peeing outside the litter box only at a certain timing

[bibbuf]

my lil bun Suki(1.5 y/o neutered male) only pees outside his litter box roughly from 10.30- 11.30am, usually at the same few places, but uses it normally the rest of the day. for context I feed him his breakfast at 9am, clean/change his litter box while he eats and close his pen enclosure at 10am (he free roams my room overnight from 8pm to 10am).

I’ve tried everything I could think of, placing the pee soaked paper towel in the litter box and cleaning the area with vinegar/water, using treats to reward him when he does pee in the litter box (this worked only for a few days then he’s back to peeing outside), leaving the pen open till noon, changing/cleaning the litter box in the pen instead of bringing it out of the pen, cleaning it at a different time, cleaning it less/more often… but nothing seems to be working :’)

ive had him for about 2 months and he only started doing this a month ago, when I first brought him to the groomers for the first time, maybe that has something to do with this? I just wish I knew why he started doing this and if there’s any way to stop this bad habit of his.

this feels so oddly specific haha, does anyone else had this happen before? im still a fairly new bun owner so any advice would be much appreciated! thank you 😀

[DanaNM]

Hmm, that is curious! Where are the spots where he pees? Are they soft surfaces? Are they near the litter box or far from it?

And are they small spots of pee or large puddles? I’m wondering if it’s more like marking or just not recognizing the litterbox.

. . . 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.  

[bibbuf]

@DanaNM

the litter box is at one corner of the pen, and he usually pees at the other 3 corners, or right beside the litter box. he used to pee at the 2 farthest corners from the litter box which are soft surfaces, but now he’s peeing nearer to the litter box which are hard surfaces.

i also realise that after i clean the litter box he will mark it (which im assuming are the small spots of pee), as i do see small spots of pee IN the litter box, but he will pee outside (big pee puddle) after that

[DanaNM]

Hmm that’s very strange! The corner peeing sounds more like marking. He’s not marking anywhere outside his pen right? Have there been any changes in the house? new pets, people, or cleaning products?  Him going to the groomers could be triggering him to want to mark when he gets home, but I would probably only expect that right when he got home, not every day.

Is the vinegar solution you are using to clean strong? At one point one of my buns kept marking an area that I had been cleaning with white vinegar solution. Turns out the vinegar was making her mark more! I switched to using nature’s miracle (this was on carpet though, not in her pen) and the problem went away.

 

. . . 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.  

[bibbuf]

hmm ive tried letting him roam during that 10.30-11.30am time period and he peed at the corner of my desk, but outside of that time frame he pees in his litter box

there hasnt been any changes in the house that i could think of during the time he started to pee outside

i use 50/50 vinegar and water, i’ll give nature’s miracle a try, thank you so much!

[DanaNM]

You could also try diluting the vinegar, 50/50 is a bit strong. I would drop it to 10% vinegar (or even just water) and see if that helps!

. . . 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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