Well, I’ve been steadily reducing the amount of pellets that Benji and Maggie get by 5g every 3 days. So far, no appreciable change in water intake. I also made a change to their cage that seems to be helping. I replaced one of the towels with a rubber-back bathmat from Target. I figured it would feel like carpet and be soft, but not as absorbent. Yesterday Benji went into the cage for the first time after I put it in. He peed on it, turned around, and looked at it like, "WTF?" He looked at me curiously, then hopped to the far end away from it to sit and pout. He peed on it a few more times while they ate their greens, and hasn’t since; he’s hopped in the litterbox several times to pee, though. Success? Maybe. But that brings me to two other questions.
Benji mostly seems to pee really often and lose his litterbox habits while they’re eating their greens or shortly after. Does this mean they’re getting too many greens (4 c in the evening)? They’re getting parsley, cilantro, and Romaine.
Also, I’m not sure, but I think Maggie really gets the whole litterbox idea. Their hayrack is not over the litterbox, so there’s no reason for a bun to hop in except to do their business. (Even with a large box, there was way too much disagreement over how they would both fit in there with hay at one end, and they disagreed on which end was the toilet if I covered it all in hay.) Maggie will often hop in and just sit there for a few minutes. She doesn’t look like she’s in pain or anything. Just every 15 seconds or so she’ll move her butt a few inches to the side and stay a few more seconds, etc. Then she’ll turn and lift her tail in the corner to pee. There are lots of Maggie-sized poos in the box. Does this mean she gets it and is doing all her business in the right place? Or should I be worried that she’s straining to pee from sludge or something?
Thanks,
Alex
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