Bonding with my new rescue

[llmjdd]

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[CheriB603]

My last bun was a sweet mini rex who litter trained from day one, was reasonably well behaved (once all wires were covered) and had the run of the house. After a year or so we thought he might like a “friend”. (He was already great pals with our dog & cat ). Well, let me tell you – our sweet little angel turned into a (territorial) pooping, peeing, growling, thumping, biting Tasmanian devil! We tried for weeks to bond them, male & female, neutered, but finally we decided that we had really screwed up a good thing for no reason and gave the other bun back to the friend who had given her to us. (She raises them and had no trouble finding her a great home). It took weeks for our guy to calm down and relearn his litter habits. Now, I’m not saying it can’t be done – there are many stories of bonding success here – I’m just saying, before you rock your buns’ world, ask if HE needs a pal, or do YOU want another pal. I hope it all works out great!!

[Valkyrie]

A few months ago I decided to get Merlin a friend. He was getting old and no longer wanted to spend as much time out of his cage playing with the cat. I thought getting him a friend would convince him to come out more or at least make sure he didn’t get lonely. I got Bromley at 5 weeks old and started introducing them in tiny amounts (I wasn’t going to fully try until Bromley was neutered since they were both males). Mer was a little aprehensive at first, I guess because he thought Brom was a really funny looking cat, but soon enough they were nuzzling a bit and eating hay together. Everything was fine and I even had them out together (Mer just sat beside me the whole time so I could easily keep Brom away if he got too rough), but then I made a mistake. I was feeding Mer some of his treats and Bromley and the cat went to walk by. Mer ran over and started boxing Bromley!! I couldn’t believe it!!! Mer never had an aggressive bone in his body and aside from Brom giving a couple of playful nips, this was the first incident EVER and they had been hanging out for months!! My advice is not to bring in treats just in case!

[mia]

If they are fixed, two males doesn’t mean it’s harder (my male-male is easier than male-female). It really depends on the buns and bun to bun relationship is different from bun to other species relationship.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I agree with miaeih. Two males are not necessarily more difficult to bond. It depends more on their personalities.

The bathroom or bathtub, if he considers the bathtub his, is a good neutral place to start bonding.

Is that Patrick in your profile? Super adorable!

[Author]

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