[kristen+eric]

Erics cage is set up with newspaper on the bottom with his food dish in the corner, hay hung from the cage in that corner, and his recycled newspaper litter box on the other end. He has room to lay around and sit and hop in and out of his beloved litter box.
Eric has developed some shamelessly gross potty habits. It has never been this terrible. Eric has been through a good amount of moving in his life, from the frat house I rescued him from, and now we live in a one bedroom in Portland OR with my boyfriend and 2 energetic dogs. Eric seems to love all this and his behavior has never been more delightful. He hops up on the couch with us, follows the dogs, binkys in his cage, flops all over the place, and loves being pet. He used to have average and acceptable behavior.

For the past month especially, he only pees outside his litter box- including in his food dish and on his hay- and does most of his poo outside it. He has no problem lounging around in either his clean bucket or disgusting filth.
Every morning I wake up and see he had a messy night and clean the newspaper. I would like him to associate the mornings with a clean litter box, so that he keeps that only for going potty. I dont know how to reverse his mentality. He seems to think- rightly- that if he makes a mess of his cage then I will clean it right up for him and his precious litterbox will remain clean and cozy.

How on earth do I re potty train him? Ive tried those odor pellets, Ive tried putting soiled newspaper in the litter box and leaving it there (he removes it or eats it). When he is out roaming the house, sometimes he'll pee in the corner. How would I stop that? If I leave out his litter box (that he doesnt know how to use) the dogs get into it.

When Eric and I traveled all day from Boston to Portland, Oregon he was my 'carry on' and was in a traveling carrier. He didn't poop or pee at all in there all day. So I know he is capable of holding it for a long time.

How can I potty train him. I would appreciate all help thanks.

 

[Jovie]

Hi! I'm guessing you're new to PT so I'll introduce myself, my name is Jovie and I have a pair of adorable buns named Speckle and Simon. You didn't mention this in your post so the first thing I'm going to say is that if your bun isn't neutered that's the first thing you wanna do. It's healthier and it greatly improves their behavior and litter habits. I never really had to trains my buns to go in their box, they pretty much just started doing it, I just put the hay on top of their litter in their box and they jump right in and do their business, however, my buns are both fixed, Speckle was fixed at 3 months and Simon around the same time, they never really developed any bad habits, how old is your bun?

 

[Sasami]

First off, welcome to Paw-Talk!

He seems to think- rightly- that if he makes a mess of his cage then I will clean it right up for him and his precious litterbox will remain clean and cozy.

I think you're over-thinking this . How old is he and is he neutered? Litterbox problems are often hormone related and develop as the rabbit matures. If he's an older, neutered bun...has anything in his environment changed and has he gotten a vet check-up recently?

 

[kristen+eric]

Hi everyone thanks for your responses. Eric is about 3, neutered, and since moving into a new place 4 months ago his potty habits have taken a turn for the worse. He used to be perfecto before the move. Diet has not changed- still tons of hay and fresh veggies, water, and one scoop of pellets that I mix a very small amount of the kind of food with treats in it with the straight up pellet kind.

 

[Purple-Hops]

Hm, he is neutered hey? Were you around when the neuter took place? I know of a rabbit that was re-homed with the ad saying it was neutered but he wasn't (bc he reproduced and all the babies ended up with the rescue, all New Zealand Whites and 2 are still there 2 years later). It is hard to tell if males are really neutered and with the age of information it is, unfortunately, an easy way for someone to read about hyping the chances of having their rabbit taken off their hands bc more and more people are concerned with having the procedure done.

If he really IS neutered, and I'm only stressing that bc there is a slight chance, then I would have him looked at by a bunny savvy vet for possible internal infections. Bunnies are prey animals and usually have quite a resistance to hiding their pain.

There is the chance it may be totally behavioural but I find it weird the onslaught of it myself. Unless there was another bunny present or his cage is too small I wouldn't rule out his internal health.