Litter training issues

[hiskatey93]

Okay so Chom is almost 3. He never was compliant with litter training prior. It was a stubborn stubborn, hopeless fight with him.

I want to litter train him mainly because he will pee on the floor, and then sit in it and let his back legs, and bum rest in the pee, and that makes for a stinky, damp bunny. I now keep his fur incredibly short there, by shaving it weekly. It still gets damp, but a few quick swipes with a baby wipe takes care of the smell. ((Vet told me about this one type they sell at a local store. Very few ingredients in it, and it doesn’t seem to bother him.))

But I’m tired of it, and at the very least want him to pee in the litterbox. But the main issue I’m running into is an odd one. Most rabbits find one corner of a cage, room, or area to pee in right? Not him. He will pee somewhere once, and refuse to pee there again, and every time he pees will change the spot he goes in. So I can’t really put a litterbox down anywhere for him. It just doesn’t work, because I don’t have anywhere near enough litterboxes to put down to cover the expanse of my room.

I’ve been keeping him in Speckles cage for the past week, trying to narrow him to a smaller area to go in, and it’s the same issue. How do I train this one? Speckles took to her litterbox like a duck to water. He… Refuses it.

[lillian]

I guess it can kinda be the whole “teaching an old dog new tricks” thing. My oldest one was impossible to litter train, but, as soon as we got the baby bun, he started doing it and she copied. Treats, patience, and lots of “awwws” seemed to be the thing that worked. My oldest always loved when we gave her attention. We also picked her up a few times and put her in her pee box when she was learning to kinda show her “no, pee here”, and it seemed the smell of the pee from the other bun helped her find the box. You said she doesn’t pee in the same spot. Are you cleaning the spot right away with something that the bun doesn’t like the smell of? That could be causing her not to pee in the same area
Maybe try limiting treats and kinda showing like “hey, speckles is getting a treat for peeing in her box!” if your bun is really into treats? lol

[hiskatey93]

Chom loves attention. I’ve tried the treat route, but neither of them is overly into treats. And I have been keeping them separate for the most part since they are not bonded, and Speckles is healing from her spay.

I have hardwood floors, so I have just been making sure to wipe it up with a paper towel and nothing else, and I’ve been putting the towels in the litterbox, to make him aware of it, but it doesn’t seem to do anything for him. He just ignores it.

[Philomena]

I’ve been having issues too. Philomena is somewhat litter trained in that she will pee in the litter box that is in her cage perfectly, but when she’s out and about she will pee next to her box. I figured maybe it was the box? No, I’ve tried about 5-6 different boxes, littlers, amounts of hay, different cleaning frequencies. Nothing… I’ve even blocked off the sides of the box with bins so she couldn’t pee in that area unless it was in her box… She got on top of the bin and pee’d on it… I’m now trying to re-litter train her since we’ve moved back to the apartment and she’s been doing betterish. I have to watch her like a hawk and sit next to her box while I do homework. Philomena doesn’t like attention so I try to pet her when she starts going outside the box. Then she jumps in her box so that I can’t pet her. Box is her territory, no pets allowed. Treats don’t work with her because she will then get too interested in the treats and will jump out of the box. Maybe my failed attempts can give you some ideas?

[hiskatey93]

He won’t use any of them. At all under any circumstances. I try to keep a hawk eye on him, but it isn’t easy.

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