Litter training a six week old rabbit

[Smileybans]

This is BB.

She knows how to use the litter box when she’s in her area, for the most part, but when I let her free roam she doesn’t use the box. She will pee on the couch and on me. I read it could be a territorial thing but I’m wondering if she’s just not fully trained. She still poops on the couch but a lot less than she did before the litter box. I read that she shouldn’t be on the couch at all but that’s one of her favorite places to run around. She has an area within my kids room that is all hers. I also let her free roam in there with the door closed so the cats don’t get her. I caught her once peeing on their bed. She did it the day before we introduced the box.

As far as I can tell she is either peeing in her box when she’s locked in her area or she’s peeing on her towels. She doesn’t have a proper bed yet so she just has towels. I don’t smell any distinct urine smell in her area. She does most if not all of her poops in her box. My question is how can I get her to not pee on the furniture? I want her to be comfortable in the house but not that comfortable. Will it come with age? Is it territorial?

 

[EverythingDucks]

That's great that she's free roaming, but until she's better with litter training I would confine her to a smaller area.
She's pretty small, so she may not be able to make it back to the litter box before she has to "go". You can definitely still free roam some, just for shorter amounts of time and more supervised. But I would first try keeping her in a smaller area, with something like a large dog pen, for about a week or so and see how she does.
As she gets older she'll be able to control it better and you should see improvements. She's very young still, and has plenty of time.

It will help to put all the poop back in the litter box, and @Kiki has put the paper towel used to clean the pee into the litter box (her rabbit now has zero accidents).
Pee spots should be completely deodorized to deter her from peeing there again too.

Do you have any other rabbits in the house? If so, it's possible that it is a territorial thing. And what is her litter box setup like? If she doesn't have any hay in there already, adding lots to the litter box will help. Rabbits naturally eat while doing their business, so having hay can entice them to use it more. Lots of space to move around in it tends to help as well. And of course keeping the litter box in the same corner is best.

BB is adorable by the way

 

[Everose]

As far as I can tell she is either peeing in her box when she’s locked in her area or she’s peeing on her towels.

I would do what Everything Ducks has said. Smaller spaces are always better in the beginning.

If she pees in more than one area I'd give her another litter box. It's not an ideal set up because rabbits are supposed to go potty in one area, but sometimes you have to put a box where you want them to go, and you also have to put a box where they want to go. Then once she's going potty in the boxes only you can scoot the two closer and eventually make them into one litter box.

 

[Smileybans]

That's great that she's free roaming, but until she's better with litter training I would confine her to a smaller area.
She's pretty small, so she may not be able to make it back to the litter box before she has to "go". You can definitely still free roam some, just for shorter amounts of time and more supervised. But I would first try keeping her in a smaller area, with something like a large dog pen, for about a week or so and see how she does.
As she gets older she'll be able to control it better and you should see improvements. She's very young still, and has plenty of time.

It will help to put all the poop back in the litter box, and @Kiki has put the paper towel used to clean the pee into the litter box (her rabbit now has zero accidents).
Pee spots should be completely deodorized to deter her from peeing there again too.

Do you have any other rabbits in the house? If so, it's possible that it is a territorial thing. And what is her litter box setup like? If she doesn't have any hay in there already, adding lots to the litter box will help. Rabbits naturally eat while doing their business, so having hay can entice them to use it more. Lots of space to move around in it tends to help as well. And of course keeping the litter box in the same corner is best.

BB is adorable by the way

I don’t have any other rabbits in the house. I have two rabbits outside. BB was part of an accidental litter from those two rabbits and had to come inside because she lost all of her fur. I will get a picture of her whole set up tomorrow but her litter box is a kitten litter box with the pellets from TSC in it. On top of the pellets I put alfalfa hay and her pellets. I had read about putting her smells into the litter box so I have some paper towels I used to clean her urine in there as well.

When she pees on the couch she’ll do it on one of the blankets. We have two on there. So I wash those whenever she does pee on it. I always feel bad keeping her locked up. I want her to have run of the house and she wants it. But I think when she’s downstairs your probably right about her not being able to make it to the box right away. Or we have her down there for too long. She loves to play and I want her to have as much play time as she can get.

 

[Smileybans]

This is BB’s set up. It’s temporary until I get more panels. Then I’ll complete the square.

