Flooring for Non-Litter Trained Bunny

[Trisha Bailey]

Hi all!

Please forgive me if this has already been posted before. I am very new to rabbits. We were just given a 10 week old female bunny. I have a store bought cage that has the plastic bottom with wire top. The bunny is not litter trained and so it pees and poops freely right now. I have a litter box in there and had started with a fleece blanket along the bottom floor, but quickly realized that wasn't going to be an option since the bunny pees all day long. So right now I'm using paper towels along the bottom, but still, I feel like I'm needing to change the towels all day long. What are some other option? I don't want her to be walking or sitting in her pee. I'm using wood pellets in the litter box and I've heard you shouldn't use the same thing as flooring because it's confusing for them. And pine shavings aren't healthy. So what else can I use? And...

1) At what age can a bunny be litter trained?
2) Does a bunny have to be spayed or neutered in order to be litter trained?

 

[Blue eyes]

Rabbits litter train quite easily once they are spayed. In fact, they pretty much train themselves if they are provided a proper set up.

Younger rabbits may also litter train, but even those that do seem to get the hang of it, may suddenly forget that training once hormones kick in.

At 11 weeks of age, your rabbit may or may not train. The best way to encourage training is to be sure that the entire cage floor is solid (no bedding, no blankets, nothing soft) and that the litter box is nice and roomy. It should be large enough for your bunny to lay inside when fully stretched out. The wood pellets are a fine choice. But you want to cover the pellets with hay. Rabbits like to potty while they graze, so having hay directly on the pellets and/or in a rack that can only be accessed if bunny is sitting in the litter box will encourage her to use the box.

Now may come the trickier part. If the cage you have is solid plastic on the bottom, that is typically far too slippery for a bunny's paws. They don't have pads on their paws - just fur. So they can't get traction on slippery plastic.
Another potential problem with the store bought cage is probably the size (don't know what size yours is). Most of the store bought cages are too small to fit a proper size litter box.
The solution to both of those issues can go together.

I'm attaching a photo from another RO member. She gave me permission to post this photo on my website. It shows how she made use of a store bought cage. You could do something very similar, but rather than carpet down, you could use something wipeable but not slippery. Certain rolled linoleum types have texture. Some are even rough to the touch with a brick or sand feel to it.

In this case, one could either make the whole cage a litter box, or place a good size litter box in the cage. I'll attach a photo of my litter box set up so you can get an idea of size.

Another option could be to place lino inside your current cage on top of the plastic floor. But it is likely that the rabbit would chew the edges of the lino and that can't be allowed. Ingesting that would be dangerous.

Anytime you find pee on the solid floor, wipe it up with a paper towel and place the soiled towel under the litter in her litter box. They like to go where they smell it.

You can see some more litter training tips at my website here if you like.

 

[Trisha Bailey]

Thank you for your reply. I am doing all you said in terms of the litter box. I think I'm going to have a hard time until she is spayed, which I need to wait another couple months.

The issue I'm having is the flooring of the cage. You're right...the cage is just plastic on the bottom so I need to put something down because it's too slippery. I started with a fleece blanket, but since she pees so much, that's not an option, and I heard anything soft is not good. So then I took that out and put in paper towels, but she moves it all around and so it's not the best option. I also put pee pads down and that seems to be ok, but I'm wondering if I have any other options that wouldn't require changing so much???

 

[Blue eyes]

You need to find something solid, not soft. Paper towels and pee pads absorb urine but you don't want that. It may sound contradictory, but she is less likely to train if there is any place soft (other than her litter box). It has to be something solid like linoleum - not pee pads. Otherwise she'll just see her whole cage as one big litter box.

The problem with putting linoleum down inside the cage and on top of the plastic is that it may not work because she'll probably chew it. This is why I recommended using an exercise pen to create a solid floor area for her. You can just get a piece of rolled linoleum to put down.

I've used something like this in the past. It is just 49 cents per square foot:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Armstrong-...Stone-High-Gloss-Finish-Sheet-Vinyl/999978374
It can sit right on top of whatever current flooring you have. I've put it on top of carpet.

It's a good idea to have an exercise pen anyway with a rabbit. They come in handy for several uses with rabbits. In your case, it can solve your slippery floor issue. Use the x-pen on top of rolled lino, get a cheap storage box from wal-mart to use as a litter box (if you don't have one already that is large enough), and - voilla! - you have a good size set-up with solid flooring so bunny can litter train.

BTW, the pen doesn't have to be set up in the shape that is shown in the photo above. It can be configured in multiple ways. Here is another example.

 

[Trisha Bailey]

Wow, thank you so much for your help! Where can I buy the wire fencing that goes around the outside? And what is the name of it? Thanks so much!

 

[Trisha Bailey]

Sorry if this is another dumb question, but if I use the rolled linoleum in the exercise pen area, won't that still be slippery for her to run around on? Do you put anything on top of it?

