suddenly bad potty habits?

[odyssey~]

hello!

so usually, my rabbit has amazing potty habits. never peed or pooped outside litterbox since being trained. she's spayed by the way.
yesterday night, I filled a willow ball with orchard hay for her and put it in her pen. she's normally fine with the hay outside her litterbox but when I came back downstairs to check on her after leaving her for half an hour, there were about 20 poops on the ground near the willow ball! i picked them all up and put them into her litterbox, and she continued to munch at the hay. another 10ish poops were there after 15 or so minutes!!! I'm not sure what's going on but I heard some rabbits can't eat hay without having to poop, but Odyssey's never done this before with pooping outside of her litterbox while eating hay. I took the willow ball away from her for now and now hay is soley in her hay feeder.

also, she does this thing where she takes a bunch of hay from the hay feeder, holds it in her mouth, then brings it someplaces else to eat it. she's been doing this for like 2 months now, but yesterday when she did this she left a bunch of poops where she ate the hay!

anyone know why this happened?
thanks!

 

[FuzzyBunny ph]

I'm not sure what's going on but I heard some rabbits can't eat hay without having to poop

This is true even for fixed bunnies, thats why most people have hay in the litterbox or have a hay rack by the litterbox Personally, I wouldn't worry much about the poop. But if its pee outside the litterbox, I would get a urinalysis to rule out UTI

she does this thing where she takes a bunch of hay from the hay feeder, holds it in her mouth, then brings it someplaces else to eat it.

hmm when bunnies take a bunch of hay out to bring it somewhere, its usually a sign of nesting or phantom pregnancy. But since she is spayed and is just moving it someplace to eat it...maybe try to move the litterbox and her hay feeder in that spot? Maybe she likes to eat it better there

 

[odyssey~]

This is true even for fixed bunnies, thats why most people have hay in the litterbox or have a hay rack by the litterbox Personally, I wouldn't worry much about the poop. But if its pee outside the litterbox, I would get a urinalysis to rule out UTI

hmm when bunnies take a bunch of hay out to bring it somewhere, its usually a sign of nesting or phantom pregnancy. But since she is spayed and is just moving it someplace to eat it...maybe try to move the litterbox and her hay feeder in that spot? Maybe she likes to eat it better there

hmm, okay. it's just that she's never pooped outside of her litterbox, ever before, even when she had other hay toys outside of the litterbox so it came as a shock to me that she did it with this hay toy.

the spot it literally right outside her litterbox, and then the other spot is right outside her hidey...maybe I'll add a second box if this keeps up.

thanks!

 

[FuzzyBunny ph]

ohh if its right outside the litterbox, another theory is, she's in the litterbox but her butt is aimed outside this happened to my bun a lot, I had to find a high-sided litterbox to make sure she won't miss her aim

 

[John Wick]

hmm, okay. it's just that she's never pooped outside of her litterbox, ever before, even when she had other hay toys outside of the litterbox so it came as a shock to me that she did it with this hay toy.

the spot it literally right outside her litterbox, and then the other spot is right outside her hidey...maybe I'll add a second box if this keeps up.

thanks!

In my experience with one rabbit who is very specific about where she goes (i.e. she has two litterboxes with hay on opposite sides of a room, but she only uses one for both peeing and pooping. This includes waking up, going down to the ground floor (where one litter box is), and then sprinting to the other side of the room to use the 2nd litterbox, then promptly returning back up to her sleep spot without even grazing for hay during that potty break), it's easier to expand the potty-area if there is hay nearby and it's nearby an already-existing litterbox spot. It may be less likely to happen if you presented the toy further away.

 

[SirLawrence]

hello!

so usually, my rabbit has amazing potty habits. never peed or pooped outside litterbox since being trained. she's spayed by the way.
yesterday night, I filled a willow ball with orchard hay for her and put it in her pen. she's normally fine with the hay outside her litterbox but when I came back downstairs to check on her after leaving her for half an hour, there were about 20 poops on the ground near the willow ball! i picked them all up and put them into her litterbox, and she continued to munch at the hay. another 10ish poops were there after 15 or so minutes!!! I'm not sure what's going on but I heard some rabbits can't eat hay without having to poop, but Odyssey's never done this before with pooping outside of her litterbox while eating hay. I took the willow ball away from her for now and now hay is soley in her hay feeder.

also, she does this thing where she takes a bunch of hay from the hay feeder, holds it in her mouth, then brings it someplaces else to eat it. she's been doing this for like 2 months now, but yesterday when she did this she left a bunch of poops where she ate the hay!

anyone know why this happened?
thanks!

Sounds like Lawrence. I think as he's gotten older, he's gotten lazier about his pooping habits, because he knows I'll pick it up, and it won't collect... He also has started taking hay out of his litterbox to eat elsewhere. I assume to go somewhere more comfortable, like on the carpet!

I clean their boxes and change the hay every other day, but taking hay away may be a sign there's too much urine in the box. Rabbits will eat around their poopies, but will avoid their pee, for the most part.

I've personally just resigned myself to picking up poopies.

 

[odyssey~]

Sounds like Lawrence. I think as he's gotten older, he's gotten lazier about his pooping habits, because he knows I'll pick it up, and it won't collect... He also has started taking hay out of his litterbox to eat elsewhere. I assume to go somewhere more comfortable, like on the carpet!

I clean their boxes and change the hay every other day, but taking hay away may be a sign there's too much urine in the box. Rabbits will eat around their poopies, but will avoid their pee, for the most part.

I've personally just resigned myself to picking up poopies.

haha okay
I change the litterbox every other day as well, but the hay is in a hay feeder but she just pulls it all down herself and I assume she probably pees on it.
I guess I'll just have to resolve to pick up poops too lol