Bonding bunny to a widow

[Sam]

We lost our buck Chester on Sunday night, he was going to be 3 in August so very young. Tragic. He leaves behind the most affectionate creature in the world, Penelope who is a 2 yeaR old Dutch. She has always lived with Chester and, though she realised he had passed and seems okay, I think it would be best if we got her a new friend. We have seen an 8 week old Buck that is a cross between Chester (harlequin) and Dutch, which seems apt. Would you get him or maybe find a neutered Buck of a similar age?

[Vienna Blue in France]

So sorry for your loss. That’s a hard one to answer. I would let Penelope choose on a speed date… is that a possibility?

[Sam]

Thank you, it’s the most heartbreaking thing in the world. Yes, we have been in touch with a rehoming place near us and are going to take her to meet a few of the bucks to see how she gets on with them and, if she likes one we’ll bring him home. I think that is the best thing to do.

[Vienna Blue in France]

That’s sounds a great plan !

If you would like to write more about Chester, what sort a bunny he was and post some photos in the Rainbow Bridge topic section, that sometimes helps to start to mend a broken heart.

And certainly, piccies of Penleope and her new ‘beau’

[Sam]

We have rescued a 16-week-old bunny and named him Hamish. We introduced Hamish to Penelope in the corridor outside where we live (neutral territory) and Penelope rubbed her head on Hamish a lot and that was about it (I think she is asserting authority). We had two cages combined to make one long run but have separated them so that Penelope has one and Hamish the other. We have put Hamish away and now Penelope is trying to get to him, has put her mouth through the bars a couple of times and is leaving droppings everywhere! Not sure whether to keep them as they are or move Hamish to another room. SHe has made a couple of aggressive noises.

[tobyluv]

Is Hamish neutered? At his age, it’s possible that he is already neutered, but if so, it would have been done recently, and you should wait a month after the surgery for the hormones to abate, before attempting bonding, or letting them be together. It would be best not to even let them have access to one another through the cage bars until he has been neutered and the proper time has elapsed. Otherwise, you might get bitten noses or mouths, and rabbits that come to dislike each other if they have been bitten.

[Sam]

No he isn’t neutered, we are going to get him neutered as soon as we can. Would you keep him in a separate room for the time being and introduce them in neutral territory?

[Vienna Blue in France]

Golly. That was quick. 9hrs after the first post. Lol. Lucky Hamish.

I wouldn’t separate them completely. I would put them separately in the same room so they can get used to each other visually and their smells and then you could eventually start swapping blankets or litter trays to get them used to each other. Normal bonding rules…

Definitely no contact via bars. Atleast a couple of feet away from each other I would say. No threat to either, from either.

[Sam]

Penelope is a huge socialite and hates being on her own, plus we knew it would make everything easier if we rescued a boy as soon as

We kept them in separate rooms overnight and placed them together in a neutral territory (the corridor in our apartment block) and Penelope was okay, make a couple of noises, rubbed her scent everywhere and did dig Hamish a couple of times. We put them together again this morning in the same place and Penelope chased him and I got a little nip on my hand when getting between them but other than that she mainly ignored him (which I think is a good sign). I’ve taken time off to be at home with all the animals this week so I will bring Hamish’s cage in to where Penelope’s is but keep him inside his. We are going to get him neutered soon, I think he is old enough but will speak to our vet for his recommendation.

[Sam]

Hamish is in the front room now inside his cage and Penelope has free roam of the room. She has produced a line of droppings along his cage and clearly wants to get to him. I’m going to leave things as they are for the minute and see how things go today. I may move Hamish back into the bedroom if Penelope doesn’t settle down. She’s eating at the moment so we will see how she gets on.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Ok. Be carful not to give her too much “power” over him by her being freeroam when he’s being in cage. Swap them around every 24hrs, but NI contact through the bars.
I did. It was an error and when bonding started and the male turned out to be top bun, my female took aaaages (and alot of scrapping and stubborness) to accept it.

