WHEN will my bunny learn to use the toilet??

[ZiggyandMathilda]

We have two rabbits: a 2 year old neutered male called Ziggy and a 5 month old female (booked in to be spayed on Monday) called Mathilda.

We’ve had Ziggy since he was 6 months old. We got Mathilda 3 months ago, and they’ve been living in a large cage separated by a partition, but have spent lots of time together and seem to be well bonded (there’s lots of bunny cuddles!)

I adopted Ziggy aged 6 months and he was so easy to litter train – it only took a couple of days before he was almost completely litter trained, and he wasn’t even neutered at that point. Mathilda is nearly 6 months and she is nowhere near being litter trained. We’ve tried everything we can think of (e.g. making sure the litter tray always smells of her urine, wiping up the mess and putting the tissues in the litter tray etc.) but it’s been almost completely unsuccessful. 

A related problem is that Ziggy now seems to have become un-litter trained. He’s started going on the floor sometimes, which he NEVER used to do before we got her. Is he being territorial? This would surprise me given that he’s been neutered for over a year and is well bonded with her, but I can’t think of any other explanation. Or is it just her bad habits rubbing off on him?!

There is an awful lot of cleaning that needs doing every day now, and it’s becoming quite a drag. Please give me advice on how I can train Mathilda and re-train Ziggy!

[LBJ10]

Sounds like they are both being territorial. Some bunnies can be somewhat litter trained prior to being spayed or neutered. I think this is more true for boys than girls. The fact that your girl isn’t spayed yet is a huge contributing factor right now. For a lot of people, litter training a girl before she is spayed has proved next to impossible. Your boy, even though he is neutered, is likely feeling the need to mark. You will read on here about poop wars that spayed/neutered bunnies have during bonding.

Are you able to house them completely separately until your girl is fixed? I would be worried that her hormones will take a turn for the worse and she attacks your boy through the cage bars. This could set you back with permanent bonding in the future.

[Megabunny]

I adopted a 2-year-old unspayed female and the vet told that girl not to bother even trying to litter train until she was spayed. But then they never spayed her and she’s now not healthy enough to spay so it’s a pain. I think you’ve been putting a lot of effort into a fruitless task. I wonder if Ziggy is smelling the mess from Mathilda? As LBJ said, you may want to completely separate them. I think that, along with spaying Mathilda will make life so happy for you!

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