Problems with litter training

[Aloha Buns]

We have a 3 month old bunny and a 10 month old bunny.  We have had our 10 month old since she was about 3 months old.  We neever had a problem with her litter habits.  She never even had a stray poo and has complete freedom in the house.  She always returned to her hutch for her pottying.  We have an extra little box upstairs, but she would just go downstairs instead.  A little over a month ago we brought in the 3 month old.  He was kept in a small area fro the first week and then allowed in the living room with her.  She started territorial pooing, but always went back to the hutch to pee.  He just became a poo monster and we noticed in the past week he started peeing everywhere.  Obviously this is a problem.  He is back in a hutch and run area.  They have not completed bonded yet, but do not fight, groom each other occassionally, etc .  I notice since he went back in the hutch run area that he has not peed outside of the hutch litter area.  Her poos have also almost come to a stop- she is not in the area with him.  We have pretty much had to clean all of the floors of any area he had been in because of the pee all over.  We are nervous to let him out in the living room because of him peeing.  What should we do?

[RabbitPam]

I think if you are concerned about the living room, have it be a no-bunny zone for a bit longer. Continue your work on the bonding, since they have already stopped as much of the territorial behavior. When they are fully bonded, you could try setting a litter pan in the living room just in case after you let them enter the forbidden room, reserved for everyone on their best behavior.

[Aloha Buns]

Thanks for the response. 

The living room is where the hutch and main litter box is.  There is another litter box in there as well.  Our 10 month old really stopped with her random poos about when he was caged up up in the smaller area (hutch with an attached run).  Is the peeing from him marking or he is just so young that he isn’t really litter trained and got too much freedom too quickly?  He will be neutered when he gets older and she is already spayed.  I thought he was a little young to really be reachign sexual maturity yet, but he has seemed to start chasing her around more.  Is his poo fest also a need for more litter training or territory like her?  Or does he assume it is okay to poo wherever becauseof her territorial poos?  Will the territorial poos stop once bonding is completed?  Is it okay that she is not in the cage with him?  He seems bummed out today since he went back in his area last night (just kind of laying around versus his normal activity level).  I’m feeling a little at a loss here.

[Elrohwen]

Bunnies can be very territorial and peeing and pooing is her way of letting the new guy know that it’s her space and her home 😉 I imagine this will continue until they are bonded.

I would hold off on bonding until the younger bun is fixed. At 3 months, his testicals may have descended (my bun’s were visible at 2 months) and he could be ready for a neuter. Males reach sexual maturity a bit faster than females.

[Aloha Buns]

His neuter is scheduled for next month. We are planning on just keeping him in his hutch/run area and out for a little supervised play time until we have the litter training under control. We are hoping after the neutering the litter training will be much better and we can beign the bonding again. They can interact through his run wires and she will be around when he has play time. We have never had a problem with them fighting at all. I think it was just a lot at once trying to litter train and bond before neutering as well.

[Elrohwen]

Sounds like a good plan. The poo wars may continue during bonding, but you should be able to get the pee under control (which is the messiest part). Especially once he’s neutered, he may feel less of a need to mark by peeing.

[Karla]

You will see a great improvement once your male is neutered as his need for marking will disappear.

However, even if you have bunnies that are neutered and you then add a new bunny to the household, you will experience “poop war”. My experience is that it goes on for about three months, but you may be luckier than me. If your female is territorial and marks the area with poop, then he will do to.

Once your little guy is neutered you might find that the female reacts differently to him because he smells differently coming from the vet. So she may not be as happy to see him and may begin to mark her territory and you may have to redo some of the bonding sessions…and finally, you might also find that in a period of 2-3 weeks after the neuter, your boy may be even more hormonal than ever before!

I think you should let the bunnies have some time out every day together and make sure that their cages are close to each other, so they can still keep each other company although they are not in the same cage.

And…don’t worry. It will pass

[bunny_psychotic]

Hmmm… my little guy is neutered. That was about 3 mos ago. I adopted him from a  rescue and he’s been with me little over a month.  He is pretty good with his litter habits; HOWEVER, having said that, he poops in other places.  I once had a cat and now I’m  wondering — would a bunny have issues with the scent of a cat, and want to mark the territory?  If so, what on earth can I do?  Thanks in advance.

