Over the cleaning!

[poopandpee]

Just one of those days, im super stressed... my disabled rabbit keeps peeing everywhere! there's no stopping it. I'm over the constant cleaning after her, I feel horrible but I've tried everything! her trays are cut low and easy accessible, there are multiple trays she uses sometimes, she just pees everywhere and there is at least 3 accidents a day all over the place. She doesn't eat her cecotropes so there's smoosh poop everywhere when I come down in the mornings.

She is vet checked and nothing is wrong with her, no UTI. She's been neutered since March and is 3 years old, I bonded her with a boy hoping it will be better but there's just no improvement.

I am considering returning her to the orphanage or adopting her out, but I will keep the boy. I'm at my wits end HELP!

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Limit her and her husbun's roaming space. Keep both of them in a small playpen with multiple litter boxes. Put all of their poops in the litter boxes, and any time she pees outside of the box soak it up with a paper towel and put the wet paper towel in the closest litter box. Clean the area with vinegar.

Please don't rehome her! It will cause her and her husbun to both become so sad. For now, try the tip above and if it doesn't work, maybe we can think of something else. If nothing works, please don't rehome her alone. If you are going to rehome her it needs to be with her husbun.

Why does she not eat her cecotropes? Has your vet checked her recently for any medical conditions? What does her diet look like?

 

[poopandpee]

She's never eaten her cecotropes since I got her, I did tell the vet this, but they said they don't know why, she's been fully tested, nothing is wrong with her besides her leg issue. Her pee and pooping has been the same since I got her even before bonding.

I've been soaking the pee up with paper towel/spraying with vinegar for months and picking up her poop.
I limit her space really small when it's dinner time from for 3-4hrs as that's when she usually pees all over the place the most.

The dried poop isn't a problem, it's the cecotropes and the pee that are doing my head in .

Her diet consists of half of a 1/4 cup of Burgess Excel pellets
hay, water
veggies for dinner - celery, endive and chinese broccoli are the usual 3, but sometimes cos lettuce/herbs/bok choy get thrown in there as well.

@Mariam+Theo she doesn't pee that badly outside her room, that isn't the problem. Just in her room she pees anywhere and everywhere in her room.

The boy has no accidents at all.

 

[Mariam+Theo]

Her diet is perfect and she sounds to be in great health. Since she only pees everywhere in her room, could you swap her room and block it off?

 

[poopandpee]

I do give her daily joint supplements as well, there's no other spare room to put her in haha how many spare rooms ya'll got in your houses?! I block her off during dinner (6-10pm) but the rest of the night (10pm-8am, they have the whole room to themselves, during the day, they free-roam (8am-6pm).

 

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

Anytime you see her using her litter box give her a treat (pellets work well)

Perhaps ask for any ideas/tips on here
https://www.facebook.com/groups/201759429869484/

 

[Happy Hollands]

Hopefully THIS thread about litter box training can help you further. How long has she has these habits?

If you are worried about a UTI, try adding a small amount of ACV to her water to prevent it Surprisingly, rabbits don't mind the taste or smell of it.

Here are some other suggestions that may help you. Firstly, consider where her hay is placed - is it in multiple areas of the room? Is it just above for litter box? As you are most likely aware, rabbits prefer to eat where they go to the bathroom. Keep in mind the floor material, too - is it a soft blanket-ey material, similar to what's in her litter box? Could you please provide a photo? Also about her litter box... is it a spot that is comfortable for her to be in? Do you think her feet could be sensitive to the material used, or the odor could be forcing her to not use it? Have you changed anything, such as the actual litter box itself or litter material recently? Another note is that she is most likely associating that room with where she goes potty and when you confine her to the area during the evening, she most likely assumes the whole room is her litter box, not just one corner of it!

I've had a similar problem with not eating cecotropes, and to fix it I switched my hay cut/type/brand and provided Sherwood papaya tablets (you could also try there urinary support ones) and miraculously the issue subsided. Not sure if this only worked for my particular bunny, or something that could help you as well! It might be worth a try.

It is also a very good thing that she only goes potty in that room, as it shows she can control her bladder to a certain extent Wishing you the best of luck, and if it does come to rehoming eventually, definitely keep the bonded pair together!

 

[poopandpee]

-She's had these habits since I've had her since March this year. She definitely treats the whole room as her litter box except her bed area (she still poops cecos on there though and occasional pee).

-The hay is only placed on her litter tray.

-Her box is lined with a puppy pad so it's soft on her feet (I only recently done this so she doesn't slip on the plastic),
Then filled with pine pellets and hay. It's cleaned every 3 days.

-She doesn't pee on new things I put in her room but after a couple of weeks of it there, she will pee on it.
I can't really swap hay, we only have Oaten Hay in Australia, a bag of timothy hay is $100+ which is just not feasible. We also don't stock Sherwood brand, I've checked but will try the Oxbow papaya to see if it helps.

She does have little accidents outside of her room, but I can deal with that as it's not often.

