Should I be worried?

Since Frosty died, Smudge has been really quiet. She just lays where he used to lay and looks forlorn. We have been giving her cuddles and attention, though she isn't as active or vibrant as she was. Her and Frosty were closely bonded and would always snuggle up to each other at night and so on.

Cookie our other female rabbit doesn't seem that distressed and she isn't really a bunny bunny... as in she will lay with the others but she seems equally happy on her own.

Will Smudge be ok?

Oh poor Smudge How do smudge and cookie get on?

We really can't say whether smudge will be ok or not, but obviously hopefully she will be.

Is she eating, drinking, pooing, weeing?

Some bunnies need a new friend pretty quickly, maybe Sumdge is one of those. Have you tried giving her a cuddly toy to snuggle with (obviously under supervision to start with incase she chews it).

Is she bonded with Cookie?

louise and Gus said:

Oh poor Smudge How do smudge and cookie get on?

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Well Smudge and Frosty were really close. Cookie, being the third bunny is bottom of the pecking order and as such just keeps herself to herself most of the time, though she will lick and flop next to Smudge every now and again.

Smudge grooms Cookie but Cookie never really has got the idea that she is supposed to reciprocate... I think she is a bit "simple"... in a cute way.

Smudge lays where Frosty used to lay and licks the floor where his fur is and such. I haven't cleaned the room entirely as I didn't want to remove Frosty's smell completely.

Maybe its just me anthropomorphising her but she definately looks depressed to me and a bit lost.

Frosty and Smudge always used to cuddle up on the chair at night and snuggle each other to sleep. I'd come in the room in the morning and there they would be deeply tucked into one another and Cookie would be at the base of the chair asleep. This morning Smudge was on the chair on her own and she definately looked a bit sad and was really excited to see me.

Smudge just lays in Frosty's patch and every now and again comes out for a drink and a bit of a nibble but then returns to the patch and just lays down.

Sky-O said:

We really can't say whether smudge will be ok or not, but obviously hopefully she will be.

Is she eating, drinking, pooing, weeing?

Some bunnies need a new friend pretty quickly, maybe Sumdge is one of those. Have you tried giving her a cuddly toy to snuggle with (obviously under supervision to start with incase she chews it).

Is she bonded with Cookie?

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She is bonded with Cookie, just not as strongly as she was with Frosty.

I don't want her pinning away.... Cookie is just carrying on as normal pretty much.

I have thought about getting her a cuddly toy, maybe a fluffy white bunny like Frosty so that she can cuddle that, or maybe even a rescue male bunny as she seems to like male company (neutered though!). But then again, if I do it won't be Frosty and Smudge isn't really that friendly to new bunnies. Being top bunny that she is, she is fairly intolerant of any new bunnies... she hated Frosty at first, but soon they fell in love.

Charlie went weird after Mable went... He wasn't drinking as much, wasn't bothered about food (he was still eating - but not greadily) and generally looked unhappy.
It took him a few weeks, but he got back to normal eventually

Ok... now a little worried as Smudge is chasing Cookie and pulling her fur out...

This is unlike her.

I have missed what happened to Frosty, what was it that caused his death?

It may be possible to find a submissive guy to bond in and make a trio.

What caused the chasing?

Sky-O said:

I have missed what happened to Frosty, what was it that caused his death?

It may be possible to find a submissive guy to bond in and make a trio.

What caused the chasing?

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Frosty died due to general anaesthetic on Sunday. Really quick and unexpected, he was ok on Saturday. I'll link the other post about it all...

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=188580


Don't know what caused the chasing, just came out of the blue. Smudge pulled out a fairly large chunck of fur (just fur) and Cookie is pretty furry. They have sort of laid next to each other now, about 6" apart.

It might just be that they are reworking the heirachy, which is common when they lose a member of their group.

I was just wondering if what Frosty died of could be something that is making Smudge struggle to, but that's obviously not the case.

I would maybe look at ways for stimulating them, like changing their environment a bit, adding new toys, swapping things about, hiding food, things like that.

Recently I lost the most vibrant member of one of my trios and the other two were lost so I stimulated a lot and they have come through fine and are now much closer with each other, it took time though.

Need some more advice....

We are debating whether to deep clean the bunny room to remove Frosty's odour.

Is this a good idea?

Will it speed up depressed bunny recovery?