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BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum BEHAVIOR More Litter Box Woes

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    • FantasyFanVII
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        Hi everyone. I’m pretty sure I have the most moody, stubborn bunny ever so I hope you can help but I’m not sure . Anyway his name is Piko and his biggest problems are litter box related. A while ago he started ‘going’ near his box instead of in it. I’m getting control of that by keeping him under close supervision again to make sure he uses his box, but that’s led to a new problem.

        First off a little possibly relevant background info: Piko’s cage is not very big and he’s long since out grown being able to be confined to it for long periods of time. I had a rabbit previous to this who just roamed free in my room 24/7 so I assumed Piko would be able to do the same when he was litter box trained. And silly me underestimated him and thought it would be easy . I figured since he was a baby when I got him the small cage wouldn’t matter in the end. As of now I can’t afford to get a new big cage but I hope I won’t need to. I built a pen out of the panels from one of those metal wire storage cube shelves (I hope that made since ) coming off the main cage and he seems ok with it. Just a few treats and he’ll hop right in. He’s even started begging for treats at bedtime when he knows he’ll get locked up.

        Now onto the problem: There is a small litter box in Piko’s pen, but he hates using it. He will if he absolutely has to. He won’t pee on the floor in there (knock on wood) but before he gives up he’ll stand by the ‘door’ of the pen, grab the bars, and raddle it for several minutes until he gives up. Off course it’s loud, obnoxious and in my bedroom but the bigger problem is I’m afraid Piko’s going to start damaging his teeth. The pen is metal after all. I’ve been trying to just ignore him to see if he gives up, but so far no luck. I’m reasonably sure he wants out to use his box because if I let him out shortly after he finally gives up on the bars he’ll bolt straight into his box and glare at me. There’s also barely ever anything in his pen box. And the pen as been in use for at least a month or two.

        Does any have any ideas how I can get Piko more used to using the box in the pen? Or at least any advice on what I can do to stop the lovable idiot from breaking his teeth on the bars ?


      • Megabunny
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          Is he neutered? Do you keep hay in the box? Why can’t he run around more? I don’t think his teeth are in danger if they are the NIC cube/coated wire. Sorry. A little more info might help??


        • FantasyFanVII
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            Sorry for not quite saying enough. He is neutered. I can’t really keep hay in/near his box because I have two cats would would get it. He doesn’t seem to like it anyway. When I do put fresh hay out he’ll barely touch it, if he goes for it at all. I’ve tried timothy, meadow, and oat hay but no luck. Stubborn little pest .
             He just can’t run around when I can’t watch him now. If he sees me awake and in my room, he hops straight into his box no problem when he needs it. If I’m not there and he’s out, I’ll probably come back to a pile of pee/poo right outside the box. It’s like he knows he should use his box, but if I’m not watching him he doesn’t care. I repeat stubborn little pest . He still gets several hours, broken up, of ‘play time’ everyday though.
             O and he’s only 2, can run really fast, and jump onto a high desk if he feels like it so I really don’t think he has any mobility issues. I also cut a section off the front of his big box, so he only has to hop over an inch-inch and a half to get in. He has two smaller boxes that are just these:http://http//www.amazon.com/Marshall-High-Ferret-Litter-Colors/dp/B0002AROVQ/ref=pd_bia_nav_t_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DG3AX7F16GH1JE2J6MA I really do think he’s just lazy. *sigh*  
             As for what the wire panels his pen is made from are, I finally got the bright idea of going through my order history and found them: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0…ge_o08_s00 I’m not sure if that helps though.
             I hope I gave you enough info this time, but if not feel free to ask. And thank you for helping me with my problem child.


