got our first rabbit – a 9 week old dward lop and wondering about litter training as there is so much conflicting information out there. First some background…

We’ve decided on keeping her as an indoor rabbit. For bedding we’ve lined the cage with newspaper, then covered it in a mixture of hay and shredded newspaper (cheap). We didn’t fancy the idea of wood shavings as I can imagine it makes a big mess whenever the rabbit comes out of her cage.

The cage is currently layed out as follows:-

– in the back-right corner is a plastic sleeping box lined with hay – she rarely seems to go in there,

– in the front-right corner is her food bowl and water bottle,

– in the front-left corner is a corner litter box with wood-based pellet cat litter. (The litter box was in the back-left corner for the first day or so, but we moved it after noticing she peed in the front corner a couple of times – we’ve since found her to be peeing everywhere – see below!).

There is a hay rack above the litter box, but she doesn’t seem to eat from it that often, preferring to pick at the hay bedding instead.

Immediately to the left of the sleeping box she has pushed away the bedding and seems to like sprawling out on the sheet newspaper underneath.

 

We’ve only had her a few days but are finding that she is pooping everywhere, especially by her food bowl (when she is eating). We put the food bowls near the entrance to her little sleeping box, thinking that rabbits wouldn’t do their business near where they eat or sleep! After reading lots of websites and forums, now realising that they do poop and eat at the same time! There is also a fair bit of poop all over the cage.

As far as peeing goes, she seems to be doing this just about everywhere too. We’ve found a bit in the litter box, some inside the sleeping box, a lot by her feed bowl where she poops, and even on the bare sheet newspaper where she lies.

Having read some forums I’m wondering:-

– should I have a larger litter box (the one we have now is a corner box that she can sit in but not big enough for her to stretch out in)?

– should we get rid of all the bedding and just line the cage with newspaper (I wonder if the bedding is confusing her)?

– should we put the food bowl and water bottle next to the litter tray?

– should we just get rid of the litter box altogether until she establishes a particular place for peeing? (as it stands, this wouldn’t be possible as she seems to do it a lot in the small area between the food bowl and sleeping box).

– I’ve also read that we shouldn’t keep reaching in to the cage to fuss her, pick her up (or do anything in the cage for that matter), as it can make her poop everywhere to mark her territory. Is that correct? And if so, how do we get her out of the cage and used to being handled as she won’t come to us when we open the cage.

(Finally a slightly unrelated question from litter training:- the cage has a plastic base approx 6 inches high sides – she sometimes peers over the side when the door is open but has yet to come out on her own. Is it because she is too small to be able to jump it, or just because she’s still wary of her new home?)

 

Apologies for the lengthy email and lots of questions, but wanted to explain the situation in an attempt to find out the best approach to litter train her in the cage. We’ve only had her a few days but already a bit frustrating! Many thanks in advance!

Andy

 

 

[Beka27]

– should I have a larger litter box (the one we have now is a corner box that she can sit in but not big enough for her to stretch out in)?

Yes, get a rectangular cat litterbox.

– should we get rid of all the bedding and just line the cage with newspaper (I wonder if the bedding is confusing her)?

Yes, get rid of the bedding AND newspaper.  If it’s a plastic-bottom cage, you do not need anything on the floor.

– should we put the food bowl and water bottle next to the litter tray?

You could but it’s not really necessary.  You do want her HAY in the litterbox exclusively.

– should we just get rid of the litter box altogether until she establishes a particular place for peeing? (as it stands, this wouldn’t be possible as she seems to do it a lot in the small area between the food bowl and sleeping box).

Absolutely not.  She needs to become familiar with the litterbox.  I would actually remove the “sleeping box” for now, just have the litterbox.

– I’ve also read that we shouldn’t keep reaching in to the cage to fuss her, pick her up (or do anything in the cage for that matter), as it can make her poop everywhere to mark her territory. Is that correct? And if so, how do we get her out of the cage and used to being handled as she won’t come to us when we open the cage.

Yes and no.  She needs to feel safe in her space, BUT that won’t necessarily cause her to mark her territory.  Some young bunnies do not use their litterbox regularly until they are older and spay/neutered.  If she is in fact a female, she won’t be able to be spayed until at least 5-6 months.

(Finally a slightly unrelated question from litter training:- the cage has a plastic base approx 6 inches high sides – she sometimes peers over the side when the door is open but has yet to come out on her own. Is it because she is too small to be able to jump it, or just because she’s still wary of her new home?)

She’ll figure it out very soon.  Leave her cage door open and ignore her.  Sit in the room and read or watch tv or whatever.  She’ll eventually venture out on her own.  It’s important that she be able to come and go as she pleases.

[jerseygirl]

Welcome
I’m happy to read you opted to keep her indoors. It’s so much safer & it’s great to see their personalities come out.

Beka is spot on in her advice. Give those tips a go and you might be pleasantly surprised.

I just wanted to add a great resource for the house rabbit owner. http://www.rabbit.org   And of course this site – Binky Bunny!

 

[Eva_M]

One more thing you could try doing if you don’t want her to poop in the food bowl is to get a hanging one. I actually have a hamster litter box in the corner which is tied to the bars so its about 1cm off the floor. Bunny has no problem whatsoever reaching it but it’s not likely to jump in it.
And yes, I agree that if the cage has a plastic bottom you don’t need anything on the floor apart from in the litter box. It takes patience for them to learn where to poop and pee but when they do you’ll have no problem with cleaning. My Eva even has a little soft carpet on one half of the cage because she loves to sleep on it (it was outside at first) which is never dirty.
When she starts venturing outside be sure to place one more litter box somewhere near where she hangs out. You can even take some of her litter and place it in the new box so she can sniff what it’s for.
And vinegar is a good thing to have around – it works marvels with all unfortunate pee stains.

[Andy]

Thanks for the advice, really useful. While we’ve only had her a few days I wanted to get her off to a good start early on. I’ll try and keep you posted!

Many thanks
Andy

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