Newbie- Bonding question i cant find elsewhere!

[Slim]

Hello everyone, I have a 2 year old male who ive had since a kit, and a 2 year old female, who ive had for about 6 months who are both altered.

Ive been attempting to bond them, with some success. The female is generally the one to start nipping, the male seems to be a hopeless romantic. Though, it seems with the more success I have, the less the male wants to eat. I have had their cages side by side for quite some time before starting the bonding, and just today ive put something (rubber maid bin) between their cages because one of them is thumping during the night and waking me up at night. Hes also been quite moody lately. Always hunched up in a ball, and a lot more affectionate than he has been previously when I do pet him.

My main issue right now is the boys eating, is this normal? Hes not completely stopped eating, he will eat treats no problems, but veggies, pellets hay and even water are quite a bit less than normal consumption for him.

The only thing I can think of, is ive changed their pellets a bit. Since I buy pellets with a lot of “junk” in them seeds banana etc I put some extra just pellets in so theyre not getting too much junk. But hes never had an issue with anything hes been fed before.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

[Bam]

Hi! i don’t think this is a bonding question, or rather it’s like a mixed bonding and health-care question.
It’s always worrisome when a bun starts to eat less. It’s very good that he still takes treat though, because a really sick bun won’t take a treat and that’s when it’s about to become an emergency.

Bonding is stressful to rabbits, not necessarily in a very bad way, but it is upsetting to their system. All forms of stress have some impact on their gut. Not wanting to eat hay and healthy stuff could lead to gut slowdown. From that, he could get gas, that’s very common and gas is painful for a bunny. According to Medirabbit you can give baby gas drops (simethicone) on suspicion of gas, it’s bunny safe. I always keep baby gas drops at home for this reason. There’s no hard scientific evidence that it actually helps, but it’s harmless and many bunny-owner (f ex I) swear by it.

Junk in rabbit food can be fine for a young bun who is growing and energetic, but not good for an adult bun, so his getting to be a mature bun could mean he doesn’t tolerate the “junk” like he used to. I’m sure you know that dried fruits etc are bad for bunnies, so I won’t lecture you on that =) but I do think it would be a good idea to try and very slowly taper out the junky mix and replace it with plain good quality pellets. This needs to be done over a month or even longer, rabbits don’t tolerate rapid food changes very well.

The mainstay of a bun’s diet is hay though, so his not eating hay is a problem. Sometimes it’s the hay, f ex a new batch of hay that has a different texture than the type the bun likes. They can be quite picky with hay. Sometimes it’s the bunny’s teeth, especially the molars. They grind their food with their molars and that’s important for dental wear. Buns can develop molar spurs that makes grinding tough food painful, so they stop eating hay. This in turn results in the molars being worn less and the spurs can grow even more (vicious circle). The gut doesn’t get enough fiber, which makes it work less well. This can lead to gas or sticky poop or very very small poop and in the longer run even GI stasis. If this goes on, you should have your vet check his molars.

These are just a few of my thoughts, but it could perhaps be a starting point. If you get his food/tummy-issues sorted, your chances of bonding your buns will be greater – well obviously. There are limits to how charmful you feel when you’re having tummy trouble, that goes for humans as well as rabbits.

[Slim]

Thank you for the reply.
I was concerned he was sick and thought there could be a possibility that it was bonding stress related, and I guess i’ll never know for sure.I’ll look into simethicone!

I actually didn’t know that dried fruit is bad for buns, now that I look, it has the odd piece of dried banana but that’s it. It has some varied sized pellets, some seeds, and some extruded “carrot” pieces similar to treats often seen. I’ll definitely look into a straight pellet food after this is done and over with! The both of my buns sure do love it though.

I ended up taking Brap to the vet, and his physical was perfect, no tooth issues, good temp etc. Ended up getting an xray which did confirm my suspicions of GI stasis. He was given some water under the skin and a shot, now I have to force feed him every few hours which is a very interesting battle! But he’s on the mend, isn’t eating much but did get some poop out of him!

[Bam]

I’m very sorry to hear he went into stasis. Sending many healing-vibes for him (((((Brap)))))

It really is a battle to syringe-feed a bunny! As long as you get sth in him every few hours it’s ok, a lot of the critical care (or what it is that you are force-feeding him) will inevitably end up on you and on the buns face and breast. It’s a good sign if he washes himself after. That he’d normal temp is an excellent sign! But make sure anyway that he keeps warm, f ex by offering a hot water bottle wrapped in a blankie so he can snuggle up to it or move away from it as it suits him. Sick buns tend to get low temp and that of course slows the system even further.

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