Rabbit Gets Into Cat Litter Box

[banyan]

So I have a cat, and I recently rescued a bunny. The rabbit's name is Buckley. He is pretty crazy.

First, got a nice, big playpen set up for him, with a place for him to hide and toys and a litter box and a box of hay. Unfortunately, he seems to have no difficulty jumping out of it. It's pretty tall; he just is very good at jumping. Then, if he gets out, he either can't or just won't get back in. This has unfortunate consequences for the litter box and his access to hay and water.

So until I find a solution to that, I've just left his door open, and he just lives in the apartment with me, but has his own space too if he wants it. I've got all my wires tucked away with obstructions so he can't get at them, and I've moved a couple things around (like the cat's food bowl) so that he can't reach them.

Unfortunately I can't figure out what to do about the cat's litter box. Right now I'm using some kind of litter that's made out of wheat or something like that, and Buckley likes to get in the litter box and eat it, which is super gross. I don't know if it can actually hurt him, but there's cat poop and pee in there, so it seems like it could make him sick or something.

So what should I do? Some options I've considered:

(1) Think of some way of getting him to stay in the pen. Nothing comes to mind, but maybe you have some ideas?

(2) Close him in the bedroom and leave the cat out in the living room with the litter box. I can do this, but I feel bad about separating them while I'm away, and it would mean the cat couldn't sleep on my bed, which she generally does all day.

(3) Just do nothing until my bag of stupid wheat litter runs out and start using the same litter I put in his box for the cat too, and hope that this makes him lose interest.

 

[whitelop]

The only issue I've had with the cats and rabbits litter box is the cats use it because they don't actually have a litter box because they go outside like dogs.

Maybe he just likes the litter because its made of wheat or whatever and it tastes good. But it is pretty gross and he shouldn't be in the cat litter box at all. Cat poop is gross.
What kind of litter are you using for the rabbit? I would go ahead and switch the cat litter to the rabbit litter and see if that helps.
Maybe you could put the cat litter box in the bath tub or something? Out of reach for the rabbit.

Are you sure he's jumping over the pen? Or is he climbing it? If you haven't actually seen him jump over it, he might be climbing. If he is, you could try to put some cardboard or poster board along the bars of the pen so he can't climb up. But if he's jumping, which is totally possible, then I don't know how to fix that. I would make sure that there isn't a house or something next to the the walls of the pen, so he's not hopping on the house and jumping over the side. I would put the house in the middle. I have to do it with Ellie's outside pen, because she can jump on the house and then I know she could probably jump over and she knows how to climb.

Maybe someone else could offer better suggestions!

 

[KeltonB]

I agree about going ahead and changing the cat litter to something else now...no way I'd want my bunny eating anything out of a cat box.

 

[JBun]

Changing the cat's litter could help, but you still will want to use rabbit safe litter in it. The other thing to consider about a rabbit being in a cat's litter box, is the cats feces can be dangerous for rabbits. Morgan's idea about zip tieing or taping posterboard along the top part of the pen, will work if your rabbit is climbing part of the way out. A rabbit will hop as high as it can, onto the side of the pen panelling, then climb the rest of the way out. So that's how the posterboard along the top of the panel, stops them. You could also cover the top of the pen to keep him from jumping out.

 

[minmelethuireb]

Is it Shweat Scoop? Yeah, you don't want your rabbit eating too much wheat, especially if it's contaminated with cat pee and poo. I'd recommend changing the cat's litter right away, with either your rabbit's litter or another kind of cat litter that your rabbit won't be interested in eating.

As far as keeping your rabbit in the playpen: If it has some horizontal bars, it's very likely that he's climbing out. You could see about getting or making some kind of tarp or mesh covering for it.

My rabbits can climb all the way up their 4 ft tall pen, but it has a lid, so they can't get out. They only try climbing if the lid is open. XD

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Agreed. I'd just switch to a different litter and hopefully he'll lose interest.