Litter Box Training

Not everyone chooses to litter box-train theri bunnys, but it can be done. Young bunnys that are less than three months old are the easiest to train. If your bunny has a cage in the house, the litter box can be kept in the cage. If the cage has a wire floor, you do not need a litter box; the pan underneath the wire bottom is the litter pan. Bunnys with cages should be trained to urinated and defecate in their cages. Outdoor bunnys do not need litter boxes, as they have a designate area of their hutch for this purpose.

Bunny kept in cages will often defecate in areas of their cages outside the litter box. This should be permitted so that your rabbit will feel that this is truly his home and territory. Bunny mark their territory with urine, feces, and scent from the glands under the chin.

Bunny prefer to urinate and defecate in just a few places, usually corners. To litter box-train your bunny outside a cage, place a shallow litter box in a corner. If your bunny has already voided or defecated in a corner, choose that one. If the place your bunny wants to use is not where you ultimately want the litter box to be, start it there anyway once the bunny has been trained to use it, you will be able to move it.

When your bunny voids outside the litter box, clean up the urine with a paper towel and put it in the litter box. Pick up any fecal pellets and put them  in the litter box as well. You want the bunny to recognize the smells in the box to know to relieve himself there. Make sure your bunny has access to his litter box at all times, or have more than one box available in different areas. If yo0u catch your bunny relieving himself outside his litter box, it is okay to give a verbal correction by quickly and forcefully saying "No" and then herding your bunny to his litter box.

He should not be unsupervised until he is litter box-trained so that you can give constant reinforcement of this correction.

Keep in mind that very young bunny can take quite some time to train. Do not get discouraged -- bunny really can be trained to use a litter box. Mature bunny that have not been spayed or neutered wil mark their territory  by depositing urine every place to which they have access.

Food dishes:It is hard for us to understand, but some young bunnys will urinate or defecate in their food dished. If this happens, dump the contents of the food dish into the  litter box and thoroughly clean the food dish before refilling it. Your bunny will catch on.