stumped, please help :)

[charliesmom]

so i’m still working on the litter training with Jack. He really isn’t getting it..haha. I know it has only been a few weeks and it will take time so I’m going to post what I’ve tried (I did read the litter training page here) and seeing if you all have any ideas…

1. He has a litter box in his pen and his play area (they are both small areas as the post here said to start small)

2. The only place the litter is, is actually in the box (at first I had some of it outside his box)

3. There is hay in each box at all times

4. After he “picked” one corner that is where I moved the box too. Well then when I’d move the box, he’d pick the other side or different corner.

5. He now has taken to completely ignoring his box and even peeing his play area (NIC cubes attached to his cage). 

6. I do put his poo into the box when I clean it up.

7. I’m not really so worried about the fact that I have to clean his cage more often or clean up pee, I could really care less about the extra work as it doesn’t bother me. What I do care about is that I can’t start letting him have more free roam of the house until he has litter habits and right now he has none.

8. he is 2 and has never been litter trained before I got him so I feel like I may have extra challenges. I just feel like I don’ tknow where to go from here to help him understand.

9. I did also wipe him down with a cloth and wipe that all over his area. didn’t help.

thoughts?

[Deleted User]

Is he neutered?

[Sarita]

Can you put 2 litter boxes out for him – since he uses the pen as well, put one out there. He may need more than one to start.

Have you had him checked by a vet to make sure he does not have a urinary tract infection as well?

How old was he when he was neutered?

[charliesmom]

He is neutered – at a young age, before I got him.

He has been vet checked and no urinary problems were found…

He does have 2 boxes currnetly  – one inside his cage and one where he plays…

[MarkBun]

Next time he pees:

Take a paper towel and soak up some of the pee and put it into both litter boxes.
Clean the peed area with vinegar to help descent it.

It might take a couple of tries to do this but hopefully he’ll get the message.

[jerseygirl]

If he’s beginning to pee in the play area, you may prevent free access to it for a short time. Sometimes, just changing the size or litter box or the type of litter can solve the problems. You may want to attach his box to the cage wall also so he doesn’t shift it.  When you do see him using his box,make a big fuss about it and even give him a small treat.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Take a paper towel and soak up some of the pee and put it into both litter boxes.
Clean the peed area with vinegar to help descent it.

Ditto!! Also keep the litter boxes ‘dirty’ for a bit longer-like a week or so. You can throw new litter overtop if you’d like but keep the poop and pee in it so that it smells like the potty

[boogercj]

This is exactly what we’ve done with our two, and it’s worked a treat. They only ever pee in the litter box, after only three days!

[RabbitPam]

I’d actually add a third litter box in the play area where he also went. You could try a different type of litter in it, too. Then if he has a preference for one over the other, you’ll notice his choice. Just be sure to put the pee soaked paper towel and poopies in it also. You’re doing everything right, so it just takes more patience. Hang in there.

[MooBunnay]

I’ve found that sometimes the problem is that once your bunny pees on the floor somewhere, it starts to smell like the “potty area” so they will continue to pee there because they don’t know any better. So something that was really key in litter training for my bunnies was to clean their floor really well a couple times a day (and leaving the litter box dirty like mentioned in the posts above). If it is hard to get the floor clean, you could use a couple inexpensive towels and use them to cover the floor, and then remove them and shake them out and wash them instead of cleaning up whatever you are using as flooring, that might be quicker.

[charliesmom]

ooh these are all great ideas. thank you so much. i will be doing them and seeing where it takes us!

[Karla]

I had great success with giving Molly treats whenever she was in the litterbox. And she got more treats and lots of praises when she in fact used the litterbox correctly. It took a while and it required a lot of effort as I had to spend a lot of time near the cage for a week. But it worked, and I had tried everything until then.

I did also eventually give in and did not wipe up her pee but just let it soak into the bottom. I thought that if it was so important for her to smell it that way (I think she marking), then so be it. But I will only recommend this if you have tried the other options you have been given. Because Jack might just think that it is okay for him to use that corner then.

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