What is harder to litter train, an unaltered male or an unaltered female?

[Katmais_mommy]

Kody: 2 yr old Lionhead mix, unaltered female

Dutch: 2 yr old Lionhead mix, unaltered male



I just ordered a large Ware Brand hutch online for Kody, who currently resides in a regular small animal cage. I can no longer keep up with buying bag after bag of litter for her cage as she is not litter trained nor altered. I plan on spaying her this December.

For the past few hours, I've been trying to think of a cheap way to put her new hutch "inside" of some type of roofed enclosure or pen. I can't think of anything to buy other than a pricy chainlink dog kennel, which is what I have for my other 3 rabbits. (I posted a pic in my blog and in the rabbit cage photo thread.)

Now, I'm thinking of returning the hutch once it arrives by UPS. Maybe, I could empty her cage, sterilize it, and put her back in it with a litterbox with her poops and pee in it. OR I could put her in a large dog crate with a hidey box and a Kody-soiled litterbox. Then I could definitely attach a NIC run to it. Actually, now that I'm typing this, I could go back to the sterilized cage option and attach the NIC run to it.

Do you think this will work? Or will the fact that she is unspayed totally be a waste of time? Please be honest. :biggrin2:



I am neutering Dutch after Easter. He currently resides in a hand-me-down hutch I got off of Craigslist in 2009. It's falling apart and it obviously is "very worn in". No amount of scrubbing could undo the damage he's done.

My question is, a month after he is fixed, could I toss the hutch and give him a large dog crate (similar in size to his hutch) and put a hidey box and a litterbox in it? I've seen some members on here that have done it with their altered buns. Another reason for doing this is so that he has more room in his "pen" and so that I don't have to emptyhis hutch tray anymore. I can't even begin to tell you how many pee pads I go through every month.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I have had intact females that have pretty much litter trained themselves. Ginny came to be litter trained but she does prefer one spot over using the box no matter what. I do have to clip her box to the cage so she can't move it around. Amelia litter trained herself in about 2 days, she was about 7 months old when I got her.
Korr also litter trained himself, but since he got neutered at about 6 months old, it's really hard for me to say if intact males are hard to train. My only other male was Sean and he was neutered when I got him (he also took very quickly to litter training).

I think that for those who don't take to it on their own, that you need to be deligiant with litter training. The first step is to really clean the cage (vinegar is good). Put the litter box in, if there is a corner that they use, put the box there. Avoid using bedding in the rest of the cage. You might have some issues with marking, but that is not usually related to litter training.

I would not wait to do it. The sooner you start, the sooner they will be litter trained. While you might not have Dutch fully trained by the time he gets neutered, you should be able to get a start on it.

I would also not give too much space at once. Start with the cage, then when they are good with that you can introduce the run for longer periods of time.

 

[Katmais_mommy]

Korr_and_Sophie wrote:

I think that for those who don't take to it on their own, that you need to be deligiant with litter training. The first step is to really clean the cage (vinegar is good). Put the litter box in, if there is a corner that they use, put the box there. Avoid using bedding in the rest of the cage. You might have some issues with marking, but that is not usually related to litter training.

Thanks, Kate! Kody uses almost all of the corners in her cage. How do I know where to put her litterbox?

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Just pick a corner and make sure to keep the others really clean. You can also try putting stuff in the corners to help break the habit of going there. Using more than 1 box can help as well if the cage is big enough.

 

[elrohwen]

Many rabbits will learn to use a litter box when they're no longer on wire floors. With the wire, they can go anywhere and the pee just goes through the floor. With a solid floor, the pee will sit there and get in their way and they realize this. I think just having a bare solid floor plus a litter box will go a long way. They might not be perfect, but they'll probably be much better than they are now.

 

[Katmais_mommy]

Thanks. Kody is in a solid surface cage, not a wire bottom cage.

 

[elrohwen]

Hmmm, that makes it tricky then. Is there any bedding in the rest of the cage? He might be mistaking it for litter.

 

[Katmais_mommy]

Yeah, she's not littertrained so her entire cage is filled with bedding.

 

[Nela]

I would put litter only in a littercorner. It might be a bit annoying for you at first but I think it'll help with the training. If she pees on the bare floor, she'll walk in it and probably will not like it. Most bunnies don't like to have the stench of urine on them as they are a prey animal and this makes them more vulnerable. So I would put litter in the corner only and give it a bit of time. That's how I did it with mine. None of mine have litter elsewhere. I'm just working with Rolo now and figured out that she just didn't like her box nor where it was placed. Now she is using her corners and seems to be doing really well. Bonus, it's much more cost effective. Also, many people put some hay near the litter corner so they can munch as they go. I guess they prefer eating since they can't read a newspaper as they go.

If you do use the hutch, I would suggest tiling it before putting her in. The urine will seep into the wood and no matter how much you wash it, it'll never be very clean and it will keep the humidity. That's my regret with my hutch right now.

 

[tamsin]

You can generally do quite well with getting wees in a litter tray but poops tend to spread. Add a litter box today in the corner she uses most and see how it goes.

One alternative to buying lots of litter is to have a litter box with litter, then vetbed/fleece for the rest of the cage. That's absorbent enough to stop puddles and can be washed and reused.

Have you looked at wooden aviaries? Over here you can buy them as separate panels to make your own enclosure from.

 

[elrohwen]

Definitely only put litter in the litter box. With the litter all over the cage, it's like giving a person 50 toilets and telling them they can only use one. To the bunny, that litter and the stuff in the litter box looks the same, so she thinks going everywhere must be ok.

 

[BaileysMom]

My 11 week old flemmie that I brought home the other day is in a flat bottom cage (yes she will outgrow it) I have litter in her litter box only, and her hay by her litter box, she pee'd out of her litterbox only once yesterday and I wiped it up right a way put a piece of the soaked paper towel in the litter box even though there was already pee in the litter box, sprayed it down w/ vinegar right away and she watched me do this the whole time LOL, and so far there hasn't been anymore accidents yet. Other than the pellets, she eats her pellet food out of her litter box and leaves poop all over the place, I just continually sweep it up and put it in the litter box. It's a learning process LOL, the poop doesn't bother me, but I am VERY glad she only had once accident because she pee'd a river.

 

[Katmais_mommy]

I'll try the litterbox-only technique next week. Thanks