Help with peeing

[kcebsllim]

I have had my chinchilla for about a month and a half now. I notice that when she pees she backs her little butt (which is quite adorable) up to the side of the cage and pees. I have a critter nation cage, and the urine will drip down the side of the pan and onto the bottom of the cage. I would like to litter train her, but I havent seen her choose one corner for her potty, its scattered around. If i put a pan with chin safe litter in it will she naturally use it? If she is stubborn like her mama and doesnt want to be litter trained, is there soemthing I can do to eliminate her peeing out the side of her cage? Thanks in advance!!

\\:thumbsup:

 

[AZChins]

You have a good chance that you would litter train her. Put some soiled shavings in a litter pan first, that usually is the best way to let the chin know that going in the pan is a good idea.

There are some chins that never get the hint and continue to urinate wherever they want. If that ends up being the case, you may want to look into having some pans made for your cage so that the urine (and everything else) is more contained.

 

[kcebsllim]

AZChins - I use fleece liners as litter. Should I just get some wood shavings?? Would it have the same effect??

 

[Cinder and Me]

I used a glass pie dish with shavings in it. That way, I only have to change the pie dish every few days verses cleaning the entire cage every few days. I put the pie dish in the corner my chin used to pee in.

I will attempt to potty train my boy, but I need to figure out where he prefers to do his business first. haha

 

[AZChins]

I don't have much experience with litter box training chins with fleece. I have just used pine shavings in the past.

It may be better to use shavings because the smell and texture is different from the fleece in the rest of the cage...so she can learn that is the special place to urinate for you.

 

[DevnChip]

I had some luck with one of my "pee anywhere" chins. I use fleece liners for both cages and pine shavings for the potty dish.

I read in another post (can't find it right now) that you should watch for the event and then soak up some of the fresh pee with some of the shavings. That's how you can get wet shavings in a cage lined with fleece. Put the wet shavings in the dish with some fresh shavings. I just dropped the wet ones in on top. Then place the dish somewhere you know the chin has used. When you see the dish has been used, clean it, refill it and put some of the used shavings back on top.

I gave him a treat when I noticed he'd used the dish, then cleaned it right away to show him it would be a clean place to use as well. I used some of the freshly soaked shavings to "re-seed" the dish until I was sure he was deliberately using it (about two weeks). He prefers the dish, but still uses the other corners even though I keep the dish as clean as I can. I change it out every time I see he's used it. My other chin doesn't make any effort to move his mess far from where he is and doesn't like having to climb into the dish.

 

[AZChins]

Oooooo...DevnChip...I will have to tell my customers about this method!

 

[javachin]

Like Dev said, you'll have to somehow get soiled shavings and put them in the dish. Some take to it and some don't. I've had an 80% success rate when I've tried litter training my chins. Good luck!