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How to Litter-Box-Train Your Pet Rabbit

How to Litter-Box-Train Your Pet Rabbit

Rabbits naturally prefer to have a specific site for elimination, so you can easily train your rabbit to eliminate in a litter box. If you plan to keep your rabbit in a large enclosure or cage, simply observe where your rabbit is eliminating, and place a litter box there. Most rabbits will continue eliminating in the same place, even though the topography has changed by adding the litter box.

If you plan to allow your rabbit to roam around the house, even part of the time, follow these steps:

• When you first bring your rabbit home, confine it to the general area where you want it to eliminate. This area can be its cage, a specific room, or some other area.
• As soon as your rabbit picks a specific location in the area to eliminate, place a litter box there.
• If your rabbit does not use the litter box, it may not like the substrate (litter) you have provided. Try something else.
• Once your rabbit has learned that the litter box is its toilet, it may move the litter box to different locations. If you prefer that your rabbit not move the litter box, tie or clamp the box in place. Otherwise, let your rabbit put the box where it wants it.
• If the rabbit is going to be allowed access to a large area of the house, it will probably be necessary to offer multiple boxes spread throughout the house.

Rabbits do not bury their excrement the way cats do but instead leave their fecal pellets lying on top of the litter while the urine soaks to the bottom of the box. In addition, rabbits may spend a lot of time in their litter boxes, just lying or sitting in them this is normal.

Rabbits may eat their litter, so the type of litter you provide is important. It is best to avoid clumping litter, pine or cedar shavings, and clay litters with deodorant crystals since consumption of these litters could harm your rabbit. Instead use hay, straw, pelleted food, nonclumping unscented cat litter, peat moss, aspen bark, or other nontoxic, nonclumping litters.

Information provided by Sharon L. Crowell-Davis, DVM, PhD, DACVB, Department of Anatomy and Radiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.This client information sheet may be photocopied for distribution by veterinarians to their clients. Written permission is required for any other use.

February 2007 Veterinary Medicine

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