6 replies to this topic

[Syrianhamsterlover09]

Hi! My rabbit Pongo has been making big messes outside his litter box lately. He kicks poop out onto the floor, he kicks hay into a huge pile out on to the floor, he mix’s his hay with his soiled litter (yuck!) and he rips his pee pads that are on the bottom of the litter box! I don’t know how to get him to stop or why he is doing this. I clean his litter box every other day. He has a cover litter box.
Sorry this post is kinda all over the place! I’m just trying to figure out why he does this and I though some second opinions would be great!
Thanks!

[Lightning~]

you could get a bigger litter box? get a hay feeder and hide the pee pads under a pellet litter. hope this helps!

[Morag]

I'm by no means an expert on bunnies, but I'm pretty sure they have instinctive needs to dig/burrow and to clear things out of their way. When I worked at an animal hospital, I knew owners that gave their indoor buns containers of soil so they could dig and express those natural behaviours, instead of taking it out on other things. Have you ever tried/looked into enrichment like that? 

Edited by Morag, 10 May 2021 - 03:00 AM.

[Robin~]

Has he been neutered? Sometimes destructive behavior is a sign of hormonal unrest/frustration in rabbits. If he hasn't I would strongly recommend it if he's of age as it can prevent certain types of cancers and make bonding easier.

[ajuniceuhamsters]

Like Robin said, is Pongo neutured? Unfixed rabbits will be more messy with their litterbox habits and won't be fully littertrained. It can also prevent many diseases such as cancer.

 

Pee pads aren't necasarry at all in a litterbox- I find them to be a waste of money. The litter is there to soak up pee, so I don't really understand why you need one...? You can just put whatever litter you are using at the bottom of the litterbox. If you still want to line it, you can use a piece of newspaper/packing paper. 

 

About the hay, mixing it is just a behaviour that many rabbits have tendencies towards doing. It's perfectly fine, they'll know to only eat the clean stuff. I'd recommend using a hay feeder if you want to save money on hay though as it wastes less. Some good hay feeders are 101Rabbits Meadow Box, a cereal box with a large hole cut out, etc. Ones with wires aren't sufficient- Pongo should be able to fit his head through the holes so he can access the hay as he pleases.

 

I wouldn't recommend continuing to use a covered litter boxes as rabbits have EXTREMELY sentives noses and need more than one exit to anything covered. You can put a c&c grid covering on top like this. (basically 1 c&c grid at the top two on the sides) so it will have 2 exits, and then cover it with fleece/towel.

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I probably wouldn't recommend soil for rabbits in digging boxes, friends of mine have found that when consumed it can cause some health issues. I'd recommend paper bedding or packing paper in a digging box as a safe substitue.

 

I hope this helped!

[Syrianhamsterlover09]

Like Robin said, is Pongo neutured? Unfixed rabbits will be more messy with their litterbox habits and won't be fully littertrained. It can also prevent many diseases such as cancer.

Pee pads aren't necasarry at all in a litterbox- I find them to be a waste of money. The litter is there to soak up pee, so I don't really understand why you need one...? You can just put whatever litter you are using at the bottom of the litterbox. If you still want to line it, you can use a piece of newspaper/packing paper.

About the hay, mixing it is just a behaviour that many rabbits have tendencies towards doing. It's perfectly fine, they'll know to only eat the clean stuff. I'd recommend using a hay feeder if you want to save money on hay though as it wastes less. Some good hay feeders are 101Rabbits Meadow Box, a cereal box with a large hole cut out, etc. Ones with wires aren't sufficient- Pongo should be able to fit his head through the holes so he can access the hay as he pleases.

I wouldn't recommend continuing to use a covered litter boxes as rabbits have EXTREMELY sentives noses and need more than one exit to anything covered. You can put a c&c grid covering on top like this. (basically 1 c&c grid at the top two on the sides) so it will have 2 exits, and then cover it with fleece/towel.
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I probably wouldn't recommend soil for rabbits in digging boxes, friends of mine have found that when consumed it can cause some health issues. I'd recommend paper bedding or packing paper in a digging box as a safe substitue.

I hope this helped!

Thank you for the tips! He has been neutered I will look at some hay box’s!

[MilkyAndTsuki]

Rabbits are bound to make some mess outside of their litter box, there’s no way you can really prevent all of it (you know that though) like kicking a few poops out, making a mess with hay, but to help make cleanup easier you could try putting some kind of mat under his litter box, that you could just pick up and shake out! I know it doesn’t work with everybody, but it’s definitely worth a try, I have one and it’s just a little jute right that I got at 5 below for like $5. It’s been really helpful! Hope this helped