Ferret stopped caring about litter boxes

[raynebc]

When one of my previous ferrets got sick and starting going potty outside the litter box, my largest ferret Rusty picked up the bad habit of doing the same.  It has gotten worse, to the point that now he almost never uses the litter box.  It doesn't seem to matter how thoroughly I clean up his mistakes, how thoroughly I clean the litter box, what I clean with (rubbing alcohol, vinegar, soap, water) or how thoroughly I wipe away any residue from the cleaning solution in question.  Putting some of his waste in the litter box and showing it to him doesn't help.  Catching him in the act (which I'm rarely in the right place at the right time to achieve) and promptly placing him in the litterbox doesn't help.

Is there much that I can do or am I going to have to confine him to a small subset of his pen (ie. only large enough for food, water, a bed and a litter box) to force him to re-learn?  I've been putting him on a diet, so some of this bad behavior may be defiance on his part, but his refusal to use the litter box precedes the diet.

[abbeytheferret6]

Why don't you try puppy pads? Is he going in the general vicinities ?

I can get 50 for 8.99 at my grocery store. I feel like that is a good price.

Mine go on puppy pads very well. They use litter boxes too. They are just as good on both except my waardy. I like the puppy pads because of the bigger space. Like at night, I will line the baseboard of their room with 3 puppy pads and 2 in corners that they have preferred.The other corners of their room have blankets to prevent them from poohing there. U may have to tape down at first. I also raise the back of the potty pad a bit so it goes up the baseboard. I put pads in the same places where the litter pans went if I use them in living room and kitchen.

Sometimes if they make a new pooping place(my male has done this ), I will put a litter pan or puppy pad there.
Funny he has decided to not to make it a regular spot after I put a litter pan there.

[raynebc]

He's going in the corner opposite of their litter box, where I put their food and water bowls (and it's where he's been fed his entire adult life). I'm not going to encourage him to go bathroom there. He's also going in the corner where the litter box is, but intentionally missing it out of contempt or sheer laziness.

[cockneyferret]

You mention cleaning. We have had a similar issue with our young females who started to go elsewhere. After lots of head scratching I worked out that I was using the same cleaner for mistakes and the weekly clean of their litter pans, so they began to associate the residual smell of the cleaner with "the place we go pooping". I still use the same cleaner, but now spray a couple of small squirts of water/vanilla extract onto their litter, which then masks the smell of the cleaner.

Since doing this, there has been a marked improvement, not 100%, but still better than it had started to become.

Cheers

[Heather]

What type of litter box are you using? and is it tied in? Make sure the box is large enough for the ferret to put his whole body in. If you're using a corner box, try using a longer rectangular box.
ciao

[raynebc]

I'm not sure it matters what I used to clean the litter box versus the accidents. Most of the time I had just been using isopropyl alcohol for everything, which evaporates with really no residue or scent. Masking the smell of either the litter box or the non-potty areas might be worth a try, are there any recommendations other than vanilla?

The litter box in question is a medium size, rectangular cat litter box, with the front end cut down to something like 1.5 inches tall. It is at least three times the ferret's size, and was the size of litter box he's used almost his entire life.

[raynebc]

What kind of vanilla extract is needed? Should it be real or is imitation fine? Does it need to be alcohol free? Most of the imitation contains at least something like propylene glycol which animals shouldn't ingest.

[Sherry]

Honestly, I'd go straight back to the beginning. I've had to do this a few times with mine.

[raynebc]

That leads back to a question in the first post in this thread:

Am I going to have to confine him to a small subset of his pen (ie. only large enough for food, water, a bed and a litter box) to force him to re-learn?

Is that all to be done? Would this be a good time to associate a scent with the litterbox (ie. vanilla)? If so, is cheap imitation vanilla that contains alcohol OK (since they won't be eating the litter and the alcohol should evaporate hopefully quickly enough)?

[Corvidophile]

The alcohol will evaporate almost instantly in such a small volume, you just need a few drops of the stuff. And, even true vanilla extract is suspended in alcohol, so don’t worry about imitation being worse for them. It just doesn’t smell as complicated.

[raynebc]

When he's been bad, I've been using a fence panel to confine him in a small space with the litter box (with just enough room to step out of it, lay down and sulk) while I clean up and give Reska time to eat her fill before Rusty eats everything (enforcing his diet). This may or may not be helping because it's only for short amounts of time instead all day long, so if the vanilla scent itself isn't enough to train him I'll make a small segment of the pen to keep him in long term.

[Sherry]

Nov 1, 2019 12:08:41 GMT -5 raynebc said:

That leads back to a question in the first post in this thread:

Am I going to have to confine him to a small subset of his pen (ie. only large enough for food, water, a bed and a litter box) to force him to re-learn?

Yes. Back to step one.

[raynebc]

I've confined him to a small portion of the pen for a couple days:


The rest of the pen for scale:


He's used the litter box properly these past couple days. How long until I should increase the size of his living space? And by how much should the space increase (ie. double it)?

[Sherry]

You don't want to move too fast. I'd give him a week before increasing his space. And then just go up to about double that size for another week, unless he backslides. I am assuming he does get out of there for playtimes?

[miamiferret2]

Ha! In 29 years of owning these animals I have never been able to train one to use a litter box! Mine are always free roaming so it is much harder to litter box train. I gave up.
They are stubborn and yes they do things out of protest. I get protest poops all the time. I use the puppy pads. I put them in the corners where he prefers to go.