Rabbit consistently poops NEXT to litter box

[Danny]

Hello all,

I’m trying to litter train my rabbit and as recommended I put a litter box in her favorite pooping zone. However, rather than pooping IN the litter box, she is consistently pooping to the left, right, and in front of it lol. I’ve tried putting some hay in it on one side to tempt her, and she does climb in it sometimes – but never to defecate. Does anyone have any recommendations? Not sure what else there is to do haha.

Thanks,

Dan

[Louiethebunny]

maybe try a larger litter box? My rabbits foster owner complained of him going outside the box, but I’ve never had that problem with his large cat sized litter box. He does leave stray poops around though, gotta secure that litter training.

[Peanutthebunny]

you should try a larger litter box may be another kind of litter have you tried putting her poo in the litter box

[Asriel and Bombur]

How old is your bun? If she’s young It’s possible it’s hormonal, in which case it should improved within a month or two of being spayed.

[Wick & Fable]

What is the height of the lip to get into the litterbox? Some rabbits aren’t willing to jump far, haha.

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.

[Danny]

@Wick, it’s only an inch or so high, and she’s perfectly willing to jump a foot and a half to get into her cage!

@Asriel and Bombur, she’s a year or two old (not sure exactly because of the circumstances I acquired her in), but she hasn’t been fixed yet. I was hoping to breed her with my cousin’s New Zealands. I know it’s harder to litter train unfixed rabbits, but it seems to be working for the most part – she’s going in the litter box area, just not the actual litter box lol.

@Louiethebunny and RabbitLover908, that’s a good suggestion – I’ll try it! Do you think she might be feeling like I’m unhelpfully blocking off the corner she’s designated as the Rabbit Bathroom or smth? Hopefully if I cover that whole area with a litter box she’ll give in lol.

[jerseygirl]

Hi Dan

Just a heads up, we do have a rule on the forum about not discussing intentional breeding. It was a bit more obvious up top of page but it’s now hidden in the Orange header bar “please read- important forum information”.

I agree about trying a larger litter box. Is she currently able to access hay while she is on outside of the box? I’m just wondering if she eating where she is pooping. What type of litter are you using?

Is there any other bedding type product in her habitat (eg straw, paper bedding, wood shavings )

[Danny]

@jerseygirl, whoops, thanks for the heads-up. I knew that we weren’t allowed to discuss that but I didn’t realize we aren’t supposed to mention it at all. Will keep in mind.

Yes, she has hay outside of the litter box – she has a feeder in her cage, so there’s at least five feet between where she eats and where she defecates. And I’ve been using shredded paper with a bit of hay on top as litter.

For bedding in her cage I’ve been using sturdy bath towels, and the room she spends her days in has a carpeted floor. She’s pretty good about not pooping in her cage, but the floor is fair game lol.

[jerseygirl]

Oh so this is her pooping next to a box you have out in the room?

Is it the one from her cage or a second one?

[Danny]

Yes that’s right. And it’s the only one – she pretty much free roams in the room, so I don’t have one in her cage.

[jerseygirl]

Does she happen to eat the hay (and paper?) from the box while she is pooping on the outside of it?

I wonder if it worth trying something like this. It was a photo someone posted on here years ago but one I’ve shared a lot since because of the simplicity. You can just see on the left side of photo that there is a access hole cut out of the box.

[prince dorian the bun]

Rabbits tend to like to poop where they munch on hay, so may make sense to move it closer to her box. The photo Jeseygirl posted may be an idea. I personally just fill the litter container with hay, he does occasionally kick a couple out but all in all it works.

[DanaNM]

It might be hard to really get her habits down until she is spayed.

My Bertha was pretty particular about her litter habits. I would have to make sure there was only hay in the litter box, and no soft bedding or blankets on the floor. So you might try going a bit more bare-bones for now, with just a layer of fluffy hay and bedding in the box (and maybe add a second box with hay in the area where she is pooping a lot), and towels or blankets.

Carefresh bedding (although expensive) seems to be really good for litter training. Something about the soft texture and maybe the smell of it really triggers buns to toilet on it. 🙂

. . . 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.  

[Danny]

As an update – I ended up blocking off the area that she likes to poop in entirely EXCEPT for the litterbox itself and she’s been doing perfectly fine. A larger litter box would probably have done the trick, too; when I opened that area up again she started going next to it as well as in the box so I guess she really had just designated that whole zone her personal bathroom lol.

When I moved about a month later she had no problem transitioning and now is almost perfectly litter trained (the only ‘accidents’ outside the box were when she felt it was not clean enough lol which I can’t really blame her for, and a very occasional one or two pellets next to it when hopping out after using it). No need to block off any area at all; I brought the same litter box for her and put it in what looked like an ideal corner of her habitat, then gradually expanded that habitat from In The Pen to Entire Bedroom to Upstairs and finally to Entire House and we haven’t had any issues whatsoever.

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