Litterbox training/ Dog/Bunny questions

[KatnipCrzy]

Cotton is an approx 3 month old Mini Lop.  The cage I bought for her has a wire grate.  I covered approx 1/2 of the grate with a brand new cutting board and she has a shelf in the cage.  She is not using the litterbox well for urine at all- she uses the cage grate.  I have tried moving the litterbox- and she just switches to the other free space.  She does not urinate on her hay/ cutting board area or shelf.  She seems to recognize the uncovered grate area as her "litterbox"- I am tempted to take the litterbox out and let her continue as she has been doing- as all the pee and 98% of the cage poops do end up in the long plastic tray underneath.   I have been lining that with newspaper.  But am thinking of switching to a clean plastic box under hay to catch hay that falls thru and in her litter area- lining with blue pads (medical pads that are like puppy training pads) and putting the litter on top of this- wood or paper pellets.

Does anyone else do this?  I do like the fact that her cage is grated so that the poops fall thru and any water from water bottle or moisture from urine is away from her. 

And in general we are still working on the litterbox training.  She does pretty good out of the cage- but she will occassionally pee on the couch when we are watching TV with her.  But I keep the couch covered with towels- so it does not soak thru.   And she has never peed on the desk- where I have a towel on it when she is with me when I am on the computer.  In fact she is helping me to type this now- and that means that every so often I stop typing to pet her.  Now poops, those are a different story- it is not too excessive and not too problematic- will take poops over pee anyday.   But our dogs love, love, love bunny poo- and are scarfing it down at the first possible moment.  Any one else have dogs that do this?  I figure I won’t be able to train them not to do this- as they have until recently done it out in our yard on a regular basis with wild bunny poo.  In fact they eat anything off the floor that is remotely edible.  One of the dogs ate a whole small litter pan of Worlds Best Cat Litter- made out of corn- that my cat used for post-surgical cat litter.  How disgusting.

 Does anyone "recycle" their discarded hay and put it outside where wild bunnies can get to it?  We have tons, in fact- way too many wild bunnies in our subdivision. 

[Gravehearted]

well a lot of bunnies have a tough time getting fully litterbox trained until they’re spayed. It should improve a lot once she’s old enough and been spayed. I don’t think I’d want her to continue to use the grate, since otherwise she may never truly get the hang of litterboxing. I’m glad you adding the cutting board to help protect her paws.

You might also try adding a second litterbox to her house – since that can help encourage using it and is helpful during box training. You might also add a lil hay to it, or even a treat so the litterbox is more appealing. You should also add at least one litterbox to her roaming space, maybe just store it on top of her house when she’s not out so the dog can’t get to it?

eww on the dog eating the litter, i’ve seen other people talk about that before. ick!

[Cadbury]

Oh yes, my golden retriever LOVES bunny poop! Before Cadbury was litter-trained, my dog thought Cadbury was her own personal pez dispenser. Gross to us, but I don’t know how to train them not to eat it (besides keeping them away from it of course!)!

[Beka27]

welcome!  very good questions.  personally, i’d cover the entire bottom so she no longer has access to the grate at all and see if that improves her potty behavior.  you may have to clean up some messes at first, but i bet she’ll catch on pretty quickly.  give it a try for a week or two and see if she starts using the box.  maybe try a piece of cut linoleum over the grate that can be easily wiped clean.

i think of it in terms of potty training a toddler… you can’t expect them to train if you continue to let them wear diapers.  sometimes you have to let accidents happen so they learn that the behavior is not desirable.

and yes, spaying will help also.

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