peeing in her water bowl!

[Lani]

I know I’ve mentioned my struggles with litter training Oreo before. Well we’ve made zero progress and it actually seems to be getting worse

Her cage is set up with her litter pan on one end and her food bowls (one each for pellets, water and veggies) are lined up at the other end. I’m using carefresh in the box and have hay in there as well. I’ve put stray poos in it and soiled tissues. She loves to sit, groom, sleep in the box. However, she keeps pooping on the other end of her cage, directly in front of her food bowls, as if she’s backing up to the bowls and going. After a few days, I thought maybe she just prefered that end of the cage and swapped the box and bowls to opposite ends. Well, she also switched along with it! Still going right in front of the bowls. Well I just went in to check on her and noticed that not only did she poop in front of her bowls but she had peed IN her water bowl!!

I know others have mentioned that her hormones may not have calmed down yet from her spay about 3 weeks ago.  I’ve tried the herding into the box thing as much as possible except that it’s so hard for me to tell when she’s peeing/pooping until after it’s happened. The herding I have done makes her VERY upset as she’s extremely aggressive about hands in her cage. I’m planning to get a spray bottle tomorrow to start using but I’m at a loss of what else I can do. I want her to be litter trained but I REALLY don’t want her to keep peeing in her water!

[Sarita]

Spraying her with water will agitate her more in my opinion. That is not gong to be helpful.

What size is the cage, perhaps it’s not large enough.

[Lani]

Yeah, I’ve heard and read a lot of conflicting opinions on the spray bottle thing so maybe I’ll hold off on that idea for a while. Her cage is 18×42, two levels. I do plan to build her a NIC condo in the future.

[Sarita]

This is not used for litter training (and in my own personal opinion anything). Your cage is way too small too. There is not enough room for anything in a cage this size – she is probably not able to maneuver comfortably and everything is too cramped. I think that is the reason she is peeing in her water…too small of a cage.

First get her a larger cage, then work on positive reinforcement to get her to use the litter box. Spraying her is not positive. And you have to be diligent about keeping her area clean and just overall watching her and helping her to understand. Litter training doesn’t always come easy to some rabbits and having too small or a cage may hinder her in litter box training. I hope you can build the NIC soon :~)

[LBJ10]

Have you tried another kind of litter? Maybe the Carefresh feels too much like a nice squishy bed? I don’t know. I use the Yesterday’s News in my rabbit’s litter boxes. It has apparently registered with them that that is the substrate upon which they should make their little deposits. This made it really easy when they started coming out of their cages and having free run of their room. I placed a large litter box out in the room with the same litter and they knew exactly what to do with it. Anyway, it might be worth a shot trying a different kind of litter to see if that is more appealing to her.

[Beka27]

Do you have a large litterbox or is it one of the small corner boxes? If a box is too small, that can also affect litter training. In a very small cage, you’re limited on how large the box can be, so first step is to finish the condo, get a large rectangular cat box, and maybe try some different types of litter.

[Lani]

I definitely think the size of the cage is a factor. She’s actually doing a little better with litter training with the box that’s in her running space. If any of you can recommend a place that I can order the NIC cubes online that would be helpful in getting her condo completed. I’ve driven to every Target and Bed Bath and Beyond in our metro area but they only have the ones with the larger spacing between wires

[Beka27]

An exercise pen for housing is also a good option if you have enough space for a 4×4 foot square, and can be easier to come by than grids.

[Sarita]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Whitmor-Black-Wi…-4/5005199

The guinea pig rescue I volunteer at gets them at Walmart – above is a link.

[Sarita]

They have purple, white, or black – search for the Whitmor if you want the white or purple.

[Ashley&Bing]

I went to Petsmart and got this exercise pen and set it up in a corner to double the size. I used Velcro from a crafts place to secure it to the wall and it suits Bing just fine. Its a cheaper option and very easy to set up. I later got a mat to put on the floor that fit together like puzzle pieces that are normally used for children’s playrooms.

[peppypoo]

If you can’t find them in stock at the physical Wal-Mart store as Sarita mentioned, the same brand is available for the same price on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Whitmor-6071-1723-Storage-Cubes-White/dp/B000LRGV3W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301378524&sr=8-1

Free shipping for $25+, so you’re just one cent short of free shipping; just add a pack of zip ties because you’ll be needing them anyways.

[Author]

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