Litter Trained during the day, but not at night?

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CarrotCube

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2018
Messages
11
Its ben a month since I'm trying to swap from bedding to fleece, not fleece liners, just covering the bottom of the cage with fleece, but have a litter box.
Untill he is properly litter trained he is barebottom in case he has "accidents" and if he starts peeing on fleece, he might just start peeing on everything fleece. Maybe? I hope not.
The thing is, I only find urine outside the litterbox in the morning. The rest of the day, he goes inside the litterbox and pees there.
Its only when Im sleeping he rebels.

Now here is the tricky part, he doesnt just pee on a "night corner" he pees anywhere on the bottom part of the cage.
In any of the 3 corners as wel as the middle. I cannot predict where he is gonna pee at night, but again, he only pees in his litterbox when Im awake it seems.

Everyday for the past 2 weeks Ive ben taking paper to clean it and leaving it inside the litterbox, cleaning the spot with vinegar.

Im considering getting him a second litterbox in the meantime, but I just dont know where to put it.

Anyone else with a similar experience?

Oh btw, he is 6 years old now, but I believe old dogs can learn new tricks.
 
If you just swapped out bedding and added fleece that's not really litter training, some chins get the idea right away, but not all do. Also keep in mind that not all chins want to be litter trained, some, like mine, will just pee where ever not in any particular corner or even just in the corners. You are really just working with the chin's natural preference to pee in a corner and on bedding rather then fleece. My guess as to why he only uses the litter pan during the day is he is less active and thinks about ok go to litter pan. Where as during the night he is bouncing around playing and then just peeing where ever. As I mentioned, my guys will literally just take two steps from where ever they are and pee, then carry on playing.

You can try to train him to go on the bedding by putting bedding down over the whole floor of the cage again. Then over time (weeks) remove the bedding from parts of the floor until it's just in the corners and then the one corner you want. Also from what I've heard it can take a couple week of consistently using the litter to get the hang of it. Once he is going where you want then you can use a litter box.

Also are you washing the fleece after accidents? Actually taking it out of the cage and putting it in the washer. If you aren't the pee smell is likely lingering so he still smells pee everywhere he peed. Even though my guys aren't litter trained I do use fleece, and they only pee on the bottom and the one fleece shelf were their house is. They don't pee in the fleece hammocks.
 
@Amethyst

Oh no I dont have fleece at the bottom of the cage, its barebottom. I put bedding in his litterbox, but cleaning the spot where he pees with vinegar, i dont want fleece there yet as not to wash it constantly.

And for the night thing, yeah mayb he is a little too excited, nevertheless thinking back on it, he never pees where I cleaned with vinegar so I may just clean everything with vinegar and not just the spot where he peed. Maybe that way he will get the idea.

I know Chins can be very stubborn but so can I, if in some months he keeps peeing everywhere I will then give up, but for now, seeing as how he does use the litter box I will keep trying.
Imo Litterboxes are nicer looking, more clean and for what I know they are cheaper than covering the entire bottom with bedding and then replacing it all. Or at least it does seem to be cheaper.

When we wash the fleece, usually every 3 months or so, yeah we take it out, but again he is on a barebottom cage so the accidents are easy to clean with vinegar and paper. No soap or anything, just in case.
 
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