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Is there a way to tell if a bond will be easy/hard BEFORE spaying?

nessar

Warren Veteran
I am faced with the decision of whether to keep the mummy of the rexes I rescued. Now she isnt spayed, is there ANY way of guaging suitability with my pair before spaying? Because if they didnt bond as a trio I couldnt keep her :(

But I know she'll be fairly hard to rehome is she goes into rescue, as she is so scared, but she is getting better and sort of trusts me now :love: and despite not naming her to stop this happening I have actually grown attached.
 
Do you have any other small pets to test with?

I know I'll probably get jumped on, but with Islay and Jura, I've let them meet the guinea pigs (who are about the same size as Arran). They have accepted them fine. I know bunnies are different, but I am hoping the positive reaction they had to other small animals will apply to Arran too when I start bonding. Does that make sense?
 
I honestly don't think there's any way to say how easy/difficult a bond may be until it's done.
You might get an indication with first impressions, but two buns that hate each other at first may bond very successfully, whereas others which seem to like each other may fail. It gets more complicated again with 3 as they can take a while longer to establish pecking order.

All you can do is give it a go, and if it doesn't work then at least you've helped out a rescue by trying to give her a home and getting her spayed, as well as trying your hardest to do the best thing by her.

I hope this all works out for you :)
 
I honestly don't think there's any way to say how easy/difficult a bond may be until it's done.
You might get an indication with first impressions, but two buns that hate each other at first may bond very successfully, whereas others which seem to like each other may fail. It gets more complicated again with 3 as they can take a while longer to establish pecking order.

All you can do is give it a go, and if it doesn't work then at least you've helped out a rescue by trying to give her a home and getting her spayed, as well as trying your hardest to do the best thing by her.

I hope this all works out for you :)

This ^
I couldnt rehome one of my own rabbits without having them spayed/neutered first. Id worry about them being used for breeding. I could find them the best home in the world and they could have an accidental litter or for some reason end up with someone who doesnt give a :censored: :( That thought alone makes it worth spending the money. Some understanding people who want the rabbit and not a cheap pet may pay some of the costs

Id have her spayed and try the bond anyway :) Whatever you decide, good luck! :wave:
 
Now dont everyone eat me for asking, but if I was very careful could I have her meet my pair? I confess to already sort of doing this by putting my pair who were in a carrier near her when I was swapping them over in the run. They sniffed each other but I didnt let her put her nose through the bars which she wanted to do.

Could I put them in the (large) bathroom together for a while? I know its not reccommended but people on here have unspayed females in pairs....

I know its not sensible to keep her and I keep making the decision not to, but then I go outside and see her and she looks so vulnerable I change my mind straight away.

eta- about the rehoming thing, dont worry if I dont keep her she will be going to Windwhistle Warren and will be spayed before rehoming and I have every confidence that Alice will find her a loving home eventually, but I just know she's going to be hard to rehome.
 
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Do you have any other small pets to test with?

only the hamster so no :(

My pair bonded very easily so if there is going to be a problem it will be her I think. But my pair dont have a particularly strong bond, they like each other but dont groom etc and have only been bonded since April so I am worried that she may rock the boat and I'll end up with my two broken up or one of my two would bond with her and leave the other out :( which would be terrible.

Plus theres money to think about... for some reason my buns seem to cost me way more than everyone elses on here! And she is likely to need a dental from what her diet was like, plus spaying plus vhd vacc.... there are all these reasons why not to keep her but I want to so badly!
 
You need to be careful as rabbits are very territorial so any meetings on non neutral territory - even through mesh - will be treated as a rabbit trying to invade. Any defensive behaviour that happens in that situation can influence the chances of a bond in future as rabbit remember bad associations.
 
Dont worry it will be on neutral territory. I cat decide what 'bars' to do it through though, normal NIC cube panels would allow them to get their whole nose through (and hence possibly get it bitten! ) whereas the mesh panels they may not be able to see through. The run mesh would be ideal, but they have both been in the run. I take it moving the run to a different place is not enough to make it neuteral :? ?

If she reacts badly I know this is not necessarily indicative of how she'll react post-spay, but if she reacts well is this likely to be how she'll react post-spay?
 
Now dont everyone eat me for asking, but if I was very careful could I have her meet my pair? I confess to already sort of doing this by putting my pair who were in a carrier near her when I was swapping them over in the run. They sniffed each other but I didnt let her put her nose through the bars which she wanted to do.

Could I put them in the (large) bathroom together for a while? I know its not reccommended but people on here have unspayed females in pairs....

I know its not sensible to keep her and I keep making the decision not to, but then I go outside and see her and she looks so vulnerable I change my mind straight away.

eta- about the rehoming thing, dont worry if I dont keep her she will be going to Windwhistle Warren and will be spayed before rehoming and I have every confidence that Alice will find her a loving home eventually, but I just know she's going to be hard to rehome.

Rescues have enough vet bills to pay, I would still say you pay for her spay, regardless of what you decide.

I have put Skye with my 2, and shes not spayed yet, but she hasnt hit that hormonal stage either. It caused a bit of a kerfuffle between my 2, but they settled down quickly.

I know what most people on here would say, but its up to you. You probably already know the risks involved. You could end up with 3 singles.

ETA: One meeting was in the kitchen and the other was through bars of a pen.
 
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I don't think you can tell either way. I've known a bunny who would take any bunny pre spay, and post spay got very anti bunny.

I've known others who are demons before the spay, and after the spay were very easy to bond.

I don't think you can tell because, essentially, it's a completely different bunny when you remove the hormones.
 
Thanks guys, I will be doing a lot of fundraising and selling things once I've moved house (so next week) to cover vaccs and neuters for the bunnies Alice is having from me, so look out for those.

Thanks Sky-O, will bear that in mind.

I dont know what to do. I cant bear the thought of one of my pair bonding with her and the other not, or one getting left out. There's no way I can afford 2 pairs. But I am going to add to the group eventually anyway, but was planning to do it when I actually have a proper income, when I'm a teacher in 2 years. I dont know, the sensible thing to do is wait, but I woke up crying this morning at the thought of her going! I think perhaps its a case of pulling myself together and being sensible, but I cant help thinking I've let her down somehow by uprooting her world yet again.
 
I am faced with the decision of whether to keep the mummy of the rexes I rescued. Now she isnt spayed, is there ANY way of guaging suitability with my pair before spaying? Because if they didnt bond as a trio I couldnt keep her :(

But I know she'll be fairly hard to rehome is she goes into rescue, as she is so scared, but she is getting better and sort of trusts me now :love: and despite not naming her to stop this happening I have actually grown attached.

From my own experience I don't think there is any way of knowing if it will work in advance. Putting them side by side with your bunnies may upset your own pair so I woudl avoid doing this, this could also result in difficulties longer term in bonding them all together
 
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