Breaking up a bonded trio

[Harley&Thumper]

The shelter I work at has a bonded trio that is up for adoption. I don’t think it is very likely that one person will adopt all three of them at the same time. If they do that’s great but I’m not holding my breath. My question is, what can I do to try and prepare the rabbits for when they get separated. Should I introduce a stuffy that the 3 of them can play with and send that with the single or leave it with the single if two get adopted.

[Dface]

Realistically breaking up a bonded trio for any reason other than the health of one is a bad idea. Why wont the shelter keep them until they can be adopted together? Is it common practice to break up bonded pairs there as well?

Rabbits grieve for the loss of a mate, and the single will probably go through a mourning period that is often very heartbreaking. When rabbits lose a bond they can and do become depressed, and often spend time searching for their lost companions.

The pair that are left might be fine, or they may fight due to the balance in their dynamic shifting from a trio to a pair, and there might be a split there as well.

Adopting them as a trio is probably not that hard of a sell if they are already bonded and the person is already looking for a pair of rabbits (one more really doesnt hurt) and a lot of people with pairs go on to think about getting a third (from what I can see here anyway)

The toy idea is in my knowledge a counter productive one. Normally when a partner passes we give the rabbit the body to grieve, and establish that they should not look for their mate. In this scenario the rabbit will lose its partners and will not know where they are, and their scent being present will only prompt it to search more for its companions and make the adjustment period harder.

[Harley&Thumper]

I don’t get to make the call that the trio can’t be separated. What can I do to help the one(s) that don’t get adopted? I’m only with them two days of the week.

[sarahthegemini]

Tbh I would have thought that any decent shelter would simply refuse to split up a bonded pair/trio :-/ A rabbit can literally get depressed and die from being separated from their bonded friend. I don’t know what you could do other than try and get them to not split them up.

[Harley&Thumper]

Unfortunately when I talked to my supervisor about it her plan boiled down to, “we will keep a close eye on the ones that don’t get adopted.” This probably means I will foster them if they do poorly, which I don’t mind but I don’t know how my landlord would feel about more rabbits.

[Dface]

What can I do to help the one(s) that don’t get adopted? I’m only with them two days of the week

Some rabbits do fine when separated, personally I know when my boy passed, I nearly lost his mate too-she refused to eat or drink for days, needed round the clock reassurance to the point I took days off college to try and comfort her.
I gave her a stuff toy with my smell and her own smell. Moved it around LIKE a rabbit, showed her it in the litter box “eating” hay. Eventually I had to get her a new partner because she simply refused to get better by herself. She didnt bond with the new rabbit but she did better with another rabbit (even though she hated him passionatley)

[DanaNM]

That’s very sad…. I hope someone will adopt all three, and the shelter will reconsider adopting out a single from the group.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Mikey]

If youre going to split a trio, the best way to do it is very slowly in reverse. Ill use my split trio for example. Bombur and Blue are bonded, Badger is my single who used to be part of their bond/their trio. Badger eventually needed to be separated on health issues.

When we decided to split Badger, we used his old cage and set it up next to the other two. They could still see, smell, and touch one another through the bars. We let them have a shared play time for the first few days, too. We slowly started moving the cages farther apart, and started giving Badger much more attention. Over this time, Blue was a little mounty with Bombur, but nothing ever came of it/Bombur didnt care. It settled very quickly. I would say over the course of about a month and a half to two months we were able to successfully split Badger out of the trio and no one had any hard feelings.

Sadly, splitting a bonded group last minute in a sort of ‘yolo’ isnt going to help anyone. Its very likely all three of them will have negative side effects from being split so quickly. They would likely react similarly to their bonded mate(s) dieing unexpectedly.

[Harley&Thumper]

So it sounds like there is nothing I can do other than hope they don’t get split. That’s upsetting.

[DanaNM]

Is there anyway you can give this info to the shelter coordinator to encourage them not to split them up?

