pellet bowl in litter box?

[mathdan]

We have rescued two bunnies and are in the process of litter box training them.  We have a 4′ x 4′ pen with a cat litter box being used as the litter box.  (That’s what the rescue organization used).  In this litter box we have a dog wee pad on the bottom to absorb the pee, hay, and care fresh litter.  The rabbits do go poop in there sometimes and pee in there mostly.  We have a pellet food bowl outside of the litter box and the bunnies are pooing a lot by the bowl and sometimes peeing there.  The question is, can we move the pellet bowl into the litter box also?  We know that rabbits poo and pee right where they eat so we were thinking that if we moved the food bowl there, they would do most if not all of their pooing and peeing in the litter box.
Thanks

[Colie]

I put my girls pellet bowl in her box and she hasn’t gone pee outside of her box once and we only find a few pellets outside each day!

[Sarita]

I do not recommend this at all – you need to put hay in their box and keep it fresh not the pellets. Really bad idea in my opinion.

Put the pellet bowl on the other side of the cage (you need a larger cage by the way) where it won’t be close to their litter box. You can also look for some of those bowls that attach to the side of the cage as well to help keep the bowls clean.

[Monkeybun]

a larger cage? a 16 square foot cage isn’t big enough?

[Sarita]

I apologize, I read that wrong (not sure what I though I read). I actually like the pens that are 4 x 4 – those are about the best in my opinion. As long as they are 2 small/medium size rabbits that is a good size. I would move the bowl to the opposite side of the litter box though. I think too you can even do 2 litter boxes if you need to in the pen until they learn to use the litter box.

[Colie]

Can I ask why having a bowl of pellets in a litter box is bad? I have one box with pellets (in a bowl) and one box with hay (in a rack) and have had no problems. I didn’t realize that would be really bad.

[amandafaith90]

I think what Sarita means by pellets being in a litter box being a bad idea is that the pellets are small and could easily scatter in the litter box among the fecal matter and bedding. A hungry bun would eat the pellets despite this, which I think could lead to your bun eating contaminated pellets and/or accidently eating the litter you’re using in the box along with the pellets, which over time could lead to an intestinal blockage. I feel like hay is a good, safe choice because it’s would be available 24/7 and wouldn’t be eaten as fast and as eagerly by a bun, and is bigger then pellets and cannot get “lost” in the litter box. Sorry if I’m putting words in your mouth, Sarita- that’s my take on it, and what I imagine yours is too.

[Sarita]

Thanks Amanda – you said it better than I could :~)

[Colie]

Oh, I can see how that could be bad, especially with older buns who only get so many pellets per day. Thanks for explaining that.

[amandafaith90]

No problem.

[Beka27]

Do your buns eat a lot of hay? I have found that when I did not have hay near the litterbox, they ate less. When it’s closer to the litterbox, they eat more. Sounds like you don’t have hay directly IN the box, just in a rack OVER the litterbox? That is a good idea as well so the majority of it stays clean and fresh. Refilling or refreshing the hay once or twice a day, will help increase consumption as well. My buns’ hay holder is situated so they can ONLY eat hay while in the litterbox. This has virtually eliminated any litterbox accidents.

[Toki+Pumpkin+Elmo]

I also have it same as Beka. The hay rack hangs so that the buns have to go in the litterbox to eat it. Not only it encourages the bunnies to eat more, they poop in the litterbox while eating it, and the excess hay falls into the litterbox which is less mess.

When I give them pellets in the morning, I put the bowl in the litterbox. To prevent any accidents, I take out the bowl once they are done. It’s not much hassle since I need to refill the hay rack anyway.

[QueenThumper]

My Thumper used to pee right next to her water bowl and poo right next to her food bowl, so I got one of those crocks that attach to the walls of the cage. I keep the water bottle at the edge of the litter box so she can drink while in the box (any excess water drips into the box), and I put the crock right next to (but slightly above) the litter box so she can eat while she’s there too. Haven’t had any problems since.

[Author]

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