Advice please: Sprocket and Widget- Widget not grooming Sprocket?

Hi all,

I'm a little concerned about Widget and Sprocket. As some will know we adopted them a week and a half ago. I'm concerned because Sprocket is trying to get attention from Widget - he goes up to her, puts his head down for grooming and yet she doesn't seem to reciprocate. In fact she licks me much more than she licks Sprocket. Sprocket also seems to be quite a needy bun in terms of attention and really loves a good head rub. They will sit together occasionally by I've not seen any of the loved up behaviour that my two boys were always showing each other.

When we first got them home, I noticed Widget also had a bite wound on her back which seemed to be fairly old and healing (there wasn't any discussion about this before I adopted them so I don't know if they were aware of the injury or not) but on Sunday when I checked on them mid morning it looked sore so I got her to the vet that afternoon, by which point it seemed a lot better. I've got some disinfectant for it which we're applying twice a day. Again it seems to be healing nicely.

I've not seen any signs of agression between them so I don't know if it was Sprocket that cause the injury in the first place.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Thanks,

Jo

No advice to offer really, apart from keep an eye on them.

But, by way of reassurance, the grooming between my two is very one sided too. They've been together a year, are very happily paired but Sooty (female) very rarely grooms Muppet (male) whilst he frequently grooms her. He tries to get her to groom him but she just looks at him in puzzlement and wanders off :lol:

Sooty was neutered on Monday so it'll be interesting to see if she's more forthcoming in the future.

I would suggest getting some yummy fruit baby food (make sure it only contains pureed fruit), something like the hipp organic apple and pear or apple and banana, and smearing a little of it on the bun's head. Sometimes the other bun then starts to groom them because of the yummy sauce, and it can help them to get into the habit

LOl I tried that with a cranberry and some pellets but Ian said I was mean! :lol::lol::lol: She did lick him a bit though so maybe I'll try that again...

I mushed up a pellet and put a little on each bun's head and we had a few licks from each bun after some coaxing, so I might just be worrying for nothing. But, there was one point when they both put their heads down in front of the other - assume they were both requesting grooming from each other and neither reciprocated. :roll: Sometimes they sit close together, other times they sit apart, but then it has been hot..

I was NEVER able to get Fluffy [male] to groom Daisy.She'd spend ages grooming him then shove her head under his at which point he'd wander off :roll:

I'm bonding my 2 boys at the moment. One of them Buttons is grooming the dominant bun Peter but Peter is not grooming Buttons back. I think some buns are just not into grooming it appears! I think they can still live happily together with one sided grooming

We have mutual licks and sitting close together this evening!!

I think I was worrying about nothing, Widget's wound has almost healed up now and they are both grooming each other more regularly now.