Litter Training

[QuantumLeek]

Greetings, forum!

I got my rabbit from a friend--who had housed him in a hutch, so he's a little bit anti-social sometimes. When I got him she said he was litter trained, so long as he knew where his place was he wouldn't pee on the floor or anything. I've had him for about 8 months now and we never had any problems.

However, I recently changed his housing arrangement (two weeks ago, now). He used to have a little cage, which I would fill with bedding to absorb any urine, and he just used the whole cage for his litter box. I gave him free reign of my rabbit-proofed room, for the most part, so it wasn't a big deal that the cage was small. But I ended up getting a larger cage for free, so I set that up for him. He was a little concerned about the change at first but he seems fairly comfortable with it, now.

Anyway, the problem is that I don't want to fill the entire floor with litter--partially because it's a bit of a waste and partially because it doesn't really have sides to hold it in. I'd really like to use a litter box, but when I supply him with a litter box, complete with litter (I've got pine pellets from Feline Pine in there--I've heard people say that's fine for rabbits) and hay he refuses to use it. In fact, he seems downright reluctant to step into the litterbox at all. He urinates on the plastic floor of the cage instead, and even if I wipe it up and put soiled materiel in the litter box he still won't use it.

Help/advice/tips? I'm kind of at my wit's end about what to do to encourage him to use the litterbox....

Thanks in advance!

 

[Maureen Las]

Try putting his hay at one end of the litter box so that he would need to get into the box to eat the hay.

 

[QuantumLeek]

It's got hay in one end. He doesn't really seem to care about that at all. I'm kind of concerned that he's not interested i the hay, too...

 

[ZRabbits]

Could be the pellets that feel strange under his feet. Maybe using something else. I use ECO bedding, which is recycled paper and put hay on each side of their litter box. It will take time for your boy to get the idea of a litter box. Just don't give up. And don't loose your patience. He will get it eventually. Keep placing him in the litter box. I did that with mine.

Lots of changes do set off your bunny. Once he feels more comfortable with the new bigger crate, then he will settle in and the litter box won't be a big deal. Visit him at his home. Don't take him out but be there. Talk to him. Ease his conscience until he realizes the new place is his.

K