 

[Blue eyes]

The wire fencing is an exercise pen (or x-pen, for short). You can find them at pet stores or amazon. Here is a link (you'd want no shorter than 30"):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H904WI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Here's another that is less pricey but you may find others:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MU2F4NY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Linoleum is not near as slippery as plastic. And different linoleum styles have different textures and levels of traction. The one I linked was fine for my rabbits. Each rabbit has different tolerance for slipperiness. If you go to the store, you can feel the different options. I've felt some that felt rough like sandpaper - definitely not slippery.

Until she's litter trained, you won't want anything on top of the lino or she may potty on it. After she's trained you can have pet beds or carpet or fleece -- basically anything that she doesn't decide to chew and ingest. (That will be different for each rabbit.)

 

[Trisha Bailey]

Thank you! you've been beyond helpful!!

 

[Jacaroe]

The wire fencing is an exercise pen (or x-pen, for short). You can find them at pet stores or amazon. Here is a link (you'd want no shorter than 30"):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H904WI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Here's another that is less pricey but you may find others:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MU2F4NY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Linoleum is not near as slippery as plastic. And different linoleum styles have different textures and levels of traction. The one I linked was fine for my rabbits. Each rabbit has different tolerance for slipperiness. If you go to the store, you can feel the different options. I've felt some that felt rough like sandpaper - definitely not slippery.

Until she's litter trained, you won't want anything on top of the lino or she may potty on it. After she's trained you can have pet beds or carpet or fleece -- basically anything that she doesn't decide to chew and ingest. (That will be different for each rabbit.)

This is what I've used too, and it works well. I did get a 36x36 cage from TSC which I pretty much hate, but our house isn't entirely safe for Bun to free-roam. Instead, I set up this exact x-pen on the same rolled linoleum that I got at Lowes, and it works perfectly. He gets his run time every day with this set-up since his cage is - even at 36" square - too small. He does do slippery binkies (lol), but seems to have adapted fine to the surface of the linoleum.

Also, I don't plan to change the setup anytime soon, because despite his being fixed months ago, he still loves to pee everywhere. sigh.

 

[lavendertealatte]

My Bun took just about two weeks to litter box train when I first got her. Every morning I would check for any accidents, clean them up with vinegar/water solution and stick her pee in the box. Then when I would come back from work I would do the same. We think she was about 6-8 weeks old when we first got her. It was hard to tell if she was quite trained cause she kept peeing over the side of the box though so we got her a bigger one from Walmart (a cat litter pan) and after that it worked perfectly. She's only had a handful of accidents since then and she's about six months now, needs to get spayed.

 

[Trisha Bailey]

My husband just went to Home Depot and he said the rolled linoleum was huge. Will they cut to size?

My young girl seems to want to pee right beside the litter box despite doing all the suggestions lavendertealatte suggested. I'll keep trying though!

 

[JBun]

Peeing beside the litter box can sometimes mean they want to pee in there but won't for some particular reason. A few possibilities are the bun doesn't like the feel of the litter, particularly rough litter like pellets. If you aren't covering the pellets with soft hay yet I would suggest trying that. Another possibility is if the litter box sides are too high that it makes it difficult for your bun to get in.

One thing you can try on the floor of the cage is newspaper(not the shiny ad paper). Though your bun may still want to pee on it or rip it up.

If all these changes don't make any difference, I would be inclined to go with blue eyes suggestion and use the whole cage as a giant litter box.

 

[Trisha Bailey]

I will try that...I had hay in there, but not covering the pellets.

I found some car mats at Walmart today...they are made of rubber. There is a skid on the bottom which I think would be great so it doesn't slide, and I'm sure they would be waterproof. But...the smell is pretty strong. It's that clear rubber stuff. Do you think this would be safe??

 

[Tiffanysbunnygang]

I agree with other posters. Until my bunny was litter trained I did not put anything on the cage floor. After several weeks of consistent use of the litter box I added fleece or a soft rug. Mine still get poop out of the box but not pee so it is easy to pick up the fleece and shake out in the trash. Adding a layer of hay in the litter box can be helpful to encourage use. I also prefer the exercise pen vs a store bought cage. Very easy to sweep up and clean. Any soft fleece or bedding will confuse during the early stages of litter training. Here is an example of my new rescues cage. This is his temporary setup while litter training and adjusting to his new environment. After he will upgrade to a larger DIY cage option.

 

[Tiffanysbunnygang]

I will try that...I had hay in there, but not covering the pellets.

I found some car mats at Walmart today...they are made of rubber. There is a skid on the bottom which I think would be great so it doesn't slide, and I'm sure they would be waterproof. But...the smell is pretty strong. It's that clear rubber stuff. Do you think this would be safe??

Anything with a strong smell is not recommended. No scented litter or bedding, etc. bunnies are very sensitive to smells & odors.

 

[Tiffanysbunnygang]

Also larger litter box if you are using a small pet litter pan it may not be large enough.

 

[Meg x]

I used an old carpet we found in the loft and was going to throw out, not too good for pee because it could linger smell but it’s very easy to clean & you can just hoover all of the poo & hay etc off

 

[Zuzanna]

A good flooring for bunnies is a blanket or fleece on top of those puzzle foam mats which you can get for children. It’s easy to was as you just put it in the washing machine and your good to go. Also a dustpan and brush for droppings every morning is what I do.