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​Learning to Use the Litter Box

​House Rabbit Society
Miami
 , FL
(305) 666- BUNN  
Spay or Neuter:  The First Step

The most important thing to remember is that your rabbit is very unlikely to retain reliable litter box habits upon reaching sexual maturity unless she is spayed or he is neutered.  Sex hormones give a rabbit an uncontrollable desire to mark the territory with urine and specially scented fecal pellets.  Spaying or neutering will greatly reduce or eliminate this desire, as well as eliminate the risk of uterine/ovarian cancer and unwanted pregnancy in females.  And let us not forget the huge relief from endless sexual frustration that spayed/neutered animals enjoy. 

Get the Right Box!

To train your rabbit to use a litter box in a selected area, choose a litter box that is the right size for a bunny.  Don’t force a tiny dwarf rabbit to leap into an enormous, high-sided box designed for a gigantic cat- and don’t make your French Lop squeeze his big frame into a toaster sized toilet.  The litter box should be comfortable, and located in a quiet, private place. 

What Types of Litters Are Safe for Rabbits?

Be sure to use ORGANIC litter in the box. Clay litters- especially clumping litters are inexpensive, but very unhealthy for two reasons.  First the inhaled clay dust can cause respiratory problems.  Second, when ingested as dust licked off paws or as a crunch treat straight form the box (yes, some of them do it!), the highly dehydrated clay litter sucks vital fluids form the intestine itself and can cause some serious impactions and intestinal slow downs.  Clay litter, when ingested, leads to heavy loads of calcium in the urine (where bunnies eliminate most of their calcium).  This can lead to sludging, stones and urinary tract blockage!   Recycled newspaper litter is bad.  Organic litters include those made form recycled paper products (e.g. Carefresh, Yesterday’s News).

Do not use cedar or pine shavings, as these products produce potent aromatic compounds, which can cause respiratory damage and elevate liver enzymes when inhaled over long periods of time. 

Getting Bunny to Use the Box

Now that you have set up a safe, appropriate box, put it in an area where the bunny can be comfortably confined for a few days, except for brief excursions for run and play.  You can place the box inside the indoor hutch, tuck it behind the toilet in the bathroom, or place it in a corner of the laundry room.  Whatever is convenient for you as well as attractive to the bunny. 

Use a baby gate to enclose the bunny in the selected room with his litter box, and be sure to provide plenty of toys, food, water and comfortable places to sleep.  This will be bunny’s “home base” and should be as inviting as you can make it.  It may take a few days for the bunny to reliably use the box, as he may mark the area thoroughly as he settles in.  It may help to soak or sweep up the “accidents” with a bit of tissue and put the tissue in box.  He will get the idea!  Like cats, most rabbits prefer to do their “business” in a nice, absorbent spot such as a clean litter box. 

It often helps to put a handful of timothy hay in a clean corner of the litter box to encourage use of the box.  A rabbit will often sit in the box, happily munching at one end, which the processed product comes out the other end.  This may seem a bit disgusting to a human, but rabbits don’ t consider their feces to be dirty.  Some rabbits will even nap in the litter box!  As long as the litter box is changed regularly, this should pose no problem:  rabbit fecal pellets are hard, dry and relatively odorless.  In fact, rabbit litter box leavings are just about the best natural, organic fertilizer you can get for your garden!  Grow an herb garden, fertilize with bunny’s litter box leftovers (including the organic litter) and enjoy the ultimate in recycling!

Once your bunny is reliable about using the litter box in his area, you can gradually increase his freedom. Be sure that he can always get back to his litter box when he is free in the house.  There is a possibility that he may pick up a second area in the house as a toilet corner.  If the behavior continues, even after squirt bottle discipline and white vinegar, you may have to raise the white flag and provide another litter box.  The Good News: a bunny’s litter box does not smell if changed regularly. 

