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Oh no, I have a boy and a girl - Advice Please!

lh_111

New Kit
Hi there, hope someone could offer some advice. A few days ago I took on a pair of buns, on a long term, possibly permanent basis, from a friend who felt unable to give them the love and attention they deserve. This was in no way through fault of her own, and I won't bore you with details, but I was more than happy to help. I asked her if she knew the sexes, and she said she was not 100% sure, but they were definitely not 'one of each', as they have been together since birth ( July 08 ), and there has been no mating interest, and no pregnancy. They arrived, and have gone into my double storey 5'x2'x2' outdoor hutch (have been outdoors all winter). I know this is not an ideal set up, but is quite a bit bigger than they had before, and I thought would suffice until payday when I could invest in a 'mansion' for them. For the first 2 days I left them in their home to get used to their new surroundings, lightly handling them when feeding etc (they have not been handled much at all, and are not keen on it - will obviously be working on that). I was outside with them regularly, and did not see any hint of mating interest. This morning they came out for their first explore - and what do you know - immediate chasing and, ahem, humping. So with a couple of pairs of hands, and a very reluctant bunny, I had a good look, and lo and behold, I have 'one of each'.

So now, I have a couple of questions. Obviously Mr. Bun will be neutered asap, but what to do in the meantime. They are separate at the mo, but the earliest I can get another hutch is the weekend, and I realise the doe may already be pregnant. How much stress will I put them under by separating them (a necessary evil I guess)? As I said before, they have been together since birth, and are always cuddled up to each other. I feel terrible taking them away from one another. And I have to keep them apart for a few weeks after neutering, correct?

What would you advise? What can I do to minimise stress? Will they be very cold and lonely apart.

Many thanks for your help, sorry for the long post but I wanted to get all the details in so to hopefully get the best advice. x
 
How old are they? The birthyear did not come up right in your post. But even if they were born in July 2008, it's surprising that they didn't have any babies, yet.
Tricky situation. I would try and get the female neutered as soon as possible. Although you can't be sure that she hasn't been pregnant for a while. If this one was the first mating, then neutering would not be a problem. And you could keep the two together. They recover better from their operations, if they have a friend to look after them. And then get the male neutered as soon as you can afford it, so that he won't try to hump the female too much.

Edit: can see the birthyear now. :)
 
Yes if she is neutered first or both at the same time then they can go back together sooner as there won't be any chance of pregnancy without a womb.

I understand that you may not want to do this however as if she is pregnent then the spay would obviously terminate any existing pregnency, but the option is there. If this is the case then you should probably get him neutered on his own and keep them apart. Then you could consult your vet about whether they think they could do an ultrasound to see if she is pregnent and about when they could do this.
 
Oh OK, so you would suggest getting the doe spayed? I was thinking the buck as it is obviously less invasive (athough I realise that she also has to be done to reduce cancer risks). Could they go back together straight away, or is there an extended healing period? Plus it is rather cold outside, would she be OK? I'm very worried. Bringing them inside is not *really* an option, though obviously I would do it if necessary for her welfare. They both have thick coats, and I already have a house bun inside (actually their litter-sister, whose 'upbringing' has been very different, and is house trained and super friendly). Plus, I rent, and the house is 'no-pets' (although I have decided that a house trained indoor bun is, erm, 'excempt' from that ruling! )
 
Hi there, hope someone could offer some advice. A few days ago I took on a pair of buns, on a long term, possibly permanent basis, from a friend who felt unable to give them the love and attention they deserve. This was in no way through fault of her own, and I won't bore you with details, but I was more than happy to help. I asked her if she knew the sexes, and she said she was not 100% sure, but they were definitely not 'one of each', as they have been together since birth ( July 08 ), and there has been no mating interest, and no pregnancy. They arrived, and have gone into my double storey 5'x2'x2' outdoor hutch (have been outdoors all winter). I know this is not an ideal set up, but is quite a bit bigger than they had before, and I thought would suffice until payday when I could invest in a 'mansion' for them. For the first 2 days I left them in their home to get used to their new surroundings, lightly handling them when feeding etc (they have not been handled much at all, and are not keen on it - will obviously be working on that). I was outside with them regularly, and did not see any hint of mating interest. This morning they came out for their first explore - and what do you know - immediate chasing and, ahem, humping. So with a couple of pairs of hands, and a very reluctant bunny, I had a good look, and lo and behold, I have 'one of each'.

So now, I have a couple of questions. Obviously Mr. Bun will be neutered asap, but what to do in the meantime. They are separate at the mo, but the earliest I can get another hutch is the weekend, and I realise the doe may already be pregnant. How much stress will I put them under by separating them (a necessary evil I guess)? As I said before, they have been together since birth, and are always cuddled up to each other. I feel terrible taking them away from one another. And I have to keep them apart for a few weeks after neutering, correct?

What would you advise? What can I do to minimise stress? Will they be very cold and lonely apart.

Many thanks for your help, sorry for the long post but I wanted to get all the details in so to hopefully get the best advice. x

Hi, I had one of each and they took a while to mate and have babies ... I read somewhere that the female has to 'accept' the male before she lets him (no idea if that is true!). My buns were about 12 wks when I got them and didn't have babies until a good few months later (even though they were together the whole time). I seperated them after the birth and the mum wasn't that bothered (too busy I would imagine) however the boy missed the girl so much and in his eyes, it was all my fault! My boy bun would stamp and growl at me, bite me and attacked me - none of which he had done before. The boy has now been netured and after a few months apart from each other, I am slowly rebonding them and you can tell they have missed each other very much.

