advice # 1. Does age make a difference? Older rabbits are easier to train than younger rabbits, especially babies. A rabbit’s attention span and knack for learning increases as they grow up. If you have a baby, stick with it! And if you are deciding whether to adopt an older rabbit, or litter train your older rabbit, go for it!
advice # 2. Does Spaying/Neutering make a difference? Yes! It is often the most important factor. When rabbits reach the age of 4 – 6 months, their hormones become active and they usually begin marking their territory. By spaying or neutering your rabbit, he/she will become more likely to use his/her litter box (as well as be much healthier and happier).
advice # 3. What type of litter should I use?
It depends on what’s available in your area and what your rabbits habits are. Keep in mind the following as you choose your litter.
advice # *Most rabbits spend a lot of time in their litter boxes
advice # *Rabbits will always nibble some of the litter
advice # *Rabbit urine has a very strong odor
Rolin Farms recommends organic litters, made from alfalfa, oat, citrus or paper.
Stay away from liters made from softwoods, like pine or cedar shavings or chips, as these products are thought to cause liver damage in rabbits who use them. Cat Works liter has been linked to zinc poisoning. Another approach is to place a handful of hay in each box, or simply use hay as litter. Obviously, you need to change the hay fairly frequently (daily), since your rabbit will be eating it.
Pros and cons of the various types of litter include:
advice *Clay litter is dusty- if your bunny is a digger, the dust can make him/her vulnerable to pneumonia.
advice *The deodorant crystals in some clay litters are toxic.
advice *Clumping litters will clump inside the rabbits digestive and respiratory tracts (the latter if they manage to make enough dust to breath) causing serious problems and often leading to death.
advice *Pine and cedar shavings emit gas that cause liver damage when breathed by the bunny.
advice *Corn cob litter isn’t absorbent and doesn’t control odor, and has the risk of being eaten and causing lethal blockage.
advice *Oat – alfalfa – based liters (available from Purina and Manna-Pro, have excellent odor controlling qualities, but if a rabbit eats too much, they expand causing bloating. These can be added, with the bunny’s waste, to compost.
advice *Newspapers are absorbent, but don’t control odor.
advice *Citrus-based liters work well, offer no dangers, and can be composted, but may be hard to find and expensive in some areas of the country.
advice *Some people have reported success with peat moss which can also be composted.
advice *Many people have great success with litters made from paper pulp or recycled paper products. These liters are very good at absorbing and cutting down on orders. These litters are harmless if ingested.
advice *Compressed sawdust pellets, are inexpensive, highly absorbent litters used in many foster homes. They are made from softwood or hardwood sawdust, but they are not toxic because the phosgene compounds are removed during their manufacture. Their wood composition helps control bacterial growth and odors. Wood stove pellets and Feline Pine are two examples of this product.
advice *Litters made from Aspen Bark are safe and good at absorbing odors.
advice *An economical and safe litter is the food pellets themselves. If bought in 50lb bags, rabbit pellets are cheaper than most litters. They don’t absorb as quickly, but they do absorb and they do control order. Of course they can be used in compost. This option may not be the best one for a rabbit who is overweight.
advice # 4. Won’t rabbits get confused if you use food pellets for litter?
A young rabbit may use both the litter and its food dish for both food and litter. However, if you always dump the soiled food out of the dish into the litter box, and clean the dish before more food is given, the rabbit will quickly catch on.
Rabbits will nibble at the food pellets in the litter box for a while when they are fresh, but as the litter becomes soiled, they lose interest.
Finally, some rabbits urinate or drop pills in their food dishes as mater of course. This is not confusion, but a statement to others that “THIS IS MY FOOD DISH!”
advice # 5. Cleaning and disposal. Clean litter boxes often, to encourage your rabbit to use them. Use white vinegar to rinse boxes out—for tough stains, let pans soak. Accidents outside of the cage can be cleaned up with white vinegar or club soda. If the urine has already dried, you can try products like “Nature’s Miracle" to remove stains and order. To dispose of organic litters, they can be used as mulch, or can be composted. Rabbit pills can be directly applied to plants as fertilizer.
advice # 6. What kind of cages work best. Use a cage large enough to contain a small litter box (along with bunny’s food and water bowls, toys, etc.)and still have enough room for the rabbit to stretch out. Place the box in the corner of the cage that he/she goes in. With a litter box in his/her cage, and when the rabbit is confined to his cage, his/her time in the cage becomes a learning experience.
advice # 7. What if my cage is too small for a litter box or I don’t use a cage.
If your cage is too small for a litter box, you may have a cage that is too small for your rabbit or you may have a dwarf rabbit and can’t get a small litter box. A good substitute is a Pyrex baking dish. Even 9” X 9” is sufficient for a small 3 or 4 pound rabbit.
You may have a cage with a wire bottom and a tray underneath that catches the urine. In this case, the tray is the litter box and the cage itself is where the bunny learns to go. You can often place the litter box in the tray, under the cage, so that you not need to fill the entire bottom with litter.
If you don’t use a cage, you need to give the bunny a particular area to call it's own. Just put a litter box wherever the bunny seems to prefer.
advice # 8. What if my cage is on legs or has a door that opens on top so the bunny can’t get into on his own.
If its on legs. build a ramp or stairs, or pile boxes to make steps --anything so he can come and go on his own.
If the door is on top, put a small stool or box inside to help him get in and out, a board or piece of rug to help him walk to the edge of the cage, and a ramp, stairs, stool, or boxes to help him get down (and up again).
advice # 9. Pills vs. Urine.
All rabbits will drop pills around their cages to mark it as their own. This is not failure to be litter-trained. It is very important for your rabbit to identify the cage as her property so when she leaves the cage for the bigger world of your house, she will distinguish the family’s area from her own and avoid marking it. To encourage this, make the rabbit the king of his/her cage. Try not to force him/her in or out of it- coax him. Do not do things to his/her cage that he/she doesn’t like, or things to him/her that he doesn’t like while he’s in the cage.
