Bunnies Eating Litter

[tazz1227]

I am still looking into options. But I am leaning toward my plan I stated and ask a few people to look in on the kids to come and pet them and show them some companionship.

[doctormaryleakey]

hi tazz,
I don't know if this is helpful or if it is too late to post, but my Pippi used to eat a bit of her Carefresh litter until I started putting a lot of timmy hay on top of the litter in the box. it seems that she really just prefers the hay now and won't touch much of the carefresh.

perhaps this would work for the mommy bunny. plus, putting hay in the box promotes hay-eating, and ingesting fiber is so vital for buns:-)

take care!
~Jess

[tazz1227]

Hi Jess...thank yoiu for the advice. You know this past weekend, when my greedy "kids" had again eaten the Carefresh, I noticed they did start eating more hay. I had told Daisey I was concerned they did not eat enough hay. But my thing is if I put the hay on the top of the litter, am I not defeating the purpose because they will go to the bathroom on the hay and they it will become contaminated. Help me if that is not what you were talking about. Thanks again.

Tazz

[doctormaryleakey]

Hi again, Tazz:

Yes, putting the hay on top of the carefresh is what i'm talking out. It's safe as far as I am concerned, and I have read so in I believe the House Rabbit Handbook. Also, you should join the EtherBun Listserv if you can, because they have tons of information to answer this question.

I started putting hay in the litterbox about a month ago. Pipp jumps in the litterbox and begins munching munching munching. She eventually munches half of the hay up and reserves the other half for the "bathroom" area. She doesn't eat the "contaminated" hay.

Plus, remember that buns eat their own cecal feces...so their poo isn't completely toxic:-)


Hope this is helpful....and you might want to join the listserv below.

~Jess (and Pippi, who gets spayed tomorrow!)

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[tazz1227]

I was part of the list group but too many emails were coming in. (smile) I will try that tonight with the hay. Thanks for the information. Do you have any pictures of Pippi?

[doctormaryleakey]

Hi Tazz,
I know what you mean about that listserv. My hotmail acct keeps telling me my box is getting too full:-)

As soon as I develop my film I'll post a Pippi Pic:-)

Good luck with the litter! Hope you can distract the bun from eating the carefresh by adding the hay:-)
~Jess

[tazz1227]

I can't wait. Here is a picture of my "plump" kids. There are more pictures at webshots if you just can't get enough of them. http://community.webshots.com/user/taz1227

[doctormaryleakey]

Aww....they are so cute! My Pippi is an uppity-eared bun, so it's so nice to see some lops hopping around. Your kiddies really love their litterbox...it shows!

~Jess

[tazz1227]

They do love their litterbox. They have gotten so lazy !! But they are so cute. I am from Philadelphia. I see you are from Pennsylvania.

[Daisylover]

As usual, here I am at the end of a bunny conversation.....

The other thing to remember is that no bunny will eat their entire allotment of hay (this used to drive me crazy)... I'm sure you've noticed that they will selectively pick and choose which strand of hay they will eat, it has to be JUST right!
And yeah, they won't eat their soiled hay so I've learned just to toss and add fresh hay twice a day. Tazz, It sounds like you've given up on the sifting litter tray....?

[tazz1227]

No never give up. They use their sifting tray in their "play room" but we are having a power struggle over them using it in their main room. I don't know why. So I was doing as you suggested and slowly migrating them in but once they saw and smelled the Carefresh...you know where they went. So I am going to cover the Carefresh with hay so they get used to the hay and slowly take the EXPENSIVE Carefresh away. You said you mix it together? I am always so busy trying to keep the hay and litter separate. So you are saying, they will separate the litter from the hay they want? I am SLOWLY being trained. I have a friend that wants to sit for them while I am gone coming over today to see if they like her. I know they will not....they are so spoiled.

[Daisylover]

(pssst...sshhhh!!! I had started a reply earlier today and then decided discretion was the better part of valor...in other words my boss came in... and got off POTD pronto!!!!)

Remember that experiment I was running about litter and litter boxes??? Well, I'm depressed. My guys tell me they love the Carefresh, no matter if it's underneath a sifting tray or not. But mine don't eat it like yours do. I think they like it because it's soft to lay on.

No I never mixed the hay in with the carefresh....I put it on top in a pile at one end of the tray and then THEY distributed it over the rest of the Carefresh or sifting tray when they were selecting which strand of hay they thought was worthy of their attention. However I did con them by putting a layer to Tidy cat in (about an inch) and then an inch or two of Care Fresh in both the sifting tray as well as the pan without the sifting tray....they didn't seem to notice, or if they did, they didn't tell me about it. And by combining using the two diff types of litter I'm still not buying as much of the Carefresh as I was when that's all I used.

They're stubborn and they are smart. I guess I'll keep using some Care Fresh after all.

[tazz1227]

So they broke you down too??? It is true...they love the softness of the litter box and I am not fighting anymore !! THEY WIN!! I am still not giving up on the sifting box in the playroom. It is working. It just seems in their bedroom they want the softness. Not worth fighting over.

[Heather Wallace]

Hope you don't mind me butting in to the conversation, you are all so lucky, my buns are not litter trainned at all.

Poor me, They just won't take to it at all.

I have to go around with the vacum, so when they are in the house I have to limit them to 1/2 rooms.

[tazz1227]

First Heather, you are not butting in. All input is welcome. I am kindda lucky, they are litterbox trained but they still "drop" a little but nothing a dustbuster can't pick up and that only seems to happen near their play box and they kick out their newspaper and bedding. But they litterbox trained themselves. I put it in their cage and they went. I was doing the happy dance !! They love their litterbox !