Litter-trained, spayed gal peeing outside of the box…

[Dibbyface]

We adopted Cha Cha about a month ago to be a companion for our little lop boy, Evi. During the dating period she had her own cage setup, and showed herself to be pretty well litter-trained already (we’re not sure on her exact age, but guessing 1-2 years, so her hormone surging days should be over). A few times she seemed to pee over the edge of her box, but as she’s a big girl and the pan was somewhat shallow, I didn’t think much of it at the time.

It took the buns about two weeks to decide they liked each other, and once I was sure they were bonded I upgraded their shared cage into a custom cube condo. They’ve lived together there peacefully since–I haven’t seen any humping since their dating days, and no scuffles to speak of–but Cha Cha’s litter box habits have become sporadic. 

I originally had the litter box on the right-hand corner of the ground level (their condo has three levels), but kept finding puddles of pee in the other corner, and so switched it. Then there was pee right next to the box, on either side, so I turned the box lengthwise. When the pee puddles persisted in front of the box and under the hay rack, I tried moving the hay rack above the litter box, so she’d have to hop in to have a munch. It seemed to work…until I started discovering pee on the second level, in the corner directly above the litter box, and then on the third level, near where I had another hay rack.

After that I’ve limited all hay to the litter box. Evi, the lop I’ve had for two years now, has never peed outside of his box since he was neutered, even with multiple racks of hay around his cage, but as far as I know the shelter where Cha Cha was kept only gave rabbits hay in their boxes. I thought this would be the final solution, but today I find yet more pee puddles on the second level, above the litter box.

The shelter workers did mention Cha Cha was cage aggressive when she was in their care, though since she’s moved in with Evi I’ve never had her nip at me for moving things in the condo. I usually open their cage and let them run about while I clean the litter box, but they’re able to hop back in and see what I’m doing if they want. Could her peeing in these weird spots be related? It really doesn’t seem to be a case of her not knowing where to go, since the vast majority of her poops and puddles end up in the box.

Any suggestions or solutions would be greatly appreciated. I’m going a little nuts here :[

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

As you just got her and she’s just bonded to a new bunny I would give it time. Can you buy a few extra litter boxes-the small corner ones might do wonderful? It might help to have all the places she likes to pee ‘covered’-so no matter which corner she chooses, she will be ‘correct’. Then you can remove the boxes slowly.

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