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Rescue bunny won't use litter tray

katrxina

New Kit
We adopted a mini lop rabbit (Lily) to bond with our current rabbit (Eric). The bonding process was a success and they get on extremely well. However, Lily will not use her litter tray. We litter trained our Eric from the day we got him when he was a few months old and he has no problems with using the tray at all anymore. We used the same process for training Lily however months later, she is still peeing and pooping everywhere. We adopted Lily when she was about 1 year old - is this too late to litter train a rabbit? We've tried everything; changing the litter material, buying different sized trays, putting their food near the tray, putting it in different corners - nothing seems to work and it's getting so frustrating as everyday there is always a mess. We separated them for a while to make sure we knew it was Lily not using the tray properly.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Katrina.
 
What is there set up like? Do they free-range, or are they in an enclosure?
When she makes a mess, how do you go about clearing it up? Do you sterilise the area with vinegar to get rid of the smell?
Our bunny has gotten a little bit out of the habit of using the litter tray, so I'll be watching to see what the suggestions are, but these are the main things that come to mind for me.
 
Does she go all over the place or is it mostly specific places?

My first thought would be to restrict the area they're in to encourage her to be a bit tidier and gradually increase it once she's mostly doing her thing in the tray, but that's assuming they have quite a bit of space at the moment. Also I don't know exactly what you tried re food and litter material but I only have hay in my trays and it's the only place they have hay. I'm pretty sure that helps tremendously because on the odd occasion they've found their way in to the main bag of hay they've dragged it all over the floor and peed and pooped all over it.
 
I am assuming Lily is spayed? Although this doesn't always mean the rabbit will use a litter tray. I would restrict them to see if this helps her to get used to a litter tray. I only put hay in the litter tray, nowhere else.
 
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