CAN I HOUSE TRAIN MY RABBIT?

Litter training is usually not difficult. Rabbits normally urinate in one place. Scoop up some of the soiled material from there and place it in a litter tray. Put the litter tray over the latrine area. (If the rabbit is in a hutch and there is not room, you are keeping it in far too small a hutch). Don’t keep the tray too dirty or too clean. When cleaning litter put a few poos or some soiled material back into the clean tray to remind bunny where he must go.

WHAT SHOULD I PUT IN THE LITTER TRAY?

Never use clay-based clumping cat litter, conifer or pine shavings or litter made from corn cobs. Special litter, Science Carefresh is available on www.russelrabbit.com A cheaper version is to put a thick wad of newspaper and lots of hay in the litter tray. The hay is there to give your rabbit something to munch on, so it doesn’t chew the newspaper. There should be enough hay so that the rabbit isn’t in direct contact with the newspaper.

FOURTEEN REASONS WHY YOUR HOUSE RABBIT MAY STOP USING THE LITTER TRAY.

1. Your rabbit is ill. Urinary infections, bladder stones and other diseases make rabbits unreliable with the litter tray. If a previously litter trained rabbit starts missing the litter tray, it is important to consult a vet.
2. The litter tray is in the wrong place – too near the rabbits bed or food bowls, in too busy an area like a corridor, or too far away from its normal living space.
3. You are cleaning the tray too much so it no longer smells like a latrine. Put back a fragment of used litter each time.
4. You are using deodorants or scented cleaning fluids. The tray must smell like a rabbit latrine not a hairdressing salon. Don’t use them.
5. You have changed the litter type. Change it back to the one bunny is used to. If you must change, then change a handful at a time over four weeks.
6. You have moved the location of the tray. Put it back. If you must move it, move it a few inches a day.
7. The litter tray is too small for your rabbit – your rabbit has outgrown it and its bottom is over the side. Get a bigger one.
8. There are not enough litter trays. For house rabbits there should be one in every room.
9. There are too many rabbits per tray. There should be one litter tray per rabbit and one over.
10. Something has frightened your rabbit while he was in the litter tray. A loud noise? An ambush by your cat? An attack by another bunny? He thinks the tray caused the fear. Try putting down a new tray with some soiled litter to see if this works.
11. Your rabbit’s toilet habits can be upset by moving house, a new human, a new rabbit or a change in routine. Confine your rabbit in a small area with the tray so he starts using it again then let him back into a larger area.
12. The sides of the tray may be too high. Your rabbit is elderly or has arthritis and it hurts to get into it. Get a lower sided tray.
13. The sides of the tray may be too low. Rabbits lift their tail to urinate and if the litter tray is too low, they will pee over the top of the sides.
14. Your rabbit poos outside the tray. Well, they just do. Litter trays work for pee but not for all the poo. Add some hay to the litter tray so your rabbit stays there munching. They enjoy eating while they poo (like we enjoy reading in the loo). It will reduce the number of droppings outside the tray. If there are lots of moist night droppings outside the tray, consult the FAQ on dirty bottom.