          • Megabunny
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              Hi again. Well, I’m not sure I’ll be much help. I can’t download the litter box sight. I think it’s my computer. It’s been doing it a lot to me. But I did download the wire and that is the good NIC panels.
              I’m just going to throw out a bunch of random thoughts:
              Is he being a brat or is he not wanting to use the litter box because you’ve just cleaned it? Sometimes they want a little bit of droppings/wet litter left in the box. you can cover it up with fresh litter. The smell will be there.
              I have a rabbit I’ve struggled with and he didn’t seem to be eating hay. I have to copy/paste this to someone else’s post this morning too. Basically, my breeder friend on-line, who seems really intelligent and loves her rabbits like pets and doesn’t treat them like just possessions, has told me to feed Gus as many pellets as he wants in a day. The vet says absolutely not…he’s gaining weight and likely not eating hay and his teeth will overgrow and he will not live as long. GUILT TRIP!!! But I know if I told the breeder I was cutting back pellets, she would probably be insulted. So I’m doing something in between…giving him 1/2 cup of pellets (way more than the vet said) but then he eats that and does seem to eat hay. The vet said he would and he is.

              I don’t think I’m really hitting any answers to your questions. I don’t know how you’d really stop him from pulling on the bars, short of attaching cardboard to cover a lot of it. That seems to be the thing with rabbits. Whatever they’re doing wrong, block it off. I think the broken up play time is really fine. That’s what I’ve had to do for mine for a long long time until we finally got things better bunny proofed.
              I’m sorry. I feel like this has been really lame advice and had hoped someone else would think of something to add.


            • FantasyFanVII
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                That’s not lame advice at all. I appreciate any help right now. Piko’s such a pain sometimes. *sigh* Anyway, I might go ahead and try what you suggested with cutting back pellets to get him to eat more hay. Right now he’s just getting as much as he wants and he is a bit tubby. He’s even managed to earn the nickname ‘Fluffy Brick’ lol. I’ll probably just replace his breakfast refill with a little hay and see how that goes.

                He doesn’t seem to really care if the litter boxes are freshly cleaned or not. I’m starting to think he’s just insane

                And I’ll try putting cardboard on the pen. I haven’t before because I figured he’d still rattle it anyway but I just had a new thought: The ‘door’ of the pen is attached to his cage with carabineers so maybe I’ll try ‘padding’ the areas they hit with duct tape to see if that’ll cut the noise down. Anyway I’ll let you know how that works in a couple days if you want, and anyone else is still free to add onto this topic if you want


              • Megabunny
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                  Sounds good!!


                • FantasyFanVII
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                    Here’s an update for anyone interested. I ultimately decided not to add any cardboard to the pen. I got to thinking more and figured Piko would just have it torn down in a couple days, so I’d just be temporally trading rattling bars for shredding cardboard. I know my little devil *sigh* 

                    Piko also isn’t all that found of the new hay idea. He’ll eat a little but not much. I’m a little worried about him not eating enough so I’m probably hold off on that until I can ask my vet. I’ll give him a little on top of his food though in case he does decide to go for it. He seems ok with meadow and timothy hay mixed together.

                    It’s not all bad news though. I did go ahead and pad the pen’s door with duct tape and it worked better than expected. Piko still rattles the bars, but it’s MUCH quieter now. And I only actually put tape around the lower of the two carabineers. The top doesn’t really need anything. Piko also seems to be rattling the pen less now. It’s like he realized it won’t make mush noise anymore so it’s not worth it now. After all why put effort into it if it won’t drive mama completely nuts? *sigh* O well at least the situation’s better than it was .

                    Anyway sorry for the lateish reply, but I figured I promised an update so I should get it done . Thanks for taking time to give me advice Megabunny. And don’t say you didn’t do much because you got me thinking about the tape and it seems to have made a big difference. Go figure. My rabbit really is insane isn’t he?


                  • Megabunny
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                      Sounds like you figured things out well.
                      Good luck with the hay. Mine really has broken down and eaten hay when I only give him pellets once a day (well, occasional sprinkles as well), though I hated cutting back on them. I also put hay in a kleenex box outside of the litter box and sometimes he likes to eat from the hay bucket which is outside the cage. Makes a mess, but he thinks he’s got something extra special when he’s running around, so whatever works.
                      Glad things are quieter.

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                  Forum BEHAVIOR More Litter Box Woes