[Elrohwen]

Bunnies can choose to mark their territory against other animals, but they really get into the poop wars with other bunnies. There’s nothing like marking your territory against your own species I guess 😉 Or maybe cats and dogs just don’t join in the marking game, so there’s no point in the bunny continuing it.

[bunny_psychotic]

Any  advice on how to deal with it?  Also, my cat use to spray often in the bathrm. Now I’ve noticed that  my Vie is peeing there, too, in same  spot.    He doesn’t  pee anywhere else tho — just poops.  Can someone offer some help?   Thanks!

[Elrohwen]

Clean up any area that he pees with a 50/50 vinegar/water solution. This will eliminate the smell and should eliminate his urge to pee there. For poos, just pick them up and put them in the litter box. He will probably mark less as he gets used to your home.

[bunny_psychotic]

Thanks so much.  Yea i just did the vinegar/water solution thing in the bathrm, and while i was at it i wiped down where he’s pooing, too.  But not before I gathered them all up and put in his litter box where he was sitting at the time.  He looked eagerly at me coming by, b/c he thought I had a treat.  “Ooops, sorry — just your poos  little man!”

[Moonlight_Wolf]

This is kind of random, but today my bunny peed in his lettuce bowl.

[Aloha Buns]

‘ele has been back in his caged area for a week or so now. We no longer see any pee in the run area on the rugs. He seems to be doing really well in that area. The other day we let him out to run around and play and after about 5 minutes we had some pee. He gets neutered next Wed. He will be back in his cage area for recovery. After about 3 weeks after snipping we are going to try the bonding process again. They still hang out “through the prison doors”. Is there hope at that point we will stop seeing puddles (sometimes it is a series of drops) from him?

[Elrohwen]

I think he should absolutely improve with neutering – he won’t have the urge to mark anymore. Just remember that it can take 4-6 weeks for the hormones to leave his system, so it probably won’t be immediate.

[Aloha Buns]

He goes Wednesday to get neutered. Since being back in his hutch/run area, he seemed to have stopped peeing in the run area, which he was doing. The rugs there are dark, so it shows up. There is lots of poos, but I know that will settle down. How can I tell if where he peed is marking/spraying or just peeing from bad litter habits?

[Aloha Buns]

He was neutered 3 days ago. lapiki definitely reacted differently to him. He is still marking, but I know it will take a while. She doesn’t seemed thrilled with him since he’s been back. Why are they perceived so differently? Their scent gland smell shouldn’t have changed.

[Elrohwen]

Actually, a bunny’s smell does change after they are fixed – their hormones and pheramones are different when they are no longer wired to mate all the time.

I’m not sure that this change would be immediate though – it could be that he smells like the vet’s office, other animals, meds, etc and that’s what she doesn’t like.

[Aloha Buns]

They were never really aggressive with each other before the neuter. The aggression definitely greater now. When he was allowed out of the hutch and into the run area (still separate from her), she clawed and bit at the cage. She quit that in about a day. They are near each other a lot when he is in the caged area. I’ve seen her poke her head at the bars and try grooming through the run cage. I’ve thought about banana on the head, but being lionheads, it makes for a mess. He is still marking through the cage, but he doesn’t seem to have puddles any more. He was better about that before the neuter though once he was more confined all of the time. He has seemed to have found his litter spot in the hutch area though.

[Beka27]

Once he is all healed up and those hormones are reduced, you can start doing some bonding sessions, starting in a neutral space. You’ll have better luck starting over from square one, and it’ll be less stressful for the buns.

[Aloha Buns]

They are bonded and having time in “jail” (restricting him to his hutch/run area except for play time) really helped the litter issue. He has is much better with his litter habits since he’s had free-reign of the house after the bonding. No pee mistakes and the only poo is still a little here or there from them both. Even that has greatly improved in the last week (they’ve only really been bonded for about 2 weeks).

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