About two months ago I brought home a stray rabbit (yes, there is such a thing) from my ex-husband's veterinary clinic. We have a home filled with stray pets, but this one has been a totally new experience. (I had rabbits as a kid but they were always outdoors -- this one is a house rabbit.)
From day one she seemed totally litter trained, so we gave her free run of the basement and she was using her litter box and not having accidents. Yesterday, I noticed some rabbit "pellets" on the stairs. Then I found some near her cage where her litter box is kept. So now I have her confined to her cage, and a small area just outside the cage where she can run and stretch a little bit.
I am going to take her back to my ex next week to make sure she doesn't have something wrong with her (and also to get her spayed) but I'm wondering if I gave her too much freedom in the basement and now she's not sure where to poop! I know there are some serious rabbit people out there, so if that's you, I could use some advice. Do I need to re-train her with the litter? And just how would I do that anyway?
Thanks in advance for any advice! We love her, but I don't want her ruining my house!
Thank you for all the great advice! I'm still reading and looking at the links you all sent. I have a moveable pen around her cage right now, so she is more confined. It seems like she is back to using her box. We are having her spayed next Tuesday and she'll get a full check-up then to make sure all is well with her. Wow! Some of the things on here I didn't know about rabbits and I thought I knew a lot! Thanks again so much!
If your rabbit has really furry feet the pellets could also be getting stuck in them and then drop outside the cage, used to happen a bunch to a really fuzzy bunny I once had. If that's the case just clean the litter box a little more frequently.
We have a rabbit.
They are good pets.
The thing is, sometimes stray rabbit pellets/poop just sort of drop at other places by accident.
But, if the poop is piled up somewhere else (like intentionally), besides in the litter box, then the rabbit has made another spot, a place to poop.
The rabbit does know where to go, IN the litter box. But well, sometimes pellets just comes out.
I actually watched our rabbit to see what was going on... she'd be IN the litter box, peeing/pooping... then hop out... but then, there'd be like some other 'stray' pellets still sort of dropping from her butt, even after she hopped out of her litter box. Ahem... sorry for the detail. LOL
Our rabbit is perfectly healthy and litter box trained and spayed. But from my observations, this is what was happening and I saw it.
Or, you put 2 litter boxes around... if it is a large room. Like a basement.
Also, put things out, for her to play with and knaw on.... rabbits, NEED to knaw on things and you don't want her to knaw on your home or electrical cords.
We have our rabbit, loose, and out on an enclosed balcony. We have 2 places for her to poop/pee.
all the best,
Susan
Could be related to her being "in heat", in which case the spay should correct that. Otherwise, it's possible that the stray pellets are actually sticking to the fur around her privates and getting carried across the room. You might want to check her there and (carefully) trim the fur away from the area so this doesn't happen as often.
im really not a rabbit person but i had a friend who is. from what ive seen she let her rabbits have free range and they pooped every where. so from what i know you should diffidently keep it in its cage. im not saying keep it in there forever take it out and love it but yes it will poop everywhere. good luck
Rabbits who are litterbox trained are generally *mostly* litterbox trained - in that they will pee in there and do the majority of pooping in there - but they do just go. I always had a minimum of 2 litterboxes in the house when my rabbits were loose. Rabbits also eat their poop - totally normal - since it takes a couple passes through the digestive tract to extract all the nutrients, etc. from grasses which are very hard to digest (hence cows with their four stomachs). The nice thing about rabbit poop is that it is generally always hard, so it's really easy to pick or vacuum up and doesn't leave a stain or a mess behind. If it does, that's a good sign your rabbit has diarrhea and isn't feeling well.
The other thing you should watch in your basement, however, is the chewing. I had a rabbit who ate through the sheetrock behind a piece of furniture and built herself a tunnel through the walls into another room. I also had a rabbit who chewed a tiny hole in the sheetrock, but then ripped out ALL the fiberglass insulation behind it. And, of course, wires. :)
I am all for animals having as much space and freedom as it's possible to give them. Thank you for taking in the world's strays - I love people like you!
I think animals are animals. They are creatures of the wild. So without a cage I think bunny thought it was free to run free. I had a ferret which I know is not like a rabbit except the wild part. But I trained him to go to the litter box no matter where he was. Like dogs I treated him every time he went in the litterbox. Don't get me wrong if he was too far away and couldn't scooch his little butt that fast he would have an accident. But I never let him run free when I wasn't home. They need those boundaries without personal attention around. My chihuahua is the same way it's an anxiety thing. But with bunny I'm gonna say it's a wild thing. He just doing what comes naturally to him.
My advice keep her caged when there is noone there, then retrain her with the run of the house when you are there. When bunny is about to go you take him back to the litter. But I don't know how well bunnies are trained.
That's just my input. Good luck bunnies are adorable.
They told me ferrets stink and never listen, but mine did after alot of work and care oh and patience.
We had a house rabbit for quite a while. I think she is just having some "extras" drop as she hops around. I also want to point out - if you aren't already aware - rabbits like to chew on cords. Any kind of electrical cords. I had to replace the laptop power cord, phone cord, several adaptor cords and others. If you can't get your cords up high enough so she can't get them, there is a cord cover you can get at the pet supply that is citrus smelling. Since rabbits don't like citrus they won't bother them. Worked wonders for us. Good luck with your bunny !
Hi, I 'm not sure where you live but this event is going on that may be helpful.
Bunny Spa and Care Day. Free nail trims and brushing for bunnies, advice on housetraining, health care and adoption. Refreshments served. Those bringing bunnies for complimentary spa treatments are asked to bring them in a plastic pet travel carrier. Sunday, July 11. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Animal Care Leage, 1013 Garfield, Oak Park. ###-###-####. ____@____.com animalcareleague.org
A great resource is the House Rabbit Society. They have a book on keeping indoor rabbits that is essential. There are also HRS websites, local and national. They helped me with information when I found my rabbit 11 years ago on an Easter Sunday, next to some Metra train tracks. My bunny's name is Metra, of course! I consider finding him one of the luckiest days of my life. . . though he is not an easy pet to keep. I tell people rabbits are usually more work than the average cat, and less work than the average dog. Anyway, training a rabbit to use a litter box involves putting hay in their box, which they chew on while they go. Buy Timothy hay, not alfalfa hay. There should always be a supply in the box. Still, droppings outside the box are not uncommon; what you don't want is outside urination. Also, contain the roaming area to a pen. This is more space than a cage, but less than a room. Metal dog pens work well. Rabbits are social animals that need daily exercise and attention. So at least once a day, your rabbit should be released from the pen into an enclosed, rabbit-proofed space (no wires, for example) under adult supervision. Dietary needs are also pretty specific; the HRS book lists which fresh foods are best, and the right quantities. I hope you enjoy your family addition as much as I have.
Welcome to the wonderful world of house rabbits! I lived with a house rabbit named Crispin for six years, and I remember those years fondly.
You might be seeing cecum pellets, not fecal pellets, around the house. Cecum is a soft, moist pellet secreted from the rabbit's anus that the rabbit will ingest, in order to derive certain nutrients and minerals. It is different from fecal pellets. Since it's ingested, rabbits don't necessarily secrete them in the litterbox. Crispin always over-secreted cecum; so she had alot of these pellets lying around. I just picked them up with a kleenex and threw them away.
For more information, see http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html
if the poop is always in the same spots, I'd put down another litter box or two. My rabbit had three, but he was a boy. I'm not sure if it's different for a girl rabbit. Also, for my bunny, it wasnt unusual for him to stress poop. Like, if he heard a dog bark or something, he would randomly poop.
