litter training problem

[ljmcbryde]

Hi! I am new to this site trying to find out as much info as I can!

I adopted my 8 month old Holland Lop rabbit from a local Humane Society almost 4 weeks ago.  He was neutered on Jan 16, just a few days before I brought him home. 

 At first he seemed to have decent litter habits. (unless I just wasn’t noticing the pee on his blankets??)  Not perfect, but he did okay.  For the past week or two he has been peeing outside of his litter box, a lot.  He is currently in a large cage in which I have his litter box that takes up about 1/3 of the space on one side, then a towel, flannel blanket, and fleece blankets on the other side.  I leave the cage open when I am home so he can come and go. He only occaisionally will pee outside of his litter box, but does poo randomly around the room.  I would like to change this habit too!

I notice he does use his litter box for pee, but also pees all over his blankets too!  Another thing, he seems to drink a lot of water.  He has a 20 ounce water bottle that I fill morning and night.  I am not sure how much a rabbit should drink.

 I am just wondering how to train him to only pee in his box and not all over his blankets!

Sorry this got so long winded and thanks for reading!  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!

[breannaloo]

there’s a section in the bunny info section on here that really helped me out when i first got my first bun! you should take a look at that.
as far as randomly pooping here and there around the room, he’s probably just marking it as his. a bun’s thought process is “this is mine. that’s mine. mine. also mine.” also, it can take 4-8 weeks i believe for the hormones to calm down after being neutered, so it might be four more weeks or so and it might start to calm down some more.

it really helped me to take any excess poop that was outside of the litter box and put them into the litter box. buns are smart so they will start to get the hint, and the peeing shall follow that. also catching him in the act is good, because you can say no and then place him into the litter box.

[smileykyleigh]

We are having the same issues here and my guy has been neutered for over 2 years!

I am very frustrated at this point. I understand the territorial pooping (though it’s annoying, it’s easily cleaned up), but the peeing is just gross and obnoxious. 

I have to put down a blanket when he is out to play because we have hardwood/linoleum floors and he’s scared to walk on them, but then he pees/poops all over the blanket! He also poops all over the towel in his xpen every night.

I would really love for him to be a house bunny and be able to be out for hours at a time, but I will not have my house smelling like a barnyard. Going to read over the litter training section again on the site and see if I can learn anything.

[ljmcbryde]

Thanks for all the input! But….the more I read the more I think he has something else going on.

His water bottle is 16 ounces and I have to fill it morning and night, so thatI is over 30 ounces per day!! I changed his litter box last night before bed, and this morning it was saturated! As well as the 3 layers of towels/blankets on the other part of his cage!!

This does not seem right to me, I don’t know why I am just realizing it now.

I plan on getting him to the vet, but probably not til Monday. In the meantime I will closely monitor his water intake. He is perfectly fine otherwise, eating, playing, affectionate etc.

Any additional thoughts would be appreciated!

[jerseygirl]

As mentioned, I agree the territorial poos should lessen in time.

Good for you noting his drinking habit. Could you have a health check done thru he HS vet?
Is his bottle suspended over the litter box by any chance? I’m just wondering if its leaking into the box and then he pees elsewhere because feels the box is too wet.

Some rabbits can’t resist peeing on absorbent things so I would trial removing the towels and blankets and seeing if that makes a difference. Also, trying a larger litterbox can help.

[smileykyleigh]

I took all the towels/blankets out of my bunny’s expen (because I needed to wash them) and sprayed down the floor with vinegar water to get rid of the urine smell. Now my bunny is just sitting in his litterbox!
I really need to figure out something so that he can get some exercise, as he is afraid to walk on the tile in the pen much.

[jerseygirl]

smileykyleigh; how about some textured vinyl over the tile? Providing more traction but still easy to wipe over.

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