Bonding a newly adopted female with another spayed female

[kayleighxvx]

Hey all,

I have read these forums for info for a long time without posting, but finally I have some (roughly a billion) questions of my own. 

THE SITUATION:

I have a 4 y/o female lionhead rabbit named Peaches. I have had her since she was 1.5, and she has been an “only child” all her life until this past weekend. She is spayed.

I adopted a very gentle and sweet female lop (of some kind, unsure of the actual breed) named Suki, whose age is unknown (guessing around the area of 2 years old). She is not spayed, and has had a rough go over the past year and a half (5 different owners, all neglectful, and a false pregnancy). I don’t know much about her history, but knew enough that I wanted to rescue her and give her the life she definitely deserves. 

All in all, Suki is an extremely happy bunny (especially given what she’s been through) and she is adjusting amazingly to life with a new owner and a new house (minus the learning curve of litter training, which is to be expected). She is very calm, very happy, and very comfortable in the presence of people. 

Suki’s bottom is still quite dirty/a bit smelly from the owner she was rescued from. I don’t believe it is causing her pain or that it’s an emergency situation, but I am dying to get a better look and get her cleaned up. She is very comfortable laying down with her butt out, so I’ve been able to get an idea of what’s going on down there and there is some slight matting (she has short hair, it would be easily taken care of) and since her fur is white, the dirt is very visible. 

THE QUESTIONS:

As she is a new rabbit, I have held off on giving her a safe butt bath or cleaning her anal glands as I don’t want to put her through stress during an already stressful period of adjustment (I also don’t want her to be afraid of me, or associate me with unpleasant things like uncomfortable grooming). Should I just bite the bullet and do it and get it over with? Or should I give her a week or two to settle in?

In respects to bonding them: from all advice/knowledge I have gathered from this forum, I have kind of developed a “tentative” plan for bonding the two of them, but I would like input from anyone/everyone who cares to read this whole novel.

I am keeping them in enclosures in the same room, separated by a couch so they can’t see each other. 

Last night I let them see each other for the first time through the walls of their enclosures, it went well (minus a little nip from Peach when Suki put her face under her chin) and I let them go into each other’s enclosures to rub their scent on each other’s areas so they can get used to the smell of each other. This just kind of happened naturally, and I let them do what they were both doing- should I not have let them do this?

Because of Suki being new, I wasn’t planning on trying to rush bonding them, as her being comfortable in my house needs to come first (or at least I think it should).

Should I hold off on anymore bonding steps between them until I get Suki spayed? Since she has already experienced one false pregnancy, I don’t want Peaches to somehow stimulate her into having another. 

How long should I wait to start the bonding process between them (slowly)? I was thinking maybe a month, with occasional meetings with the wall of the enclosures between them and some toy swapping.

There are so many factors to be considered- I am feeling pretty overwhelmed and wanting to make sure I do this right so that every bunny is happy. 

Any and all help is appreciated, thanks to everyone who reads this. I will provide some photos of them/their rabbitats when I am home from work! <3

[drwil]

Is the room a “neutral” room, not used to house one of the bunnies alone? If so leaving them side by side in cages for even a few months is ok. They should eventually lay site by side in their respective cages. There really is no hurry let them get used to each other.

I did this with a male and female but they were given to me when the previous owner had an accidental litter. She thought she had two females, so my rabbits had already plenty of “experience” with each other before the bonding process.

[kayleighxvx]

The room is where Peaches lived before we got Suki and where I eventually will have them both. Should I put them both into the basement since it would be more neutral? I don’t like to keep them down there as there is no windows so no natural light. I have lived in the same house for a few years so Peaches has lived in all different rooms of the house at different times, including the basement.

[Azerane]

Keep them in the shared room, you will need a neutral room for when you start the bonding properly. You’re fine to do scent swapping etc now (unless it’s stressing Suki out given you only just brought her home) but I wouldn’t be doing any sort of introductions until a month after she is spayed.

In regards to the butt bath, it really depends on Suki. If she seems comfortable and like she has settled in well I would probably give her a butt bath and get her all cleaned up. If she’s still nervous and unsettled and running away from you, certainly leave it for now and let her get more accustomed to her new surroundings and comfortable before adding any more stress.

[kayleighxvx]

Thanks for the help! I gave her a bath and she was really good (loved being gently blowdryed) and she seems very happy now that her nails are trimmed (i imagine they’ve maybe NEVER been trimmed judging by how long they were on her back feet). she still will need some additional cleaning up back there (gonna try a dry bath at some point).
i will be getting her spayed in about a month so in another month after that i will begin with introductions in neutral territory.

thanks again!!

[Author]

Messages