[Sam]

Yeah I realised pretty quickly that having her out and him in meant she just tried to get to him. I have moved him into our bedroom. We have had one more interaction in the corridor where Penelope was a bit aggressive so I tried the banana thing where they eat it and put some on each other and she did lick him a little so that’s encouraging. I also used the hoover while they were out there and they were sitting next to each other and not very far apart without fighting or anything then separated them. We will keep them in separate rooms for the time being and see how things go.

[Sam]

So we took both Penelope and Hamish to the vet yesterday evening to have them checked over. They lay next to each other during the journey and while we were waiting and seemed to bond over the stress (Penny was very stressed bless her but on a positive note we think it helped their relationship), both fine Penny could lose a bit of weight so we’ll start to reduce the amount of nuggets she has in the coming months once other stressors have died down. Hamish is all healthy so that’s good. Similar car journey home both next to each other in cardboard box – no problems. Vet recommends castrating in around a month’s time as he thinks Hamish is 12 weeks old, so we’ll wait and see how he develops. We put them together just before bedtime in the corridor and Penelope was slightly aggressive but it feels as if she is starting to tolerate him.

This morning I swapped their cages over without Penelope being able to see so they’ll be living in each other’s homes for the day. I intend on swapping them every day or every other day. We both feel that it’s only a matter of time before they’re bonded. It’s not ideal that Hamish isn’t neutered yet but we’re willing to be patient as Penelope seems happier already or at least a little more content.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Thats great.

[Sam]

I agree. Slowly slowly catchy monkey

[Sam]

Very frustrating bonding attempt today. Tried giving them both vegetables and Penelope was still quite aggressive, chased him and pulled some fur out so we got the hoover out and put them side by side for a minute and then stopped. Very frustrating, think we may have to wait until Hamish is neutered but that won’t be for a month then we’ll need to wait until he has recovered from surgery. It’s such a shame because Penelope is such an affectionate bunny when she wants to be and will be inseparable from Hamish in a few months time, feels like she’s cutting her nose off to spite her face but I guess this is how it has to be.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Trust me, been there, done that. I had to wait 2 months. But it’s worth the wait.

I do feel though (sorry) that you’re rushing things.
Hamish only came into your house 48 hrs ago, so it’s not surprising that Penelope has had her lovely nose put out of joint.
You should swap cages and litters and smells a few weeks before even attempting physical contact.
Of course some bonds are easy peasey and may not need these first bonding basics… but it sounds as if Penelope just needs a little more time to understand that he’s here to stay, and that he’s a friend.

if only we could speak to our furry ones and explain it’s all going to be OK and not to stress so much. But we can’t.

Please don’t jeopardise now, what may be an easy bond process once he is neuteured and once she has got used to him.

[Sam]

Thank you for your advice, we will definitely slow things down and stop the physical contact for the time being and just keep swapping the cages.

[Sam]

Thank you for your advice, we will definitely slow things down and stop the physical contact for the time being and just keep swapping the cages.

[Sam]

Update: Wow what a few days we’ve just had. So for the week after I lasted posted we swapped the cages around but kept the bunnies separate. We tried a few interactions with some being okay and others not too good which was quite disheartening. Last Thursday we took both bunnies and our cat on a long journey (~1.5 hours) with the bunnies in a cage together. They were absolutely fine and even spent some time in a cage together when we got there. Penelope did start to chase Hamish a little after a while so we separated them, kept them in separate cages and put them together in an enclosed courtyard with lots of pots to dig in, grass to chew etc and, though Penelope did chase Hamish a few times, for the most part they were great together, she even groomed him! We had four days of this which seemed to go really well. (I imagine the neutral space helped!) Fast forward to today when we got home, we have the cages side by side in our living room and have allowed the bunnies to bounce around together. Penelope has chased Hamish a few times but it doesn’t seem malicious. They have been laying together, grooming and generally seem happy to be near each other.

I can’t tell you how happy I am with the progress. We will keep them separate for the foreseeable future as it still seems early to have them in a cage together overnight. Hamish’s testicles haven’t dropped yet but when they do we still intend on having him castrated. That should be the last piece of the puzzle!

[Author]

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