My rescue charges the same adoption fee for bonded pairs that they do for a single rabbit, to encourage people to adopt already bonded pairs (granted they do home visits and all that to make sure the bunnies don’t end up as snake food)…

Maybe they could consider something similar?

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Harley&Thumper]

The coordinator is aware of the risks but I don’t think she realizes just how bad it can get. I’m hoping she will reduce the adoption price for the trio.

[Harley&Thumper]

Update: The trio is going to be broken up tomorrow. Assuming the pet store is okay with it I’m going to try and spend a few hours on Saturday and Sunday making sure the two buns that get left behind are doing alright,

[sarahthegemini]

I’m appalled at the shelter tbh.

[Harley&Thumper]

Hopefully the one going off on her own will go to a family that has had rabbits before or has rabbits.

[DanaNM]

Wait, is it a pet store? Or a shelter?

If it’s a pet store, no wonder….

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Harley&Thumper]

In order to help the bunnies get adopted the shelter will place the rabbits at the local PetSmart and Petco.

[DanaNM]

Ah, I see.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Harley&Thumper]

So the two at the pet store are eating and pooping just fine and the closest they got to a fight is when one nipped the other to get access to the water bottle. They mostly ignored each other and took turns using the litter box.

[Harley&Thumper]

At what point can I relax and say they have safely made the transition for a trio to a pair?

[Sirius&Luna]

To be honest I’d be more worried about the bunny by itself than the pair. At least they have each other, and it doesn’t seem to have raised any immediate issues, but the one that’s been sent off to a new home, alone, must be totally bereaved. It’s very sad.

[Harley&Thumper]

For what it’s worth, the single bunny went to a family that already has rabbits and they are aware that rabbits have to go through the bonding process. Hopefully the shelter will check in and see how the single bunny is doing after a week or two but that’s beyond my control.

[sarahthegemini]

Poor bunny isn’t going to understand why he’s been taken away from his friends I’m pretty disgusted at the person/people that adopted him too tbh – if they knew all about the bonding process, then surely they’d know how awful it is to take one away from a bonded trio. Ugh.

[Bam]

It’s good he gets to a home where there are other rabbits. Hopefully he can be bonded there.

[Rain]

Poor baby, it’s like being taken away from your family all of a sudden and being thrown into a new one. Poor thing.

[Harley&Thumper]

I wish I had the chance to meet with the family that adopted him. Just so I could point out that we had single rabbits available that would have made the transition better and to setup some speed dating to see if their rabbit would get along with the rabbit they wanted to adopt. Sadly that is way above my pay grade.

[Rain]

It is not your fault. Although this is a horrible situation, it is not your fault, because you tried to do everything you could for the rabbit without putting your own job in danger (which is important). It’s the shelter rules that are the problem. It’s so wrong that even if you are not someone who is that much in charge of the shelter, that the people who are in charge don’t take the time to take advice and help from others. Just because they are in charge doesnt mean they are too good to take good advice from a person in a lower position than them. You did everything you could, though, and that matters.

[Harley&Thumper]

The trio is back together. Hopefully they accept the bunny who went off on her own. Apparently her new owners became allergic to her.

[sarahthegemini]

I call BS on that. I thought the new owners said they already had rabbits? Ugh, I’m disgusted. They’ve broken up a bonded trio because they’re too selfish to wait for a single bun to be available and then they have the audacity to make up lies and being it back? Despicable.

[Harley&Thumper]

Do you think the two at the pet store will accept their sister or try and fight her off? I know being siblings means nothing to the rabbits.

[Harley&Thumper]

Just talked to my supervisor and she isn’t going back to her sisters.

[Deleted User]

I think that’s a wise idea. I think because she’s been away for that long of a time, that they might not recognize her scent. How is the single one doing?

