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Rabbit Waiting to Void/Poop

22 10:33:54

Question
Hi - my rabbit Boo (who turns 1-year-old tomorrow!) has been holding in his urine and pellets and not using the corner of his cage like he used to.  He now waits until I let him out of his cage (hours later when I get home from work) to run over to his litterbox and newspapers to go.  Will this hurt him if he's holding it in like that?  I can't imagine why he's starting to do this - I've always kept a very, very clean cage for him, and it's large enough where he doesn't have to void near where he sleeps.

My other question is regarding his toenails.  He doesn't sit still long enough for me to clip them, and I'm so afraid of hurting him or making him afraid of me if I grab him and hold him tight, b/c he doesn't like to be picked up. I've noticed that they're getting very long, and sometimes I'll find one on the floor - like it's come off, but there's never any blood or anything.  Would something like a cardboard cat scratching board or post help w/ naturally keep them shorter?  

Thanks so much for your time,

Betsy

Answer
Dear Betsy,

It might physically harm him to wait to use his toilet, but it certainly must be uncomfortable.  What a tidy bunny!  I would *strongly* recommend that you put a litterbox in the corner of his cage where he used to go.  He's just gotten used to going in a litterbox, and because he's a very good boy, you should encourage this behavior and not make him wait with his little bunny knees crossed.

If he's not a destructive bunny, you might consider just rabbit-proofing the wires in the house and letting him run free all the time.  If he's that tidy, he would probably be quite safe and well behaved, even while you're gone.  All our bunnies run free all the time, and they are *much* happier.

His toenails are a bit more problematic.  Unless you have really rough floors, you're going to have to keep trimming them.  You can find good instructions for how to do this safely here:

http://www.mnhouserabbit.org/care/nailtrimming.html

If that doesn't work, then have your trusted rabbit vet show you, or just bring bun in for the occasional nail trim *IF* the staff is well versed in rabbit care.  (If they're not good at rabbit holds or nail trimming, they could do more harm than good.)

You can find experienced rabbit vets here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps.

Dana