Litterbox ‘Untrained’?

[charliemom]

We  rescued a beautiful, sweet, mini lop just over a month ago. Litter box training seemed too easy at first. He would always go and pee in the box. The poop took a few days but — it was all good.

About a week ago, he started to pee just about everywhere and very often. We're talking about peeing every five minutes. He also drinks a lot more (gotta refill to pee, I suppose). We suspect Urinary Track Infection but don't see any other symptoms (skin scalding, dark or thicker urine, blood in urine).

He is his usual self, otherwise. Eats a lot, poops a lot, and loves head and body massages. Oh, and we think he's deaf – noise doesn't seem to startle him at all, which is a good thing as my boys are noisy.

Has anyone had this problem before?

[MoveDiagonally]

Sounds like a vet visit is in order.

Welcome to BB! I hope your boy feels better soon.

[Hoppybunny]

It sounds like something is not right with your bunny. My advice is to take him/her to a rabbit savvy vet. The vet can figure out what is wrong. It does sound like some kind of urinary infection, but I am not sure.

[Kbana]

My 4 month old just recently started drinking a ton more but at the same time started eating a ton more hay too. I have to fill his manger every day sometimes multiple times a day. Before he focused more on the litter box hay and would graze on the manger hay. Now he just eats all the hay in sight! I feel like all he does lately is eat and drink! I called the vet today because I heard that drastic increase in water could mean UTI, but because he was also eating a ton more than usual, my vet suspects a growth spurt. (She is rabbit savvy and I found her on HRS website just fyi) Still, with any change in behavior, alarming or not, it is always a good idea to at least contact your (rabbit savvy) vet and see if they suggest an appt. Good luck!

[charliemom]

Thank you all for such kind words.
We did take our little guy to the vet (apparently, he is not a ‘young’ guy, as was told by the rescue place. He is an ‘oldie’ bun. Doesn’t matter.. we still love him.). Had blood and urine test done. Unfortunately, he has kidney disease. That explains his poor litterbox habits and increased drinking. He had a tough last year. Abandoned. Found and had surgery. Now he’s our little skinny ‘oldie’ guy that we’re trying to fatten up but have to be extra careful because of his kidneys. So he’s on a diet of 1tsp pellets/day, half a baby carrot a day (for the carbs), lots of hay, and lots of love and massages.

[Annabel93]

Aww, poor bunny! At least you know what’s up and how to help him out. Hopefully he’ll be feeling better with some well deserved TLC

[Amys Animals]

I have an older bunny too. He hardly pees in the litter box. He is healthy but is very skinny and has little muscle mass. We just took him to the vet and had his blood tested not that long ago and he was fine. Has his teeth trimmed. He’s a happy bun. He is deaf and can’t see very well but I love him all the same. <3

I have been feeding calf manna every other day to see if it will help. So far I haven’t noticed a change.

I am sorry that your bun has kidney disease. We were afraid Freddy had that too since he would drink a lot of water and not have any weight on him. I believe he is about 7 or 8 years old.

[charliemom]

@Amys Animals – Freddy sounds like an absolute gem. We asked our vet about our bun being deaf – she smiled and said ‘no, he’s not deaf. he is just a very well adjusted rabbit that is not easily startled’.
Unfortunately, our little guy, Charlie, is deteriorating too quickly. He lost about 20% of his body weight in only 10 days. He can no longer move around. We’ve got him propped up so that he can easily drink water and eat his food. We clean his litter box twice a day so that he doesn’t sit on his own waste for too long. Since we are now talking about quality of life, he is allowed to eat as many pellets as he wants (pellets are not good for the kidneys but at this moment, we just want him to enjoy whatever time he’s got with us). We also treat with a small carrot (which he loves!).
It’s amazing how attached you can get to them in such a short period of time. We’ve only had him for 1 month and we already adore him.

[Elrohwen]

Aww, poor little bun! He’s lucky to have your family to make his last days as comfortable as possible.

[charliemom]

Thought some of you might want to know the status of Charlie. The day we were told to give him unlimited pellets, his condition deteriorated dramatically that evening. For two days, he lost even more weight and did not move from his box. He was unable to hop two steps without falling over. When he did fall over, he was unable to get up. We didn’t think he would make it through the weekend. On the third day, he woke up with diarrhea. We read somewhere that pellets can cause diarrhea so we stopped the pellets immediately. We figured that the diarrhea was going to end his life faster than the kidney disease. That evening, we noticed that Charlie perked up a bit. The next day, we decided to buy him a different brand of pellets. We used to give him Zupreem Nature’s Promise Timothy Naturals. Using the suggestion of this site: http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-food-comparison.asp, We called around to see if anyone had Supreme Science Selective. Only one store had them and they only had one bag left. We decided to give it a try. I can’t tell you what a dramatic transformation it has been this past week. Charlie has gained the 20% of the body weight that he lost and more. He has regained his mobility. He is perky and social. His litterbox habits are back! Once again, he looks like the sweet, friendly, and HEALTHY rabbit that we picked up from the shelter just over a month ago.
I am not here to speak ill of the Zupreem brand. I just want everyone in this forum to be aware of some products that may not be good for your rabbit. Perhaps I got a bad batch. Who knows?! Just glad we figured this out before it was too late. Thank you all for all the kind messages you’ve sent. I’m happy to report that this story has a happy ending.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m very glad to hear Charlie is doing well!!

[Author]

Messages