It’s only so tall to keep the cats out. I’m sure she could jump over it if she tried too but I’m more worried about the cats. I don’t care much for the hay tower in her litter box. It’s new and I didn’t realize how much room it would take up. I’ll probably have to get another bigger box anyway when I bring the other two rabbits inside.

 

[NatJ]

She knows how to use the litter box when she’s in her area, for the most part, but when I let her free roam she doesn’t use the box.

Your title says she's 6 weeks old, so that is still really young. So it might improve with age (she might be able to hold it longer, or get better at going back to the right place.)

I've never trained a rabbit, but a trick I've read for puppies and kittens: give them access to gradually increasing space. So if the rabbit is fine in her own area, you might let her have access to the rest of that room (or even half of the room.) And if she's good there, after a few days or a week, let her have access to one more room (or part of a room) that is just outside the door of "her" room.

By working up gradually, you make sure the animal always knows HOW to get back to the litter box. By expanding the space only when they are doing well, you make sure they are not going too far (unable to get back in time.)

I always feel bad keeping her locked up. I want her to have run of the house and she wants it. But I think when she’s downstairs your probably right about her not being able to make it to the box right away. Or we have her down there for too long.

Unless she is good at stairs, you may need at litterbox on each level.
Or you may need to set a timer, and put her back in her area after a certain amount of time. (It might be half an hour of playtime, half an hour back in her area, or something like that at first. You animals usually need frequent bathroom breaks.)

My question is how can I get her to not pee on the furniture? I want her to be comfortable in the house but not that comfortable. Will it come with age? Is it territorial?

You could keep her OFF the furniture for the next month or so.
That would give her a lot of practice at peeing somewhere else.
And she cannot get in the habit of peeing on the furniture if she is never on the furniture.
(I know you want her to be on the furniture with you, and I'm not suggesting that you keep her off forever. But training might be easier if she is not on the furniture at this time.)

 

[Smileybans]

Your title says she's 6 weeks old, so that is still really young. So it might improve with age (she might be able to hold it longer, or get better at going back to the right place.)

I've never trained a rabbit, but a trick I've read for puppies and kittens: give them access to gradually increasing space. So if the rabbit is fine in her own area, you might let her have access to the rest of that room (or even half of the room.) And if she's good there, after a few days or a week, let her have access to one more room (or part of a room) that is just outside the door of "her" room.

By working up gradually, you make sure the animal always knows HOW to get back to the litter box. By expanding the space only when they are doing well, you make sure they are not going too far (unable to get back in time.)


Unless she is good at stairs, you may need at litterbox on each level.
Or you may need to set a timer, and put her back in her area after a certain amount of time. (It might be half an hour of playtime, half an hour back in her area, or something like that at first. You animals usually need frequent bathroom breaks.)


You could keep her OFF the furniture for the next month or so.
That would give her a lot of practice at peeing somewhere else.
And she cannot get in the habit of peeing on the furniture if she is never on the furniture.
(I know you want her to be on the furniture with you, and I'm not suggesting that you keep her off forever. But training might be easier if she is not on the furniture at this time.)

I’ve never trained a dog before, I’ve only ever had cats, so thank you for the advice. I didn’t know about keeping animals in one room until they were used to the litter or area to pee. But it does make sense. All the cats we’ve had just used the litter box. Except one that stopped when he got really old.

She spent all day in her area today and I noticed she only used the litter box. Except for some little poo i found in her bed. I also think she likes the hay tower. Which is really all that matters. When we bring her downstairs to have play time we actually bring her litter from upstairs so it has the same smells. We put it in her play area, an ottoman next to the couch, so she has easy access to it. But I will keep her off the couch until she has better litter habits. I guess that’s what would be done with any animal.

 

[NatJ]

When we bring her downstairs to have play time we actually bring her litter from upstairs so it has the same smells. We put it in her play area, an ottoman next to the couch, so she has easy access to it. But I will keep her off the couch until she has better litter habits. I guess that’s what would be done with any animal.

Does she know how to get off the couch? That might be part of the problem, too-- if she doesn't know how to get to it.

 

[Smileybans]

Does she know how to get off the couch? That might be part of the problem, too-- if she doesn't know how to get to it.

She doesn’t know how to get off the couch but her litter isn’t on the floor. We have this huge stupid ottoman, its like five feet long, that is a storage for blankets too. It sits in front of the couch and i let her run around on that and the couch. The ottoman is faux leather and huge enough that it can hold her box and give her room to run around. She has been peeing in her litter when she is in her area. I caught her doing it twice today.