Here is a pic of her set up of her tray area, I just today lined the Ikea kids gym mat with fleece since she doesn't usually pee on it's what I use to line the memory foam mats for them to sleep on. She kept peeing on the gym mat after 2 weeks of me putting it there, I just did a massive soak/clean on it-which led to the cleaning depression.

Before the gym mat, I lined floor with towels/fleece but she kept peeing,
before the fleece/towels, I lined floor with cardboard, eventually she kept peeing on it
before the cardboard, I lined the floor had a massive kids playmat - yes, pee.

Before she was bonded, she will spend time sleeping in her tray which I just realised today, she doesn't do that anymore.. but I assume its coz she loves her memory foam mats, I put a little roof over the foam mat area and both the buns usually sleep under it.

 

[Happy Hollands]

I would definitely firstly try switching out the soft material for the floor. Vinyl is a good option as it is easy to clean and bunnies typically prefer going to the bathroom on soft things, so vinyl may prevent this. If she is older, I understand this maybe uncomfortable for her (some bunnies find it slippery, most do not though) and you may want to try the option below first.

As for the litter box, you could try changing her litter to something like CareFresh which has a pillow-y soft feel for her feet. The wood pellets may be uncomfortable for her to sit on, and so she is not spending a lot of time in the box. I normally recommend putting the hay above the litter box, as it prevents it from getting spoiled quicker and the rabbit is forced to sit in the litter box before getting anything to eat. You could try moving her food / water to the litter box area so she has to hop in the box to get rewards.

Also, was she litter box trained before you got her? Keep in mind it takes patience, every bunny learns it at their own pace and I would totally recommend confining her area further until she is free roam.

 

[poopandpee]

She was abandoned so we don't know her history.

When there was just the vinyl flooring, I find there is more peeing as she gets too lazy to go to her tray - for instance, the Ikea gym mat, when I took it away for a deep clean for a few days, I often found massive pee puddles on the floor, and then she gets a wet bum coz of her legs and makes more of a mess.

I had a haybox on top of tray before, but she doesn't like using it, and the boy pulls out everything at night so there's more wastage, Last vet check, the vet told me she was underweight and seems always hungry, so I have to make the hay easy accessible for her to eat plenty.

She soils at the bottom of the box, so her hay gets put at the top, and the boy soils from the top of the box, so he's hay is placed at the bottom end, which stays relatively clean.

She does use her box 80% of the time, she's just lazy the rest of the 20% and goes anywhere.

 

[Happy Hollands]

Gotcha. Thank you for explaining! Have you tried giving her multiple litter boxes to prevent accidents? How about limiting her living area so that she's more likely to use the litter box?

 

[poopandpee]

I could try that, but I feel bad for the boy, he's done nothing wrong and acts like the end of the world when I pen him... he just freezes up. He's too used to free-roaming lol

 

[Happy Hollands]

I could try that, but I feel bad for the boy, he's done nothing wrong and acts like the end of the world when I pen him... he just freezes up. He's too used to free-roaming lol

Is your female a jumper? You could put a low pen so that she has a confined area yet the buck can come in to join her or free room Or make it some sort of glass / grid barrier so that they are technically not separated and can lay next to each other if need be.

 

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

What about getting a extra big litter box (low cut) and put the water bowl in there so everything she eats drinks are in one place

Maybe you can make this yourself

 

[poopandpee]

Is your female a jumper?

she's disabled and probably won't jump if I put a little barrier, she can jump on/off the couch though.
Her water bowl is next to her tray, I don't think that's the problem, her tray she mainly uses can fit 4 of her (She's small)
and the boy tray can fit 6 of her.
They're both cut low and the ikea gym mat is used a step for even easier and soft access/exit.

 

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

I think Happy Holland’s said this but I would remove the soft blanket-y material and like HH said put carefresh in litter box

Is there any place in particular she likes to go on

 

[poopandpee]

No there's no particular place she goes on, it's anywhere.
I only placed the fleece there yesterday (1 day) to stop her peeing on the gym mat. Without it, she pees on the gym mat, without the gym mat, she pees even more on the vinyl flooring.

it's the same material I use to cover her memory foam mat they use to sleep, she doesn't pee on it - I mentioned earlier.
So far she hasn't peed on it yet, but she will eventually... I know it lol..

 

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

Try moving the gym mat from its place does she still consistently pee/poop there,
if so I would move it to where your girls litter box area is,
being that her food and water would be there with time, treats, and praise she might find it worth it to pee in the litter box.

If the gym mats to big (looks like it) Do you think you could get a gym mat type of material (tarp maybe) and have/make some sort of low cut box
put a tarp like material in it ( but make it to wear she can't eat it )

Basically move her water, litter box, & hay rack on top of
a / the,
tarp / gym mat
In hopes that she'll pee in that one area
and encourage bathroom habits to be in the litter box

 

[poopandpee]

The gym mat is foldable at each diff colour partition and can be used as a step.
it’s not Just the gym mat she pees on, it’s everywhere. I just put soft non slip surfaces around to encourage her to move around more and use her little legs.

 

[lavendertealatte]

Can you put like a sort of diaper on her?

Here's a website you might find helpful ~
http://www.mybunny.org/info/caring-for-the-partially-disabled-rabbit/