Losing hope with litter training

[Hass]

So Ghost is an 11 month old Netherland dwarf male. I had him neutered 4 months ago. Before that he would spray everywhere all the time. Thankfully, that stopped a few days after the neuter. However, I have gotten almost nowhere with litter training. I have a female ND, Luna, who is 6 months older. She was not easy but after a while managed to understand to use the litter box, which she uses exclusively now and has been that way for a while. No pee or poop outside the box at all. Ghost, however, I have had no luck with. I have tried several different litters. I used a cat litter box that is more than big enough for him to fit in. His cage flooring was a waterproof car seat cover, but after a while it started to smell so i got him a cage with a plastic bottom, since I figured he was just peeing where it smelled. Also, I always set his hay up hanging over the litter box so he has to be in the box to get his hay. His pellet bowl went into the box as well, and I put his veggies on a plate inside the litter box when he eats them. I tried moving the box around where he likes to go, but he still went elsewhere as well in his cage. He pees in the cage, outside the cage, and in Luna’s cage. When I catch him I place him in the box immediately and clean up the spot with vinegar. He hasn’t been peeing much outside the cage lately but I got sick of him peeing all over his cage so I put a huge plastic box in his cage instead of the normal litter box. The cage is 36×23 and the box is 30×18. Put his water bowl in there along with all else. Figured he would have to go there since it takes up most of the space, and after a while I would switch it back to the smaller box after he gets the hang of it. Alas, now he loves to pee in the tiny remaining space in his cage. And lay down in it. He is a chinchilla so his white fur stains easily. He gets plenty of exercise during the day so I felt it was okay to try putting him in tight space for a while, but that has not been working. I clean his cage floor almost daily with vinegar so it doesn’t smell like pee so he understands that he is not supposed to pee there. I don’t know what to do anymore. Any ideas ????

[jerseygirl]

How about trying a puppy pee pad in the litterbox to see if it’s the feel of the litter under his feet that he objects too? At this point, im not sure what else to suggest. There is a technique of adding a lot of litterboxes and leaving only small space for them to hang where it’s not litter. But it sounds as though you’ve done that using the huge plastic box and he still went to the side of it… You could still try it using boxes, the idea being you remove each box gradually, once they are starting to use just boxes.

At this point though, I would be suspecting it is medical in nature, possibly neurological. It’s pretty unusual for a bun to knowingly lie in their pee. They normally like to stay clean. Before neutering and before he started spraying, did he use a box better then?

[BanditCamp]

I agree it’s very off for relatively clean animals to be sorry like that. There might be a medical issue? I’m curious about how his habitat looks or is setup

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