So my advise, then take the girl to the vet and get her sprayed if she isn't pregnant (or too far gone) and then get the boy done at a later date (or together if you can afford it etc). That way you wont have too much seperation time on your hands.

hope that helps
 
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They will need time apart to heal. They will still have hormones and obviously a spay is an invasive operation and he may try to hump her and that will damage her. If your hutch is double storey could you maybe block the ramp and have the girl upstairs and the boy downstairs (with some sort of shelter)? That would be a good temporary solution. You would have to rebond them after the operations, when they have both successfully healed.

They will both need to be inside to recover from their operations because they won't be able to regulate their temperature after the general anaesthetic. He will recover quicker than she will, so will be able to go outside a bit earlier, but they will both need a transition of getting used to being outdoor in the day again, and then progressing to overnight.
 
The best option would be to get them both neutered at the same time, then the male won't feel "up for it" and they can both recover. After an operation they will both have to be indoors for at least one or two nights, as they can't regulate their body temperature after a GA.
If you get the female neutered first, then you will definitely not have any danger of her getting pregnant. If the male then bothers her too much, I would keep him separate, but you will have to rebond them on neutral territory.
 
Bringing them inside for a few days poses no problem at all. I would want to so that I could monitor them more closely anyway. I was worried, however, that if I did this they would not respond well to being moved back outside. Thankyou all for your advice. I think having them done at the same time might be the best option. Will they have to ge kept separate after the op when inside so they do not hurt one another during the healing process?

I don't have any moral problems with spaying her knowing it will possibly result in a termination if she is pregnant. If she had a litter I would have to rehome the babies, and not knowing if they were being cared for properly would be far more likely to keep me awake at night.

One last question (sorry!), is it more dangerous to spay a doe if she is pregnant? I have to admit that my house bun is not yet done as I am terrified of something going wrong, and I cannot bear the thought of losing her. I know I will have to pluck up the courage at some point though.

Again, thanks, you have been very helpful x
 
I don't think it is a bigger risk to get her neutered if she's pregnant. Definitely not when it's in the early stages. But I would ask an experienced vet.
There is no problem with bringing them back outside after two days indoors, they won't lose their winter coats that quickly, and they are probably glad to be in their usual surroundings again. They probably get quite warm indoors, with all that fur.
If you get them both done at the same time, I personally would keep them together and see how it goes. If the male isn't bothering the female, then there should not be a problem. I had one of my girls neutered and she stayed with my three other bunnies, a male and a two females, the whole time. They even went to the vet with her. They were very careful with her afterwards and groomed her lots.
 
You'll need to speak to your vet - some won't spay in late pregnancy. Mine will spay up to 3 weeks, some are 2. If they are together now I would take to vets together & keep together during recovery - Bonded buns recover faster if left with their partners to recover as it's less stressful for them:D
 
I think it depends on how far along the pregnancy she is and also the vet in particular. Emergency spays are done quite regularly by some vets, but often they won't do it in the latter stages of pregnancy.

I personally think they will need to be separate while they recover, but if you can fix up something so they are next to each other and can lie next to and smell each other, that would be perfect. The reason I say they need to be apart is because he will recover quicker than her and he will pose a risk to her if he is a 'humper'.
 
its not easy to actually tell if a doe is pregnant but if they are not neutered chances are she will be and its takes around four weeks, she will start nesting when shes close to the time if you type in the search bar above there is loadsssssssss of advise on differant threads on what to look for and how to cope with them, they can produce anything from 1 to 10 babies ive just fostered a mum with 7 babies one unforuntanly died at 12 weeks as she was one of the weaker ones, babies are hard work and are messy once they are up and about the first few weeks you dont touch them, just check by wipeing your hands in the hay for moms scent and peeking to check all have plump bellies and removing any that havent made it, then you have the process of rehoming, it will be fine as long as you ask the right questions give advise from which you can take from here, and there are loads of people here who will help,:)
im not sure on the time apart bit as hes showing amourous behaviour it would be best to seperate and get to the vets asap, young buns its not normaly a prob to send them alltogether for a neuter and keep them together as some have said it is less stressfull for them
good luck kep us updated and welcome to RU :D
 
Just wanted to say Hi as I am in a similar situation to you, although younger than yours our 2 "sisters" have turned out to be brother and sister! We reluctantly seperated them to avoid pregnancy. We have housed them one upstairs and one downstairs with a shelter as someone else has suggested here - we also swap them over,top to bottom, and mix their bedding, wee's and poo's at the advice of the vet to keep them used to each other's smell. We also exercise them in the kitchen, (heating off and all windows open), with one of them in an enclsosed run with lid (and close supervision) and the other loose, we swap over here too. They chat through the wire, eat breakfast side by side and hopefully are remaining close friends! They weren't too happy for the first 24/48 hours but have got used to it now. He was done last week, but she is still too young for out vet to agree to do. He stayed in for a couple of nights, in the kitchen, we turned off the rad's - it doesn't need to be hot, just warmer than outside. When he went out again we did it in the day, gave extra shredded paper bedding (as they can't have straw etc until wound healed) and wrapped the hutch up well with quilt and polythene to ensure he didn't get cold.

I wish you good luck with whatever you decide.
 
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