I think it’s awful they claimed to have buns, and then magically be allergic to this one. You’re allergic to one, you’re allergic to them all. Maybe they tried to rush the bonding process and or not properly bond at all, and she wasn’t getting along with the current one(s) and that’s why they brought her back. Either way, it’s cruel that they needlessly broke up that trio.

[Harley&Thumper]

For what it’s worth, they surrendered both of their rabbits. Because I would like to give them the benefit of doubt, maybe the second bunny just really aggravated their allergies?

[Dface]

This whole thing is very bizzare

Can I ask what charity it is?
Honestly to bring a rabbit into the home of people who are allergic to rabbits feels like they completely denied the place a home check, after making a huge lifestyle decision for a bonded trio with no consideration for the rabbits welfare.

[Rain]

I agree with all the replies above. How awful. That poor rabbit was torn away from her family and suddenly put with a new rabbit and now back at her old home again. I don’t think the trio would be able to be together again. It would be much too stressful for them. This is just so cruel. I’m a little confused. Is this at a pet store or shelter?

[Mikey]

Wait what? The owners randomly became allergic to their old rabbit and their new rabbit? I bet you there is another reason but they chose to lie when giving up their rabbits. It is, honestly, good they gave up both rabbits, atleast. It is also good that the original from the trio is not going back. At this point, too much time has passed and its very likely she would smell very different, so the previous two from the trio would see her as an entirely new rabbit.

[Harley&Thumper]

They split up the pair… Why would they split up the pair?

[Gordo and Janice]

Probably because some idiot somewhere sees them only as a commodity that will sell better as individuals versus a pair, would be my guess. Humans…can be the greatest species but somehow end up being the absolute worst so many times. Disgusting!

[Sirius&Luna]

this whole story is so sad

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Gordo and Janice on 4/03/2018 11:05 AM

Probably because some idiot somewhere sees them only as a commodity that will sell better as individuals versus a pair, would be my guess. Humans…can be the greatest species but somehow end up being the absolute worst so many times. Disgusting!

Humans are the worse species on the planet. So much that ‘us’ humans do is appalling. Those poor bunnies

[Harley&Thumper]

The bunny at the pet store wasn’t doing too good when I visited her today, not as many poops as I was expecting and honestly wasn’t that active when I took her to the play area. She also didn’t try to eat pellets out of my hand which was also unusual. Hopefully she does a little better tomorrow.

[sarahthegemini]

The shelter sounds like a boarding place of misery. Utterly appalling.

[Dface]

That shelter sounds absolutely appalling.
Do they know anything about rabbits at all? Because honestly they just sound like a place of cruelty.

[DanaNM]

Is this shelter a member of the House Rabbit society???? Can you report them to the HRS? This is really awful.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Deleted User]

Wow that is awful. Why split up the two? That makes no sense!! I don’t see why they split up the trio in the first place. Surely there was a single bun that could have been adopted. And it’s obvious that the family who relinquished her so soon were just full of BS…

This whole situation just screams to me that they really could care less for the rabbits. My local rabbit rescue has a ton of rabbits, and they are always doing dates between the singles and when they find a good match they just bond them and adopt them out as a pair. I feel like that’s the rational thing to do if you actually care about the animals you’re working with….

[Harley&Thumper]

The shelter is not affiliated with any other rescue group according to their website. With that being the case I don’t think I can really report them to the house rabbit society. Management recently changed who was in charge of the rabbits and things have gone to $*&! pretty quickly to be honest. This wouldn’t have happened 6 months ago.

[sarahthegemini]

Anyone that knows a thing about rabbits and actually cares for them knows not to go breaking up bonded rabbits willy nilly. They should be ashamed of themselves.

[DanaNM]

Posted By Harley&Thumper on 4/04/2018 1:53 PM

The shelter is not affiliated with any other rescue group according to their website. 

Well, there you have it. So is it privately run? Is there a board of directors? Affiliated with a humane society? It all just seems really shady. 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[GarfyTheLop]

Just catching up on this and it’s heartbreaking

[Author]

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