yet another litterbox question…

[Ruffles&Daisy]

Sorry for not being able to get this litterbox thing done right, but here’s the deal:

 

Ruffles has a decent sized habitat, not huge like a condo, but not tiny, like a hamster cage either.  He has a shelf where he can rest and under the shelf is his litter box, actually two since we’ve been trying to troubleshoot this problem.  He won’t pee in his cage, he just won’t.  So when he’s out, he heads straight to the corner to my family room (where we have another box set up for him), he does his business, hangs out with us, runs around and then goes back to his house.  He gets let out at least twice a day for a few hours each time (at least 4 in the evening, and 2 hours in the morning).  He also gets to come out when my son is sleeping for an hour or so.  So I think he is getting appropriate time out of his cage.  But why won’t he urinate in his cage?  I’m thinking to move his whole cage to the corner where he pees, or putting that litterbox in his cage.  Any idea?  I don’t want to confuse him, but he needs to learn to go in his cage. I want to set up good habits, because if I can trust him, the happier we all will be, right?

[Lightchick]

Bunnies are stubborn, aren’t they?!

Well, I’m no expert, but I wonder if maybe he got too much space too soon? So in his mind, the whole family room is his, and so he has correspondingly spread-out his facilities….”I sleep in my cage. I pee in this corner of the room. It’s all mine, so I can go where I want!” What would he do if you put a pen around his cage, so he could come in and out, but only had a square of area that was “his,” instead of taking over the whole room? Then once he figured out your boundaries, you could start sharing the common area (not the bunny-owned area anymore!) of the whole family room?

Just a thought…

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

My thought…Keep him in his cage until he pees….He won’t hold it too long I’m sure.

The other option is to pick out some peed on litter (from the living room box) and put it in his litter box in his cage. He’ll realize peeing in there is OK.

Try either of those I’m sure they’ll work
And no apolgies for asking more questions-we love questions!

[kAtHrYnLoVeSdAiSy]

Ruffles, when Daisy kept peeing outside her litterbox in her cage, I took a piece of tissue soaked in urine, just like K said and put it in the litterbox. For the last two days, she’s been doing her business in the box instead! Worked like a charm!!

[Ruffles&Daisy]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It’s actually going much better now. Unfortunately I think Ruff got the case of too much freedom too soon. So, he’s been spending more time in his cage and we’ve been watching him like a hawk when he’s out. He started peeing in his cage finally. I think there’s hope yet!

[Lightchick]

Yay! Congrats Ruffles! Us silly humans have to learn by annoying/confusing our bunnies, unfortunately…! I’m glad it’s going better for you, though!

[Author]

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