Being a Rabbit lover and owner is an interesting experience and on so many levels it can be pretty exciting and don’t get me wrong, very tiring too…
Performing various daily and weekly routines which involve feeding, cleaning, closely observing regularly for signs of any strange behaviour and so on can be very very exhausting at times.
Especially the cleaning part when it involves faeces because “The where ” and “The when” of such happenings cannot be predicted and can be very annoying and unhealthy to you the rabbit owner.
So then the question resounds
“Can A Rabbit be Potty trained?”
Potty training will be able to put a logical end to this or at least reduce the stress involved in multiple faeces cleaning if it indeed is possible. This article opens up and sheds more light on this question, answering it and giving clarity to it.
Let’s find out if your rabbit can be trained to find his potty when he’s pressed and do the number 2 there and save you the stress.
Can a Rabbit Be Potty Trained?
Rabbits are creatures of habit and are also “meticulous cleaners” and could get depressed if their environment or immediate home is dirty or littered with poop as the case may be, so they tend to defecate and urinate on the same spot probably away from their home every time to mark their territory.
And if this is the case (which it is), definitely RABBITS CAN BE POTTY TRAINED.
Yes, they can be trained to make use of the litter tray instead of making the whole house or environment messy.
Being naturally clean animals, they preferably urinate and defecate in a particular spot away from their home.
So if you’re keeping your rabbit indoors or outdoors, getting them potty trained or litter trained will help reduce the mess around the house and make it easier for you to clean up.
It should however be noted that, because all rabbits are not the same in character and behaviours, for some it may be very frustrating and tiring to train them to use the potty/litter tray just like it is for cats and dogs.
Although urination is easy to train, rabbits tend to not be careful about where they poop and may never have full control of their pellets.
So the answer is Yes…They can be potty trained.
But rabbits have different personalities; some are more trainable than others. Nevertheless, I still think it’s worth it to potty train your rabbit.
How Long Does It Take To Litter Train Your Rabbit?
Since we’re willing to take a shot at training your rabbit to use the potty, we might as well “count the cost” by knowing roughly how long it will take to potty train your rabbit.
It is of vital importance to note that since some rabbits are more trainable than others, the time it will take may vary hence “roughly” was used in the previous paragraph.
Even as this is a factor, it usually takes about 1-2 weeks on average to get a rabbit potty/ litter trained.
Once you notice it’s beginning to take longer than this, You might as well take your rabbit to the veterinarian. He might have bladder related diseases like urinary tract infection, or E. cuniculi arthritis or he might just be part of those few that are not very trainable (take more time to adapt). So be a little more patient before calling the vet.
How Do I Potty Train My Bunny?
This part of the article is just for you if you want this as a daily experience. Someone wise once said, “The Only Source of Knowledge is Experience”.
Luckily for you, You don’t have to wait for the experience because you’re reading this article. After following all the techniques highlighted in this article, you’ll have your rabbit reduce the size of his potty from your whole house to that little litter tray/ potty in the corner of your house.
And save yourself from cleaning rabbit poop here and there and become an excellent and responsible rabbit owner.
Enough stories!
Here’s how to potty train your Rabbit:
First, understand that Teaching your rabbit to use the potty/litter tray as the toilet is not difficult at all.
With that done, start with getting your litter tray/litter box/ potty filled with a layer of newspaper at the bottom to soak all the urine and Timothy hay.
Then help your rabbits realize that’s their toilet by leaving some rabbit poop in the litter tray. Next place the litter tray In the area where your rabbit prefers to poop and urinate.
Here is another effective method to try out;
You could begin by limiting the space your rabbit is allowed to tread by limiting he/her movement, maybe to a little room/space and placing the potty half-full with rabbit droppings in a corner in that room/ little space. So he begins to realize that’s where to poop.
If he doesn’t yet take it as such, you’ll have to begin to keep an eye on him and either gently picks him up and place him In the potty when he’s pooping anywhere that’s not his potty or sternly say “No”, never Hit your rabbit for any reason.
And anytime he uses the potty, praises him, gives treats, gently pet him and with time he’ll realize that the potty is for poop not everywhere.
And as this begins to happen, keep watching and when your rabbit has made this a habit, little by little begin to increase his territory or space as now he can roam the house and locate his potty when he needs to poop.
Emphasis on slowly, because if you increase his space too much, he might give up on the habit and go back to using the whole house as a potty.
So you must do this slowly. Your rabbit will begin to use the litter tray now.
Note however that you have to be patient with your rabbit during this period of training. They may seem to cooperate on some days and not at other times.
Because rabbits are habitual animals, you have to give them time to groom their habit of using the potty now instead of anywhere around the house.
Once they’ve acquired the habit of using the litter tray as their toilet, they will no longer use your house or the whole environment.
How Do I Stop My Rabbits Pooping Everywhere?
Well, understand that you can’t stop your rabbit from pooping but you can train him or her (depends) to poop somewhere.- The potty!
So the deal is striving to get them used to using the litter tray that’s The key To stopping them from pooping everywhere.
How do I do that? You may ask
Here’s how:
- When you see them pooping or urinating anywhere or everywhere, i.e. literally not in their potty, move them immediately and place them in their potty.
- Also, take some of their droppings and put them in their potty to show them that’s their toilet.
- After putting your rabbit in his potty, pet him gently being a good rabbit he’ll begin to realize the purpose of the petting and begin to adapt to using the potty. The moment he/she realizes that there’s only one place to poop and that’s the potty, your house won’t be the whole potty anymore.
Why Is My House Rabbit Pooping Everywhere?
There’s a handful of reasons why your house rabbit could be pooping everywhere.
First, of it could be that you didn’t introduce potty training to your house rabbit whilst he/she was a bunny and so they grew up just acting as they feel it’s best to. No one just gets born and understands these things, even a human baby, though smarter than a bunny, has to be potty trained and reminded many times from a young that there’s a place for poop called a toilet.
If you didn’t take your rabbit through the process from when he was a bunny, then of course everywhere should look like a potty to him.
Another very vital reason is that You may be trying to potty train an unspayed rabbit that has not been neutered. It will be extremely frustrating to try to potty train a rabbit/bunny that is yet to be neutered.
Unneutered rabbits will spray their urine everywhere And forget their litter training after sexual maturity.
Other reasons are:
- Territorial pooping: Rabbits will spread their poop around an area to claim it as their own as they are territorial animals.
- When your rabbit attains maturity: When rabbits reach maturity, they tend to poop everywhere even though they’ve been trained before. Hence spaying is necessary to stop this behaviour.
Is Rabbit Poop Harmful To Humans?
Rabbits produce two types of solid waste But only one is commonly seen outside. These droppings are brownish, hard, round pellets about a centimetre in diameter.
The wastes of rabbits are known to carry parasites like tapeworm and roundworm but their wastes are not known to transmit any disease to humans.
But that is not an invitation to be careless about rabbit poop to the extent of consuming it. It’s not advisable at all.
Conclusion
Rabbits can be Potty trained (trained to use their potty instead of pooping anywhere and making the whole house and environment messy.
For some they quickly adapt; others don’t. It has to do with patience and repetition as no one learns and gets better at anything except by constant repetition. Potty training your Rabbit will save you A Lot of stress and keep your house in order while you enjoy taking care of your rabbits. Apply the steps to potty train your rabbits highlighted in this article and you’ll thank me later.
