Please help - older bunny pooping out of box

[Bun]

:anotherbunHi I have an older bunny, approx. 10 yrs old...I've had him for a little over 5 years now and he was always very well litter box trained.

As of the past few weeks or so he has gotten much worse...there was always a little bit of poop outside of his litter box every now and again but not like this...

BunBun has an igloo in his cage that he has always loved to sleep in or sit on top of...suddenly he is pooping all over the top of his igloo and I even caught him peeing on it yesterday!

I cleaned out his cage very well because he had made a mess and I put hay in a corner of his litter box to promote litter usage and I still found that he pooped on the igloo today...

I'm worried because he will sit on the igloo even after he poops and I hate that he sits in his waste and I worry that since he's an older buck that he is just being lazy...I'm cleaning the igloo once a day and he still does it...will taking it out solve this issue? He loves laying inside of it...not sure what to do.

 

[Bun]

Also I say approx. 10 years old because when I rescued him I was told he was about 5 at the time...I realize 10 is very old for a rabbit so it makes me unsure whether this is accurate or not...

 

[JBun]

Has anything changed in his environment? Changes can sometimes cause marking behaviors to start back up. If there haven't been any changes, it is possible that due to his age he is having some sort of health problem that is causing the loss of litter habits. Arthritis is one possibility. It might be a good idea to get him checked over by your vet.

 

[Bun]

Thank you for your response! Nothing has changed in his diet or environment but I did read a post on how an owner checked his bunny's bum after similar behavior and found maggots! So I checked his bum...no maggots, nothing that extreme but back when I first rescued him five years ago he was having issues with waste stuck in his fur on his bum near his tail and privates...although what I found today was not bad, it looked like the start of what happened five years ago...I took him to the groomers to have that area of matted fur shaved a little and when I brought him home he seemed much happier...I'm hoping this is the solution to the problem but I will keep in mind the health and arthritis posibilities and watch him closely.