Six year old rabbit started not using litter box ?? Could it be....

[user 25471]

Could this be a territorial thing? My daughters rabbit, Bubba is in a cage - but the door is kept open in an open carpeted room. He he doesn't leave the room (bc he doesn't like the wood floor!). His litter box is in his cage. and he was always good about using it. He started pooping and peeing 90% OUTSIDE of his litter box. (but in his cage ) He is not having any mobility issues - so its not painful to jump into it. She has a cat (the he loves) but that has been afraid of HIM , but is slowly warming up. The cat used to entirely avoid the room, but now she explores it a little. Is this a territorial thing he may be doing? Otherwise he is acting normal ?

 

[nat1234]

is he fixed ?
my rabbit does the same thing bc he isn't fixed

 

[Brie Prsnk]

If he's not fixed then that plays a big part in why he stopped using his litter box. My older rabbit stopped using his litter box because it was too small. So you might want to upgrade litter box size if you think that is why. Since I don't know how big it is then I can't really say too much right now. Sometimes if the litter box is too dirty they won't use it. Just make sure if he pees outside the box you deodorize the area so he can't smell it anymore and place any poops back in the box rather than throwing them out that can help in some cases. As for territorial, I'm not sure my rabbit isn't like that with our cat so I'm not too sure about that situation. You can use a water and vinegar mixture to clean up pee and its completely rabbit safe.

 

[user 25471]

Yes, he is fixed. This is a first of this behavior in 6 years. But maybe he is getting more demanding in his old age. The only recent thing that has changed is that the cat is entering his territory - so thats why I thought maybe it was connected. But he LIKES the cat. His litter box is kept clean, but it is fairly small - so thats a good suggestion. Can't hurt to try something bigger - thanks.