Lost litter habbits

[Vicky]

Hi,

I live in a flat and I changed rooms with my brother. My bun is constantly going into my old room even there is nothing for her already. And she lost her litter habbits. I moved the litter to my room of course and she doesn’t use it.

She peed twice into her bed at night on the blanket and once just outside. I don’t know what to do.

We have two places she goes to pee and one hasn’t changed so immediately when I let her free roam she went to that place. But eventually I want to get rid of it so she would have only one.

We changed rooms only yesterday will she get used to it? She seems annoyed with us 🙁 I didn’t think it would be this bad.

Thank you for encouraging words.

[BZOO]

Can you temporarily put a litter pan in the old room where it used to be and slowly move it out of the room?

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Ah, yuck, that’s always a mess… Sadly bunnies can get very upset when something changes in their environment, but it doesn’t have to mean she’s upset with you. It’s just that bunnies don’t cope well with change. Even fixed bunnies will often have a lapse in habits when a major change happens.

Picture it like this: a rabbit is all about survival, and in case of emergency they’ll need to find their way to safety blindly and without thinking about it. Moving furniture around, or other changes in surroundings, messes up their mental picture of their living space. It may look the same to us humans, and it’s easy for us to get a good oversight of a living space, but rabbits don’t rely on their vision as much as we do. Rabbits act more on sound, touch and smell. Your new room doesn’t smell like her yet, and she may be trying to fix that.

You can try soaking up a bit of urine with a tissue or some toilet paper and putting it into her litter box. Let her investigate it for a bit, and shower her with praises and treats when she does it in the right place. It may be that she chooses another spot for her litter box in the new room, follow her lead if it’s possible.

[DanaNM]

You might need to confine her to a pen in the new space until she gets “organized” again. It also might help to keep litter boxes in both places, as she might always remember the old room as a potty-spot.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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