HELP! Bunny pees on hay!

[motomom88]

My bunny is one yr and not neutered. I acquired him a couple of months ago when I found him. He quickly took to litterbox training. He uses the litterbox both in his cage and out of his cage, so this is not a litterbox problem.

For over 2 weeks he has been peeing by his hay, no matter where I put it. I thought maybe he wanted more hay, so I have been keeping it stocked. I changed the location of his litterbox corner and hay in another, and no matter what, he keeps peeing by the hay, even though he still uses the litterbox. I have the hay in a corner of his cage now and he keeps it clean for a couple of hours and then pees in front of the pile which soaks the bottom of the hay pile.

I am wastting precious, expensive Oxbow and spending a lot of time cleaning up, several times a day. He was great for so long.... Why is he suddenly doing this?

His behavior, diet, hay, playtime, etc has been unchanged. He lives in a 2x4 cage with the doors open and free time in his x pen area. He likes to be in his cage, unless the dogs or a human are in the x pen with him. I do not believe this is a "cage is too small-he needs a bunny room" problem.

 

[MiserySmith]

how about putting it in a rack or some kind of mesh box so that he cant pee on it? That's probably the easiest solution.
If you google images search "rabbit hay rack" it comes up with a lot of options for you.

Edited to add: I use something similar to this zip tied to the side of my rabbits cage above his litter box. It holds a lot.
http://www.biglots.com/images/large/170022164_65_66-2.jpg

 

[motomom88]

I have tried racks that hang on the side of the cage and they just don't hold e ought. Plus he got a really bad sore on this chin from pulling out the hay. Your bin looks like it might be something I can try. It has to be narrow enough to fit in this area in his cage, next to his crate. I can't put the hay in the x pen because of the area it is situated in
- for several reasons.

I would still like to k ow WHY he is doing this.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Rabbits tend to pee and poop where they eat. Many also like to pee on hay. It is commonly recommended to put hay in or near the litter box so they can eat and pee/poop at the same time.

Can you buy bales of hay? This would be a cheaper hay that you could put in the litter box for him to pee on. You can still use the oxbow as eating hay, but use a hay rack to keep him from peeing on it.

 

[JBun]

Maybe he decided he needed to mark it to make sure you know it's HIS hay. Rabbits just have funny ideas about things sometimes. They mark it so you(or another rabbit) doesn't take it, but then they can't eat it anymore once it's peed on.

You should seriously consider trying to find a horse feed store somewhere near you, and buy a big bale of grass hay. It is soooo much cheaper then those little bags. You can get a 50+ lb. bale for $10-20. And it will last you for several months and you don't have to worry about wasting it.

If that isn't an option, here's a litterbox hay rack that worked well for my rabbits.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=53690&forum_id=93&page=1

 

[motomom88]

Yes, there are other options for containing the hay, but putting on the litterbox won't work. I have to use corner litter boxes and they have no room for hay....

I need to find a way to stop him from peeing by the hay and go back to using just his litterbox. I can't keep spending 20 minutes 2-4 times a day just on pee cleanup! I would much rather spend that time with my bunny.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We have a hay rack that is by their litter boxes so the can use their box and reach over to eat the hay. With Finn and Serena we have to fill it 2 or 3 times a day.

 

[tamsin]

I would swap out the corner ones for boxes - you can get storage boxes if normal litter trays aren't deep enough - he should be able to hop in find. The hay one end away from the corner and he should be able to wee and chew without making a mess