Remedial Litter Training (not going well)

[sir-rabbit-pants]

 Thumper is a 5-year-old, neutered, Netherland Dwarf.  We have been together for about 9 months and he was perfectly litter trained until we moved into a new apartment in November.  After the move, he was peeing on the rug, in the kitchen, on the futon, on me…  (He’s also been pooping all over but I care less about that than the peeing).  We went to the vet for an upper respiratory infection a couple months ago; when I told the vet about Thumper’s peeing problems, she did a UA which came back normal.  Soo…time for some remedial litter training.

Details about Thumper’s space: He has a bunny condo (built after the move) that is 2×2 with a 2nd level.  He’s in his “room” when I’m gone and when I’m sleeping; the rest of the time he roams free.  He’s never been allowed in the bedroom/bathroom and has since been grounded from the kitchen.  The rest of the apartment is one large room so I can’t limit him to a smaller space very well.  

We started with one litter box in his room.  He was peeing in the kitchen so I put another box in the kitchen in the area where he was peeing.  He peed directly outside the box.  I blocked off the kitchen and put the extra box on the rug where he was also peeing.  He peed directly outside the box.  Meanwhile, inside his room he’s peeing in the box and everywhere else.  I buy a third box so he has two in his room (one on the 1st floor and 1 on the 2nd floor) and one wandering.  The wandering box never did any good so I put it in his room too since he was peeing in two corners of the 1st floor.  He seemed to be catching on to litter training (and even gamed the system by drinking lots of water, peeing in the box, getting a treat, drinking lots of water, peeing in the box, getting a treat and so on)…but no matter what he would still pee on the futon and on the floor right outside his room (where he usually has his meals).  Now I’m training him to stay off the futon.  Inside his room: he kept peeing right outside the boxes so I switched out the small corner boxes to slightly larger (plasticware) rectangular boxes of which he has two (one on each floor).  One has the water bottle over it; the other has the hay rack.  He pees in the box but ALSO all over his room.  The pee is starting to run out onto the hardwood floor, get trapped under the “bunny floor” and ruin the wood.  I’m working on a new “bunny floor” but I’d rather this not be a problem at all.

I get the feeling he KNOWS where he’s supposed to pee, but he’s decided to be a little sh*t (pun intended).  On occasion, he pees and I wipe it up; I throw out the paper towel and come back and he’s peed in exactly the same place.  He looks right at me when he very slyly pees.  With the training he’s spending more time in his room which he dislikes, but can bunnies really be that spiteful?

Any advice you can offer will be extraordinarily helpful!

[Quantum]

 Ah, the “delightful” stubbornness of the wily bun.  Who knew they were so closely related to mules?   You may need to start him off in a smaller space liken x-pen instead of a whole room.  Andy’s, it’s likely the move that messed with his litterbox habits.  There’s some good info on the BinkyBunny litterbox training page here - https://www.binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/Litter…fault.aspx  Thei of at the bottom of that page is really helpful–box too clean?  Smells funny?  Things of that sort to check.

I know how very stubborn these loveable critters can be, so best of luck.  I’ll be rooting for the both of you!

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