Out of ideas for litter box

[cmh9023]

When I got my little lop last year, she was very good at using the litterbox. However, for the past 4-5 months she has been terrible! I've tried everything I can think of or have read about...adding boxes, moving the box to where she goes, confining her to a smaller space, giving her lots of praise when shedoes goin the box, put her hay in and above the litterbox, etc...but nothing has worked. In fact, it seems like she's getting worse at it.

I've tried confining her to a small cage during the nightwhich has only enough space for a litterbox, a cardboard box hideaway and about 2 sq. feet of space for a rug to lay on. So, I figured...she's bound to use the box. Not a chance. The rug was filled with with poop and very wet. She went on her sea grass ball too. I've always read rabbits tend to be pretty fastidious with their bathroom habits. Is she just an exception to the rule? Does anyone have ANY other ideas? Is there any hope?Help. Thanks!

 

[naturestee]

Is she spayed? That helps a lot.

She sounds like Mocha. My Mocha was littertrained from when she was spayed to when I brought Loki home- one month.:? It got worse when I brought Fey and Sprite home. Now she's in an all-out poop/pee war.

 

[cmh9023]

Yes, she was spayed even before I got her. I just don't know what to make of it. I'm getting a new bunny condo from Leith Petwerks and I was hoping she'd improve before moving in there. I'd hate to ruin the carpet right away

 

[doodle]

Hm, I was going to ask about spaying too because it sounds just like a rabbit who has hit puberty (when they're notorious for losing their litter habits). But if she's already spayed, I don't know what to tell you. Has anything changed in your household lately, like another new pet or anything? Sometimes rabbits are sensitive to any kind of change and can start marking territory again. But since this has been going on for months...it doesn't really sound like that.

I hope this isn't offensive because I don't know where you got your bunny or anything...but it's just a thought that ran through my mind because I've heard of it happening before...are you positive that she was spayed before you got her? Or could it be possible that you were just told that?

My only other idea is to maybe have her vet checked and make sure there isn't any underlying health problem that might be affecting her.

Sorry I'm not much help! Wish I knew what to tell you. But I hope things get better.

 

[Maureen Las]

I agree with doodle...my spayed female is really really clean...my neutered males sometines still mark territory. Is she really spayed? Also is she around a lot of other rabbits which would make her mark?

 

[cmh9023]

Hmm..I'm almost positive she was spayed. I got her from the WI House Rabbit Society and they have each rabbit examinedand spayed/neutered before adopting them out. However, that's actually an interesting thought. I will double check with my vet. She has an annual appointment coming up soon. I would actually be really happy if that were the cause, because it could be easily fixed. One other thing though....the person who surrendered her had her for 3 years so she was definitely past puberty when I got her.

She lived with a partner since I got her, but, unfortunately,he died a few weeks ago. He was a neutered male with impeccable litter box habits. Her behavior hasn't really gotten any worse since he's been gone. She was messy while she was with him, and she's messy without him

I was thinking about maybe changing litter. I currently use Yesterday's News. Maybe I could try something else, but I don't know what else is good.

 

[Maureen Las]

If you got her WHRS I'm sure that they checked her. If she was messy before I would imagine that the stress of lossing her mate would make. her worse.(actually I'm basing that on myself..the more upset I am the messier I get.. . You could get her vet -checked to make sure otherwise I would try to be tolerant of her as she is probably in alot of grief over losing her partner.

 

[doodle]

Oh yeah, I'm sure the WHRS would have told you the truth. I guess you could still check with them though and see if they have records and find out if she was spayed while in their hands, or if the previous owner told them she was already spayed. Still, if that were the case, I would think they would have asked for the vet record from the previous owner. If nothing else, they might have some good suggestions for you to try.

She probably is already spayed, though.

Losing litter habits after losing a partner would be understandable, but it sounds like she lost her litter habits long before that.

Trying a different litter is a good idea! Some rabbits are apparently picky about what litter they will or won't use, and I've heard of people going through any number of different litters before their buns were satisfied. Good luck! I'll hope for you that this will solve the problem.

 

[naturestee]

What did you lose her partner to? Is it possible she noticed his illness and became more messy because of it?

Those condos are sweet! Could you post pics when you get it?

 

[Mr. Stee]

This is just an idea, but hear me out. Try lineing the whole cage with litter. Then after a few weeks, start reducing the amount of the cage that is litter lined. Maybe she will get used to going on the litter and will compensate for the reduction in litter area by going to the litter to go. Just a spur of the moment thought.

 

[aurora369]

Mr. Stee, I believe your idea may work. That's pretty much what I did to train Wildfire in her cage. She started with litter all over the cage, then each time I cleaned the cage, I watched where she was going to the bathroom, and tried to localize the litter to that area. Once the litter was only in the corners she did her business in, I put some litter boxes in the cage. So far she's been excellent with her litter habits, and she's not spayed either.

--Dawn


**edited for grammar**

 

[bunnydude]

Mr. Stee's idea is a good one Another thing I would try would be to bury urine-soaked paper towels (from when you cleaned the urine up) in the bottom of the litter box. That did the trick with Devon.

 

[cmh9023]

It's such a coincidence that you just gave me that idea about filling the cage with litter. I had written to Sherry's (my rabbit) foster mom from WI HRS with the same question about her bad habits and she gave me a very similar idea.

I confined her more to the smaller cage which I had filled with litterboxes but left a space of 10" square with sisal mat. It was just big enough for her to sit down comfortably. For the last 3 mornings the sisal mat was dry!!! There were a few poops, but I'm ok with that. I just want her to stop peeing everywhere I also put in some soiled paper towels which the foster mom had suggested too.

It looks like she's gone in all three boxes, but more so in two of them. Is the next step to remove thebox she doesn't seem to use and put down more sisal mat?

I'm so excited. This seems like my first breakthrough!

 

[aurora369]

Pretty much. I'd give her plenty of time to adjust to the living arrangements you've got going right now. Then in a week or so, you should be able to remove one of the litter boxes, only if she's really not using it. My rabbit still has two litter boxes in her cage, but she's still got tons of room to spread out in the other parts of the cage.

--Dawn

 

[bunnylover78642]

Have you brought her to the vet to make sure there is no problems?