Healthy stool link

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  • Home
  • Emergency Care
  • Care Sheets
    • General Care >
      • Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM)
      • Heating Reptile Enclosures
      • Health Veggie Shopping for Reptiles
      • Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
      • Metabolic Bone Disease Care
      • Vaccines in Exotic Animals
    • Birds >
      • Amazon Care
      • Avian Influenza Fact Sheet
      • Avian Influenza for Poultry Fact Sheet
      • Avian Bornavirus Testing
      • Budgie Care
      • Canaries
      • Chicken Care
      • Chronic Egg Laying
      • Cleaning and Disinfecting
      • Cockatiels (and other small Psittacines)
      • Cockatoo Care
      • ​Converting Your Bird to a Pelleted Diet
      • Feather Picking
      • General Parrot Care
      • Handfeeding Baby Parrots
      • Healthy Shopping for your Birds
      • Infectious Diseases of Parrots
      • Instructions for Physical Therapy in Birds
      • Lead Poisoning
      • McWatters Diet (Homemade Mash)
      • Macaw Care
      • Parrot Precautions
      • Polyoma Virus
      • Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease
      • Proventricular Dilatation Disease
      • Spiroform Pharangitis (Spirochetes)
      • Baby Starling and Sparrow guidelines
      • Territorial Aggression
      • Unsafe Plants for Birds
      • Weaning Baby Birds
      • What to Feed Your Pet Bird
      • Wing Injury and Rehabilitation
      • Wing Trims
      • Your Overly Reproductive Female Bird
      • Zinc Toxicity
    • Caiman Care
    • Ferret and Fox Care >
      • Your Ferret’s First Visit to the Vet
      • An Overview of Ferret Adrenal Disease
      • Chronic Diarrhea in Ferrets
      • Ferret Dentistry
      • Heart Disease in Ferrets
      • Heartworm Disease in Ferrets
      • Insulinoma in Ferrets
      • Lymphoma In Ferrets
      • Bob’s Chicken Gravy
      • Fennec Foxes
      • Red Foxes
    • Fish >
      • Algae in your Freshwater Aquarium
      • Eel Care
      • Freshwater Tropical Fish Care
      • Beginning a Freshwater Aquarium
      • Cleaning your Freshwater Aquarium
      • How to Feed your Fish
      • Aquarium Corals
      • Koi Care
      • General Goldfish Care
      • Hermit Crab Care
    • Invertebrate Care
    • Frogs, Toads, and Other Amphibians >
      • Argentine Horned Frogs
      • Bullfrog Care
      • Dart Frog Care
      • Feeding Pet Frogs and Toads
      • Fire Bellied Toad Care
      • Pixie Frog Care
      • Red Eyed Tree Frog Care
      • Short Tongue Syndrome
      • Tiger Salamander Care
      • Axolotl Care
      • White Lipped Tree Frog Care
      • White's Tree Frog Care
      • Ranavirus
    • Guinea Pigs and Rodents >
      • Chinchilla Care
      • Cuy Criollo (Giant Guinea Pig)
      • Health Problems with Guinea Pigs
      • Degu Care
      • Gerbil Care
      • Guinea Pig Care
      • Hamster Care
      • Diabetic Hamster Diet
      • Mice Care
      • Rat Care
      • Health Problems with Rats
      • Prairie Dog Care
      • Odontoma
      • Veggies For Guinea Pigs
      • Visible Tumors in Rodents
      • Vitamin C Deficiency In Guinea Pigs
    • Hedgehog Care >
      • Baby Hedgehog (Hoglet) Care
    • Kinkajoos and Armadillos >
      • Kinkajou Care
      • Nine Banded Armadillo Care
    • Lizards >
      • Anole Care
      • Bearded Dragon Care
      • Blue Tongued Skink Care
      • Crested Gecko Care
      • Geckos of New Caledonia
      • Crocodile Monitor Care
      • Frilled Lizard Care
      • Green Iguana Care
      • Jackson's Chameleon Care
      • Leopard Gecko Care
      • Nile Monitor Care
      • Old World Chameleon Care
      • Panther Chameleon Care
      • Red-Eyed Crocodile Skink Care
      • Savannah Monitor Care
      • Tegu Care
      • Thai Water Dragon Care
      • Uromastyx Care
      • Veiled Chameleon Care
    • Potbellied Pigs >
      • Pot Belly Pigs
      • Diamond Skin Disease
    • Rabbits >
      • Bonding Rabbits Bullet Point Checklist
      • Healthy Shopping for Rabbits
      • Complete Rabbit Care
      • Getting To Know Your New Bunny
      • Training Your Bunny
      • What To Feed Your Rabbit
      • Learning to Use the Litter Box
      • What To Expect From Your New Rabbit
      • Dental Disease in Rabbits
      • Heart Disease in Rabbits
      • Healthy Stool in Rabbits
      • Gastrointestinal Stasis in Rabbits
      • RHDV2 Fact Sheet
      • Parasites of Rabbits
      • Sore Hocks in Rabbits
      • Pasteurella in Rabbits
      • Medicating Your Rabbit or Guinea Pig
    • Snakes >
      • Amazon Tree Boa Care
      • Ball Python Care
      • Black Rat Snake Care
      • Boa Constrictor Care
      • Brazilian Rainbow Boa Care
      • Burmese Python Care
      • California Kingsnake Care
      • Cornsnake Care
      • Dumeril's Boa Care
      • Eastern Kingsnake Care
      • Emerald Tree Boa Care
      • Garter Snake Care
      • Green Tree Python Care
      • Western Hognose Care
      • Mexican Black Kingsnake Care
      • Rosy Boa Care
      • Sand Boa Care
      • Western Fox Snake Care
      • Inclusion Body Disease
    • Sugar Gliders and Marsupials
    • Turtles and Tortoises >
      • Alligator Snapping Turtle Care
      • Bell's Hingeback Care
      • Box Turtle Care
      • Chinese Box Turtle Care
      • Common Snapping Turtle Care
      • General Tortoise Husbandry
      • Leopard Tortoise Care
      • Mud Turtle Care
      • Musk Turtle Care
      • Painted Turtle Care
      • Red Eared Slider Care
      • Russian Tortoise Care
      • Soft Shelled Turtle Care
      • Sulcata Care >
        • Diet For Sulcata Tortoises
      • Common Health Problems
      • General Care of Aquatic Turtles
      • Redfoot tortoise Care
  • Contact
    • Referrals
  • Vets, Externs & Shelters
    • Xoran CT
    • Acupuncture and Chiropratic Medicine
    • Erchonia Laser
    • Vet Day Camp >
      • Heart Supplement Formula
      • Avian Hemotology
    • Shelters
    • Externships
    • Jobs
  • Products
  • Links
  • About Us
  • Chicago Exotics Blog
    • About Us April Fools Page
  • Happy Turtle Stories
  • Tour
  • ADV Testing Information
  • Lacy Act Summary