Bunny Cage Smell

[bunbungirl]

Hey there!

So, I just adopted my first rabbit. I've only had her for a couple of days and have been spot cleaning her cage every day since she came home. Despite keeping the cage clean, she has managed to make my whole room smell like rabbit urine! Definitely not pleasant. Seeing as my landlord wont let me keep her if there's a bad smell, I really need some advice on how to keep the scent down, other than just cleaning it, as I already do that.

Also, for reference, I'm using recycled newspaper pellets for bedding, and yes, she is spayed.

 

[Watermelons]

How is her cage set up?
Does she have a litter pan?
Is the pellet bedding on the bottom of the whole cage or just in a litter pan if you have that?
Is she litter trained on that note? Is she consistently going in 1 corner of the cage?

 

[bunbungirl]

How is her cage set up?
Does she have a litter pan?
Is the pellet bedding on the bottom of the whole cage or just in a litter pan if you have that?
Is she litter trained on that note? Is she consistently going in 1 corner of the cage?

She does have a litter pan, and I'm trying to litter train her, but it's not going so great yet. There are newspaper pellets all over the cage. Should they only be in the litter box?

 

[whitelop]

Yes, make it so the pellets are only in the litter box, so she doesn't get confused on where to shes supposed to use the litter box.
That way, when she goes pee on the bottom of the cage you can just wipe it up with a paper towel and put it in the litter box so she can smell it and know she's supposed to go there. And then you wipe up where she peed with some white vinegar/water mix and it takes the smell away.
Make sure you sweep up her poops too and put them in the litter box, so she can smell them.

It might take her a week or so to totally understand the litter box concept and she will pick it up. They're pretty smart and they do well with the boxes. You just have to give her some time to understand it. Shes new so she's marking her territory probably, but I'm not completely sure how that affects pee smells.

I wouldn't give her any bedding until she's fully understands the litter box. She won't mind laying on the cage bottom with no cushion, a lot of the time rabbits like hard surfaces more than padded ones anyway. But once she fully understands the litter box, you could put a fleece blanket in there for her and see if she likes it. My bun has hardwoods and a rug and she lays on the hardwoods more than the rug. And the only time I smell my bun is when its been 4 days or more without cleaning her litter boxes. But thats rarely ever, like if we go out of town or something.

 

[Watermelons]

Often when you have litter everywhere, their likely to go everywhere.
What are you doing with the litter she has peed on?

Limit the litter in the rest of the cage, put other stuff in the corners. When she has peed on litter, put it in the litter box, don't throw it out. Well not right away at least.
You have only had her a few days, you cant expect her to be perfect that quickly, it could take months for her to figure it out.
Put her hay above her litter box so she can munch and do her business as the same time. (However this will vary bunny to bunny as my guys get their hay on the opposite end of the cage and do their pees and poops over in their litter boxes.).
Sprinkle baking soda under the bedding before you put it down. Spot cleaning also wont remove all soiled pellets as pellet bedding just makes a mess, youre better off not using any in the rest of the cage and using a cloth to wipe it up if she goes rather then potentially leaving soiled pellets there. Try switching to a pine pellet like wood stove pellets or pine pellet cat litter. Kiln dried if you use wood stove pellets. This will help control the smell a LITTLE more. (Ive use a corn based litter for 8+ years and never had smell issues even with my un-neutered rabbit) But I always use baking soda under the aspen shavings I use for the rats and again, no smell issues with them.

All in all, you need to give her TIME.

 

[Zeroshero]

I can't imagine what it would be like sleeping in a room that smelled like pine shavings. Or rabbit urine for that matter. The Oxbow Ecco-straw pellets manage odors well especially if you are a daily cage cleaner. They have a sweet smell. Twice a day I pick through his cage and get the droppings and urine up from the night, in the evening I pick out what has been eliminated during the day and twice a week I dump his litter pan, clean it, and put in fresh litter. It took a while for my bunny to learn to use the litter pan to do his business. There has been lots of great suggestions, what worked for my bun was moving his hay to the litter box (I keep it in a separate bowl so he doesn't urinate on it) I also moved soiled litter in the box, and removed any litter/ bedding that was outside of the pan. Hopefully you find a solution that works. Hard wood shavings are best.