Litterbox

[tdwp2481]

When I got my bunnies the foster mom said they were litter trained. The nutered bunny Andy. Uses the litter box pretty much lives in it. But the other bunny (not nutered) doesn’t seem to use the litter box I tried the paper towel method but it doesn’t seem to work and during the week I can’t keep an eye on him because I’m in school. Any suggestions?

[BinkyBunny]

It has probably less to do with littertraining, and more to do with marking. He’s in a new place and with him not being neutered, his hormones may drive him to claim his new territory this way.. When you are gone, where are they? In a cage, a pen, free roaming? Does he urinate or poo mostly and is it everywhere or in one particular place?

[tdwp2481]

When I’m gone their in their cage and he poos mostly and its always everywhere not in one certain area.

[Beka27]

that does sound like marking. tell me, do you have a litterbox for each bun? another thing is that if the one bun is spending a ton of time in the litterbox (if you only have one) it’s possible your other bun might not be able to get in there or might not want to.

when will the bunny be old enough to be neutered? in the meantime, you can put hay in the litterbox to encourage sitting in there. clean up any accidents as soon as you can and give limited freedom when you can supervise.

[tdwp2481]

I have one litterbox the foster mom said to just use one. And have that one being the bottom of a cat litter box and they both fit in the litter box with some room so it’s just marking then?

[Beka27]

it’s not that they both cannot fit, it’s that the one might be becoming territorial of the box. i’d try a second box and see how it goes. usually the more boxes, the more success they will have and then you can remove boxes if they become unnecessary. with my bonded pair, i need to have two medium cat boxes. even tho they both fit in one, they like to hang out in the boxes at the same time, plus one box houses the hay container, so it just works out that way… also, some buns will not fully “get” littertraining until after they are neutered…

[tdwp2481]

I just got a 2nd litter box and their on seperate floors. I might get a 3rd one for the 3rd floor. And I’ve been looking around for places to get the bunny nutered. Which litter is better yesterdays news or carefresh? And if I clean up all the poop from the floors will they try to remark their spots?

[BunnyMuffin]

Yesterday’s news is a lot less expensive than carefresh, especially if you buy the cat version, not the small animal/rabbit version. At first Noelle didn’t like the feel of the YN pellets and would dig them out (she also just likes to dig her litter in general), so I would use YN as a base, and then spread a bit of carefresh on top to appease her highness. That way I saved a bit of money and she was happy. I eventually had her transitioned over to completely YN when she suddenly decided that no type of litter was acceptable to stay in her litter box and I had to put a grate over the top – which has nothing to do with your question! I find they both absorb odors very well. The carefresh is a bit nicer to clean up, because once the YN gets too wet it gets kinda crumbly (it’s okay if I change the litter daily, but when I get lazy and wait an extra day then it’s a bit more messy). But I’d say if you’re going to be dealing with multiple boxes – take the economical route and go with the YN, at least for the primary base.

[tdwp2481]

How much should I put in the litter box on the bag it says about 2 inches but it seems like much if you throw it out every day

[BunnyMuffin]

Yeah, I basically sprinkle enough to cover the bottom of the pan. It expands a bit when it gets wet (at least the YN does), so not every last spec has to be covered. I have a plastic cup from Jimmy John’s (fast food) that I use – just a scoop or so scattered on the bottom. It’s a medium sized cup – not gigantic or anything. Let me go measure…It holds just over 2 cups of water. It will of course depend on the size of the litter box.

But yeah, 2 inches is definitely excessive, particularly if you’re going to be cleaning the box out every couple of days.

[Beka27]

LOL… the litter company WANTS you to use 2 inches so you go thru it faster… ;o)

i use cell-sorb which is bigger recycled paper pellets (similar to YN but bigger) and i usually barely cover the bottom. it does expand once it gets wet and less than a half-inch on the bottom will absorb all the pee for about 2 (sometimes 3) days… i don’t recommend going that long, but sometimes life prevents you from being as quick as you’d like…

you’ll need a rabbit savvy vet to perform the neuter… check out the HRS vet page by state/region… http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

another option is to contact your local (or semi-local) HRS chapter and ask them if they know of any low-cost spay/neuter programs in your area… http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/index.html  even if you have to drive a bit (up to an hour away) it’s sometimes worth it for the money you can save…

[tdwp2481]

Ok so Johney still isn’t really using his litter box and after cleaning his cage I found that he peed on the walls and the carpet and some how the stairs which are above the cage and now it smells REALLY bad how can I get rid of the smell?

[Beka27]

oooh, it sounds like he’s spraying. this behavior is likely due to the fact he’s not neutered. you can wipe everything down with a vinegar/water solution and that should neutralize it…

[tdwp2481]

Alright thanks

[BinkyBunny]

Yes, this sounds like definite marking. One thing that may actually help is IF the immediate cleaning is only making him mark more then it may be best to let him mark with his poos and don’t clean it up right away. This will help him feel confident that his “new” home has now been claimed.

If he had never been trained before, or he was just doing his normal poo in piles, I would be more inclined to recommend the “clean” it up right away method. And both can actually work well for different situations and with different bunnies, but it sounds like your guy just needs to get his point across that he feels he has found his forever home. And then when you do clean the poos, try to sweep them up into a his box, but don’t wipe up them up with water or cleaner. This will allow a poo/mark scent (to the bunnies) to be left behind.

So clean up the urine with vinegar and water as Beka suggested, but leave the pills.

IF this works, then you should see a decline in about a week or so once he feels compfy. But since he’s not neutered you may deal with it for a little longer or it could be an ongoing thing….hard to say.

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