Yes! You can housetrain a bunny. You can teach a rabbit to use a litterbox!
Rabbits are actually pretty easy to train. They will pick a few spots as their bunny bathroom and always go there. Our family rabbit (cleverly named Bun-Bun) had a three room “condo” — one enclosed room was the bedroom, the large, open room was the play and food area, and the other enclosed room was the bathroom. He faithfully used the smaller room for his potty and kept the other areas clean.
Older rabbits have a better attention span than younger rabbits, so you may find it easier to teach an adult rabbit to use a litterbox! Here’s how to train your bunny to use the box:
- Watch the place where your rabbit urinates –it is often a corner. Place the box there. Keep in mind, a bunny will sometimes poop in multiple areas to mark the area as his own. But rabbits usually only piddle in one spot.
- Put a handful of hay in the litterbox to make it more welcoming. And who hasn’t wished for a fridge in the bathroom so you could have a little snack while you do your business?
- If the rabbit chooses another place to urinate after you have placed the litterbox, move the box to the new piddle location, or add a second box.
- If your rabbit has free run of the house and doesn’t live (and potty) just in her cage, you need to keep a watchful eye. If she starts to urinate in an inappropriate place, you need to give a sharp NO and herd her towards the nearest litterbox. You don’t want to FORCE her into the box — it shouldn’t be a place of punishment.
- Be patient. For all their speed when they’re spooked, rabbits are slow movers. It’s going to take your bunny a while to figure out that litterbox = new bathroom.
You can help the process along by making sure the litterbox is cleaned frequently. That helps you, too, because bunny piddle is pretty stinky.