New house and litter box training out the window!

[AmazonGrace]

We have one rabbit, "BunBuns" also known as "Chocolate Terror". A male chocolate rex, neutered, that we adopted a year ago. His age is unknown but assumed to be pretty young, under two years. Other pets are three cats.

I litterbox trained BunBuns by putting a litterbox in the two places he liked to poop and pee. It worked better after I got bigger litter boxes and added hay. They are cleaned daily with vinegar water solution. Sometimes he also likes to pee in the cat's litterboxes.

Because BunBuns was such a well trained boy with nary a stray poo pellet, he was completely uncaged at our last home. We left the door open in his cage and that's where he was accustomed to eating messy treats like strawberries and apples.

Last week we moved to a new house that is literally four times larger than our previous home. We placed a litterbox on the main floor, near the kitchen like his old cage. He uses this to poo and eat hay. No problems there, but he is rarely on the main floor because he seems to prefer the upstairs (3 bedrooms and a bath). He likes to sleep under my bed.

The problem is that he also likes to pee on the carpet in the upstairs bathroom. (It is partially carpeted.) It also seems that BunBuns is trying to poop on every square inch of this rather large bathroom floor. We placed his cage and litterbox in the spot he was marking and while he is using it sometimes, he is still peeing on the rug in front of the litterbox and pooping all over the room. (I use vinegar to clean it up, but enough's enough!)

I'm still in the midst of unpacking, organizing and cleaning so he is "on house arrest" in his cage to avoid further damage to the carpet. Since I accidentally litter trained him, I am not sure how to address this new undesired behavior.

How can I deter this behavior? Is it territory marking including the pooping? Should I sit in the bathroom with him for 30-60 minutes and frequently guide him into his litter box and praise him when he uses it correctly? Tarp over the area? Put in hardwood floors? ....

Your help is kindly appreciated, thank you!
~Melanie

 

[tonyshuman]

It sounds like marking a new territory to me. I find that this happens to my guys whenever we move or visit family. The best way to keep them litterbox trained (although my guys are by no means 100%) is to only give him a small area of the house to roam in at a time. Keep him in his cage (with supervised playtime) until he's using his box in the cage. Once he's mastered that, he can have a small room to run free in, etc, etc. I find if I give a bunny too much space to explore at once their litter training goes out the window.

You could also try Nature's Miracle pet stain/odor cleaner, although vinegar is usually really good. I got a Bissel Little Green to clean the couch my guys love to pee on and it seems to do ok as well.

 

[DazyDaizee]

I agree that this sounds like marking. My house gets rearranged frequently, and even that can set one of my rabbits off. Luckily with my rabbit it's mainly poop, so it's easily picked up. I honestly just pick up the droppings as frequently as possible and wait for it to pass.. because it always does, and she starts to use the box again. She will also do this when a new foster rabbit comes into the house.. she marks against their enclosure.. it's a territorial behavior.

Cleaning the box every day is not a good idea right now. Pick up the stray droppings and put them in the box. When you do clean the box, scoop out most of the soiled litter, but leave a little old litter and droppings in the box. By completely removing the smell and all the droppings, your rabbit may not know where you want him to go in this new environment. Because he chose his spots in his last home and you worked around him, he was just doing what came naturally. Now you want him to go in the box. So keep soiled litter in the box and keep the rest of the place very clean. If need be, reduce him to a smaller area with the box (using this same technique) and gradually increase the area he has access to when he uses the litter box regularly.

Lastly, he is in a bigger home now. Be sure to place more litter boxes about. Rabbits usually don't want to walk very far to get to a box. Some rabbits need more litter boxes than others. I have 3 in the room that my rabbits are most commonly in, and none throughout the rest of the house. I'm lucky that this works for me, as many owners will need at least one box per room that their rabbit frequents.

 

[mardigraskisses]

I recently moved and it took Bayou about a week to remember that he was litter box trained.

I pretty much had to let him do his thing, clean up after him, and wait for him to use the box again:grumpy: .

 

[BethM]

I just moved, as well. Three of my bunnies have been having litterbox issues, as well. I think they are just getting used to the new place.

I am not allowing anyone out of their cages for another week. I want them to be comfortable with the smells of the new house, and confident that they have a place that is "theirs" before I allow them to explore.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Thanks for the replys - some VERY good information for me and my BunBun!

He was spending his "house arrest" in the U.S. standard 3' cage. I don't like to leave him in there for more than 8 hours without some exercise or interaction time.

Based on the feedback yesterday morning, I moved the cage into the room where he spent most of his free-range time - my bedroom. He sleeps underneath the bed and that was the only room he hadn't pooped in. I kept the door closed all day yesterday and he did mark one corner of the room but used the litterbox in the open cage multiple times - success in my mind!

I also did not disinfect the litterbox yesterday, just used water dampened paper towels to clean up the wet and also I did leave some wet litter and a few poo pellets in the box when I added fresh litter and hay.

His litterbox upstairs is kept in his open cage, with water dish etc. I added some alfalfa for a treat to keep him in the litterbox.

Next step I will definitely add another litterbox to the bathroom so he has a choice, and I'll add another another one downstairs for a total of four... in the areas he was hanging out in.

I will check back in with an update in a few days! Thanks again, I'm very grateful for the service you've provided me!