The trick to getting the rabbit to keep his pills in the cage is to give him ownership of his cage – respect the cage as HIS.
advice *Don’t reach into the cage to take him out; open the door and let him come out if and when he wants to.
advice *Don’t catch him and put him back in the cage or it will be his prison, not his home. Heard him gently, and let him choose to go in to get away from you. (I walk behind my bunnies, clap my hands, and say “bedtime”. They know that I’ll not stop harassing them with this until they go to their cage, so they run in, except when they feel they haven’t gotten their fair share of time outside the cage).
advice *It’s a bit like a child going home and closing the door, because someone is calling her names. They make the playground an unpleasant place for her, but they can’t bother her in her own home.
advice *If the rabbit has been snuggling with you, its ok to carry him to the door of the cage and let him go – just don’t put him directly into the cage, and never chase and trap him and put him in the cage.
advice *Don’t reach into the cage to get food dishes – anchor them near the door of the cage so they can be filled with the minimum of trespassing into the cage, or wait until the rabbit is out to fill them.
advice *Don’t clean the cage while the rabbit is in it - wait until he comes out. He’ll come over and supervise you, even help you move things around that you’ve set down outside the cage, but as long as he isn’t in the cage, he won’t see your cleaning as an invasion of his territory. (Smart rabbit - I wouldn’t object if someone were to clean my house, either….).
The same technique can be used if a rabbit doesn't live in a cage, but in a particular part of a room. Mark the territory with a rug, tape, whatever, and don’t trespass over that.
advice#10. Can the rabbit have running space?
Even if your goal is to let your rabbit have full run of the house, you must start small. Start with a cage and a small running space, and when your rabbit is sufficiently well trained in that space, gradually give her more space. But do so gradually! If you overwhelm her with too much freedom before she’s ready, she will forget where her box is and will lose her good habits.
advice#11). So what’s the actual method? Start with a box in her cage, and one or more in the rabbit’s running space. If she urinates in a corner of the cage not containing the box, move the box to that corner until she gets it right. Don’t be concerned if your bunny curls up in her litter box – this is natural. Once she’s using the box in the cage, open her door and allow her into her running space. Watch her go in and out on her own. If she heads to a corner where there’s no box, or lifts her tail in the characteristic fashion, cry “NO” in a single, sharp burst of sound. Gently heard her back to her cage and her litter box, or into one of the boxes in her room. Be careful, however. You don’t want to make the cage or litter box seem like punishment. A handful of hay in the box makes it a more welcoming place. After she first uses the box, praise her and give her one of her favorite treats. Once she uses her box in her room a couple of times you are well on your way, as her habits will be on their way to forming. As she gets better trained in her first room, you can increase her space. Don’t hurry this process, and if the area becomes very big, or includes a second floor, be sure to include more litter boxes, so as not to confuse her. Remember, as she becomes more confident and uses fewer boxes, you can start to remove some of the early training boxes. Get your rabbit into a daily routine and try not to very it. Rabbits are very habitual and once a routine is established, they usually prefer to stick with it.
advice#12). How many litter boxes? The more the merrier, especially if your rabbit is a bit of a slow learner, or is especially obstinate about where she wants her box(es) to go. As her habits improve, you can decrease the number of boxes.
advice#13). Kicking litter out of the box. Some rabbits love to kick their litter out of the box. You can get a covered litter box (with a hood) to help solve this problem. You can also try experimenting with different litters.
advice#14). Urinating over the edge of the litter box. A second pr4oblem is that rabbits often back up so far in the litter box that urine goes over the edge. Again, a covered litter box can solve e this problem. Another solution would be to get a dishpan or other type of tub with higher sides. Still another solution would be to get as urine guard to place around the back of the cage, to keep the litter from spraying outside of the cage.
advice#15). What do you do if your rabbit insists on using another spot? Compromise. If your rabbit continually urinates in a spot where there is no litter box, put her box where she will use it, even if it means rearranging his cage or moving a table in the living room. It is much easier to oblige her than to try to work against a determined bunny!
advice#16). What are the most common training mistakes?
advice 1. Letting the bunny out of the cage and not watching her with your undivided attention; You can’t watch TV or read the paper or knit or talk on the phone and expect to keep your mind on what the bunny is doing every second – if she urinates without being caught and herded to the litter box, she’ll be that much slower in learning what she’s supposed to do.
advice 2. Getting in a hurry. Bunnies take time. Perhaps that’s one of their special gifts to us in this hectic world. They require that ewe take time out to set and watch and do nothing else. Besides getting a well trained bunny for your efforts, you also get a short period of time each day to watch one of the most charming little creatures on earth explore, skip for joy, and in general entertain you with bunny-ness.
advice#17). What should I do if my rabbit starts dribbling all over her cage instead of using the litter box?
Dribbles usually indicate a bladder infection. Get your bunny to a rabbit veterinarian who will probably put her on an antibiotic. If the dribbling stops, you know that was the problem. (Watch out for antibiotics given by veterinarians not familiar with rabbits as companion animals!)
If the dribbles are more than dribbles, or if the antibiotic doesn’t stop the problem, consider any factors that may be making your bunny feel insecure (new pet, house guests, change in location of cage, etc.), any of which can cause a bunny to mark her cage more enthusiastically (similar to someone having a dispute with a neighbor about the location of a fence).
It is important for people to understand that this process can take time. A rabbit who’s been perfectly box trained for 3 years and has peed next to the box for 3 days may need 3 weeks of intensive training to get back to her old behavior, why is it that bad habits take longer to undo than to initiate while the reverse is true of good habits?