Cleaning litterboxes is a constant item on the bunny agenda. Keep it clean and they are happy. Forget to empty the litterbox and some bunnies may retaliate by doing their business elsewhere, often just inches away from the offending box. Doreen Giles shared with us a wonderful idea to make your litter last longer. If you have a bunny that eats litter or digs in the box, this design may just be the ticket. We have two different versions of Doreen’s great idea. When I saw the original I recalled a little white bunny that might get yellow feet, so I made a modification which is shown disassembled in the photo.

Doreen’s design is simplicity itself. All you need are two litterpans of the same size and a piece of window screening big enough to cover the bottom of one of them. First, drill a whole bunch of holes in one litterpan. You will need holes at least every half inch. Now assemble the litterpan in the following way. Fill the litterpan without holes with litter; an inexpensive clay litter could be used because Bunny won’t have access to it. Next, lay the window screen over the litter and place the litterpan with holes over the whole thing. And that’s it! The pan still needs emptying of the feces every day, but the urine will run through the holes of the upper pan to be absorbed by the litter below. Your litter will last a while longer and is easily separated from the poops. Your bunny will have a very hard time digging up the litter!

I have a few elderly bunnies and a younger one that has a neurological problem. Two are white and easily stain with urine. Thus I offer an alternate design that can drain the urine a little quicker. In this design, you still need two litterpans, and you also need a sheet of “plastic canvas” from your local arts and crafts store (the kind of plastic canvas used for sturdy needlepoint). This mesh sheet should be big enough to cover the bottom of the litterpan. As shown in the photo, I cut whole chunks out of the litterpan to hasten the drainage for my elderly and arthritic bunnies. I used a utility knife to cut away the bottom of the pan, following 1/4 inch away from the ridges the manufacturer put on the bottom of the pan. This gave me about a half inch of plastic that supported the base of the litterpan. Be slow and careful and you should have very few problems. Now cut the plastic canvas to fit inside the pans. I then used nylon wire ties (from Radio Shack or a hardware store) to attach the canvas to the top of the cut-up litterpan. Fill your intact bottom pan with litter, place your modified litter pan atop it, and you’re ready to roll!

These were quick projects, taking less than a half hour to do. When I was at the pet store picking up the pans, I noticed that the store was selling a similar project for seventeen dollars. I spent about six for the fancy version. Doreen’s idea is an all around winner.

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