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PLEASE help, bonding a difficult rabbit.

charlie82

Mama Doe
I really, really need some advice from anyone who has experience bonding a 'difficult' bun. Teddy lost his partner this week and I am agonising as to what to do. I don't really want to take another bun on at the moment but don't want to leave him on his own.

He was living in the summerhouse along with Thumper, and then there is Milly who is in a pen in there. Two years ago she was bonded with Teddy (It was a long process) but then she started attacking him and I had no option but to split them because he was not eating. She has locked on with any other rabbit she has met, except with Teddy. She just knows that she can bully him because he doesn't retaliate when she bites him so she does it all the more. She has always been happy to live alongside them, and doesn't try attacking through the mesh but she won't share space. If any other rabbit is in there she flips out and goes mad to try and get out to get them. So....my problem is, if I get him a new friend it is going to upset her greatly, but I can't bring him indoors because he won't litter train.

I have Phoebe who lives inside who is a single doe and obviously Milly. I can't put Phoebe outside because Milly has almost killed her before, and I would never be able to relax about her being out there in the same room. I have let Teddy and Milly meet 'face to face' yesterday and today....but all that happens in Teddy stays completely still and is petrified. Milly goes up to him, sits next to him and then will all of a sudden turn round and attack him. Teddy doesn't retaliate so he ends up getting hurt. He won't move an inch when she is in the same room and his breathing is very rapid so he obviously gets very stressed, but as soon as I put her away he has the courage to hop off. I am not prepared to leave them together because I know what she has done to him in the past, but she confuses me with her attitude. She is completely relaxed around him and hops around as normal, washes herself next to him etc but wlil just not let him move. Last time they were only bondedfor about 6 weeks but I have to admit it wasn't an even relationship, she was a bully really, not letting him eat etc. I just don't know whether it's fair on Teddy to persevere when it stresses him and there is no guarantee that they will have a stable relationship.... I also don't want to force them together. Teddy was so happy with Thumper, they were best friends and always together.

Has anyone else has a similar bun to Milly when it came to bonding?
 
Personally I would try and get someone else to bond them so that they are off your premises and on totally neutral territory and then work from there. Rabbits that are territorial or have track records are usually better bonded elsewhere so that everything is totally neutral.

There is no reason why Phoebe could not live with Milly if you put up a tall board between the two sections of your shed so that they cannot see or reach each other.

I often successfully bond rabbits with track records including http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=115881&highlight=jack+emily this was to be Jack's 5th attempt at bonding
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=116348&highlight=jack+emily
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=118159&highlight=jack+emily
and more recently http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=123568&highlight=jack+emily
 
Personally I would try and get someone else to bond them so that they are off your premises and on totally neutral territory and then work from there. Rabbits that are territorial or have track records are usually better bonded elsewhere so that everything is totally neutral.

There is no reason why Phoebe could not live with Milly if you put up a tall board between the two sections of your shed so that they cannot see or reach each other.

SO there is hope?
The only have the option of them going elsewhere for bonding is to the rescue they came from, but it was there that their original bond was broken. They went back for a week and were put into a cage together and it tipped Milly over the edge. I tried for four months to bond them again and they wouldn't get past the stage they are at today. She repeatedly attacked him whenever he tried to move. Milly has a phobia about being shut in a cage. She lived with five other adult un-neutered females in a small 4ft cage and was ripped open down both her legs when the rescue got her. When she is in a cage she becomes very aggressive, in a large pen she is fine. I might try and bring them both into the house, keep them in the kitchen and see what she is like.
 
Personally I would try and get someone else to bond them so that they are off your premises and on totally neutral territory and then work from there. Rabbits that are territorial or have track records are usually better bonded elsewhere so that everything is totally neutral.

There is no reason why Phoebe could not live with Milly if you put up a tall board between the two sections of your shed so that they cannot see or reach each other.

SO there is hope?
The only have the option of them going elsewhere for bonding is to the rescue they came from, but it was there that their original bond was broken. They went back for a week and were put into a cage together and it tipped Milly over the edge. I tried for four months to bond them again and they wouldn't get past the stage they are at today. She repeatedly attacked him whenever he tried to move. Milly has a phobia about being shut in a cage. She lived with five other adult un-neutered females in a small 4ft cage and was ripped open down both her legs when the rescue got her. When she is in a cage she becomes very aggressive, in a large pen she is fine. I might try and bring them both into the house, keep them in the kitchen and see what she is like.

Sorry I used Milly instead of Teddy and have the wall between them Phoebe / Teddy with Milly the other side.
 
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