Hello all,
Background:
A few months back we moved from an apartment to a small house. While packing one of our bunnies got really sick. We got her into the vet and after a week an a half she passed away. (Lina)
The problem now is with our original ball of fluff, Flop. We were attempting to bond Flop with Lina but, perhaps because of Flop living in our apartment for so long, it was not going well. They were fine in the bath tub but hey could not get along in any area that Flop was familiar with. We where hoping that moving to a fresh space would make this go better but with Lina’s passing we just moved Flop over to the new place.
Problem:
Since we moved Flop’s room has been upstairs in the second bedroom. This had several reasons including the fact that one of our friends is very allergic to bunnies, and it’s just the most space we could give him for when we were at work, among other reasons. The big problem is how things have been going since the move.
We like to try and bring him down to the living area when we are home so it would be just like at our apartment. A baby gate to keep him out of the kitchen when cooking but he could still come up to the gate and interact with us. We now have a dinning table that Flop likes to hide under, and the couch that he would come and bug us on. We thought this would be really great for him and at first it seemed like it was. Bust as the weeks have gone on we have see a shift in his behavior. He really doesn’t like coming down the steps. We have tried caring him, his carrier, a box and a basket to get him down the stairs. He is happy with non of them and simply hides under the table when we get him down here, and since we have cleaned up the kitchen he now is allowed access to the steps. As such normally with in 15-20 minutes of bringing him down he goes up the steps himself.
We stopped bringing him down as much and he at least stopped running from us when we walked into his room. We would just give him open access to the steps to come down on his own but he is too big for them. He doesn’t have too much of a problem going up but he can’t fit his whole body on a step when he pauses. So we have a great fear of him falling down them when we are not around. (He seems quite freaked out at the idea of going down the steps anyway so I don’t think that is a good option.)
As such he has been getting less attention than normal, to the point that when we are able to go into his room to spend time with him, he is super affectionate. Like puts his head on your lap when you sit down. Not normal for him before all this. But as we need to cook and eat and such we can’t spend hours just sitting in his room with him. But he will not interact with us when we bring him into the communal living area.
He has been eating normally. He doesn’t play with his toys, I have tried to cycle them. We tired to rearrange his room and he seemed to like it, but he has now started to destroy the carpet, first in hidden areas and now just in the general area. I can’t seem to engage him enough to keep him from being destructive. We have tied logic boxes, phone books, he is even ignoring his new ‘lunch letter’ that he always enjoyed.
As they were not bonded, I don’t think it would be from Lina’s departure. I was thinking it was the move at first but its been 4 months now. As such we are in a bit of a bind with what to do.