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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A How have your elderly rabbits responded to new rabbits- kept separately from them?

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    • Dee
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      704 posts Send Private Message

        Sorry for the long topic title, but I wanted to make it as clear as possible. For those who don’t know ne, I have an 8 year old female spayed lop named Nelli, and an 18 month old neutered male dwarf named Luke. After Nelli’s husbun of 7 years passed away, I adopted Luke as a mate for Nelli. Although she liked him upon meeting him at the shelter, she has never bonded with him. They had one fight that resulted in several stitches in Nell’s belly, which really made me lose my nerve. She is very aggressive and cranky toward him, and even through the gate, she will nip his nose and try to box him, then he retaliates. She also got very stressed during bonding attempts and her hind end weakness (from E. Cuniculi and/or arthritis) becomes very pronounced, rendering her unable to leap and run away if Luke should attack her. And even after living with only a fence (indoors) separating them for 6 months, they never displayed any grooming or real affection. I could trust them not to draw blood, but there were occasional nips that resulted in Lukie losing fur on his nose. Now I don’t even trust them that far.

        So I think they probably should not be bonded. Nelli is quite happy on her own, it seems. She has always been very reclusive and emerges from her box mainly to beg for treats. Her and Lukie are separated by 2 gates and a hallway- they can see each other but have no contact. I switch them to each other’s areas every few days and they chin everything. However, Lukie is quite the Mama’s boy and likes to sleep in the bedroom with me. He’s like a little dog- sleeps right at my feet ?. He has a nice life, but I watch him grooming his stuffed animal and think he would be so happy with a wifey. He has had his “Stuffy” since he moved in- it started out as a stunt double to aid in bonding but became Lukie’s little friend. He grooms it carefully every day- he’s just such a gentle, loving little guy and I hate to see him alone.

        My concern is Nelli- would another female rabbit in the house stress her too much? I’m hoping that someone here has experience with bringing another rabbit into a household with an elderly rabbit. As much as I would like to see Lukie have a mate, I cannot ruin the remainder of Nelli’s life. I should add that Nelli does show signs of kidney disease- increased water consumption and increased, diluted urine. She went from 5.5 lbs to about 4.5 lbs last year, but since then her weight is holding stable.

        Any experiences or opinions? I would really love some input from my smart Binky Bunny friends! ?


      • HotCrossBuns
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        44 posts Send Private Message

          Dee,

          I was in this same situation last summer. I had my 12 year old female, Brown Sugar and I had attempted to bond her in the past to another rabbit but it did not work out. Come last July, I decided to adopt a male rabbit, as I had never had males before, only females. I wanted to bond them, and since they had not fought when introducing them at the shelter, I figured it was worth a try.

          Well, they did not fight per say, but Brown Sugar never really seemed interested in Tucker (my adopted male). He absolutely adored her and she thought he was the bane of her existence. I had started letting them live together because they were getting along so well, but knew I had to stop when Tucker would hump Brown Sugar and she was just too weak to stop or fight back. All she wanted to do during the day was sleep and Tucker wanted to play. This March I had to put her to sleep because of cancer, there was not much left I could do for her, and I didn’t want her to suffer anymore. (She had an upper respiratory infection about a week before I put her down and slowly stopped eating).

          Anyways, come April I decided to adopt a new female to bond with Tucker and it went well, now they are bonded. Although I will say, Tucker was not as friendly to this new rabbit at first as he was to Brown Sugar.

          But my point to all of this is, if Nelli does not want another companion, I wouldnt force it. Bringing another female rabbit into your home to bond with Lukie shouldn’t be a problem as long as Nelli does not smell, or see her much. Brown Sugar never really minded other younger females being around, but that could of just been her. One option is is foster to adopt a rabbit in your area (if they do that sort of thing) and kind of test drive what adopting her would be like except you would first be fostering her. You could gauge Nelli’s reaction to the new female and see if it bothered her much.

          Good luck!


        • vanessa
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            One of my pairs, is Guinivere and Lancelot. She is about 2.5 years old. I suspect Lancelot is an older rabbit. The shelter I adopted him from didn’t know how old he was. His nails are thick and round, and he appears to be getting arthritic. When I bonded them, She was agressive, he was completely uninterested. It took him many months to show interest. I moved them in together after 3 months of bonding sessions, but it took another 4 months for him to accept her and show interest. Now thye are cuddly snuggly bunnies. I gave them both stufies while keeping them separately during bonding. Lancelot never paid attention to his stuffie. Guin now has 2 cuddly stuffies. She snuggles with them, grooms them, and is still cuddly with Lancelot. While they lived separately, she definitley gained comfort from having her stuffies. While I strongly feel that a bunny is happiest with a bonded pal, and I felt Guin was lonely on her own after losing her first husbun, the stuffies and pelnty of atention from me, went a long way towards making her happier. Even now that they are bonded, I let her keep the stuffies. She loooooves Lancelot, and she also loves her stuffies.
            I might first try to see if there si a way you can guage Nellie’s hapiness with stuffies and attention. It woudl be difficult to get another rabbit and find out that it doesn’t work either. I was afraid for hte longest time that Guin and Lancelot wouldn’t work out. I even contemplated and started to – separate them and bond Guin with my other pair, and keep Lanceloton his own. Sorry – it is a difficult desicion…


          • Dee
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            704 posts Send Private Message

              Hot Cross Buns and Vanessa, thank you both for your replies! It really helps to get other perspectives. So both of your older rabbits were not immediately thrilled at having a new companion… maybe they’re like many elderly people in that way, just generally more set in their ways and less open to new companions.

              Hot Cross Buns, I’m sorry about Brown Sugar. I had a very similar situation with Nelli’s husbun- even though you know its the right thing to let them go, it’s still so terribly sad.

              I think Nelli is pretty content. The factor of her wanting to rest and Lukie wanting to play was something I worried about too, and now I know it is a real issue. Nell still hops around quite a bit, but she doesn’t run and binky anymore- although she sure can move when I try to catch her for nail trims! She is on a course of Panacur now to see if that helps her hind end weakness. Just like you said, Hot Cross Buns, I think if Luke was to hump Nelli, it would be difficult for her to get away from him. Her legs get much worse under stress.

              Vanessa, I’m so glad it worked out with your bunnies! I admire your persistence- sometimes I feel that I just haven’t tried hard enough. Then I think of Nelli’s age and issues and think, if it’s not an easy bond I should probably just leave it alone. Oh speaking of stuffies- this is a rather telling story about Nelli and Luke. When I first brought Luke home, I rubbed the stuffie on Nell and gave it to Luke. He groomed it and inspected it very gently. Then I rubbed the stuffy on Luke and gave it to Nelli. She promptly grabbed it by the head, dragged it into her house and mauled it ?. Not too promising, and kind of foretold their future!

              The fostering idea is great! Only thing is if Luke falls in love, but Nelli is going crazy over it. My morbid mind thinks, what if I get another bunny and Nelli quickly declines and dies?? I’ll always think it is my fault.

              I guess for the time being I will wait. I might have Nell’s kidney functions looked at- that might help me decide. If she is in good health and likely to be with us for a long time, I will get a wifey for Luke. But if Nelli’s kidneys are really failing, I will let her live out her life in peace with no newcomers to bother her. I wish rabbits could talk ?!!!

              Thanks again for your replies and excellent input and ideas!

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          Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A How have your elderly rabbits responded to new rabbits- kept separately from them?