Bonding advice please

Hi everyone, I’m hoping that I can pick your brains for some ideas. I have two rescued rabbits who, until a couple of days ago, were totally loved up and absolutely adored each other. They are house bunnies with free reign and my flat is set up for them with a dog crate, tunnels, hay trays and varying cardboard box hides. Harry is an 18 month old giant continental, who I rescued at the start of the year. After he had settled in, had been neutered and vaccinated, this summer we adopted Amelia from the RSPCA. She is about 4 and a half and is a lion head-English spot cross.

While Harry is soft as anything and a total mummys boy, Amelia is very nervous of people. This isn’t a problem as we are a quiet, adult only home and she seems to have gained quite a bit of confidence from seeing how Harry behaves around us. Harry and Amelia were first introduced at the RSPCA and we brought Amelia home with us the same day. Harry fell in love with Amelia at first sight and although Amelia was less convinced initially, after a couple of days she was smitten too. I took a weeks holiday to bond them and after two days they were inseparable. This was two months ago and in this time they hadn’t had a single squabble.

Last night I got home from work to find fur everywhere, Harry lying sprawled out in the hay tray (as usual) but Amelia hiding in one of her boxes, very nervous. As the evening went on, as Amelia tried to get access to the hay Harry would lunge at her, she would shoot away and he would then chase her. This happened a couple of times with me breaking it up and Amelia clearly becoming nervous of Harry.

I put a second hay tray in the living room, in addition to the one they share (there is another one in the kitchen as well) and they seemed happier with this arrangement. This morning though, they had quite a fight, fur everywhere and Amelia was absolutely terrified. I couldn’t leave them alone unsupervised for the whole day, so I felt my only option was to split them up. As Harry is so big, I can’t do cages side by side as I would do for smaller rabbits, so Harry is in the kitchen and Amelia in the living room for today. I’m really worried that by splitting them completely today I could break their bond but the only other alternative was shutting Amelia in the dog crate and leaving Harry with free reign, which I thought might be stressful for Amelia and make her territorial of the cage and Harry even more territorial of the room. When I get home we’re going to take them straight out in the car to try and rebond them but I would really appreciate any suggestions.

Thank you for reading and I’m sorry that it is such an essay!

Sammy

Firstly, well done for seeking help

I would wonder if one of them is a little under the weather (as in poorly/sick). Rabbit bond dynamics are extremely complicated, and the simplest thing can set them off.

Have either of them had a recent health check by a rabbit savvy vet?

Also, has ANYTHING however small or seemingly insignificant changed in their environment?

Hi Graham, thank you for your reply. As far as I can think of nothing has changed in their environment, we haven't moved furniture round, their main things (hay trays, dog crate, boxes and tunnels) are all still in the same positions, their routine is still the same, their diet hasn't changed, we haven't had any visitors who would have disturbed them, etc.

They're both up to date on their vaccinations and Harry last had a health check on 1st August (we're very lucky to have a rabbit savvy vet who has experience with giants close by) before we adopted Amelia, and she had her last health check on 9th August before she came to us. They seem fine, they've not been withdrawn or off their food at all but you're right, I think another check up would be a good idea

Think it might be worthwhile as you say getting them checked out - it might simply be that the weather change has upset them a bit.

It may be worth getting them both in a carrier and taking them for a car journey for 10 minutes together to remember they are friends perhaps

Thank you for your advice Graham

I thought I would just post a bit of an update as to what my beautiful rabbit Harry has been through in the last few months. Shortly after posting here for the first time Harry started to lose weight. He was still eating the same amount as always and seemed happy in himself and the vet could find no obvious cause, so we increased his pelleted food and monitored closely. Over the next month he continued to seem fine within himself, maintained his weight and was rebounded to Amelia quite happily. Then all of a sudden their bond broke again and he had a down day where he seemed slightly withdrawn. Harry has always been exceptionally motivated by food and (he’ll take a running jump to land in the middle of your plate if you’re eating on the sofa and he will leap from the floor on to the kitchen counter when you’re trying to make dinner!) in the evening he became fussy over his food and so we took him straight back to the vets who admitted him with dehydration. They put him on an IV (which he hated bless him), gave him metacam and metoclopramide and ran a full blood test. The next morning he was back to his cheery self and we were allowed to take him home.

The next day the blood results came back and we were told he had a slightly lowered PCV, raised white blood cells and that his bile acids were ever so slightly high. An internal infection was suspected and so he was put on general antibiotics while they considered things further. From there he was back into the vets every few days going up and down but we continued to medicate him at home and he rebonded easily with Amelia.

After about a month of this we were no closer to knowing the cause and I was starting to think that maybe I could be imagining things as his up and down days weren’t enough for anyone else to notice. But he would go from clinging to me and following me closely to then sitting in the kitchen on his own and I really felt that something just wasn’t right. Then one night Harry refused a carrot and I just knew something was terribly wrong. I rang our vets but they share their out of hours service with another practice and the girl I spoke to just didn’t understand how important it was that he see a vet right away. She told me to try again over the next few hours and to take him to see my usual vet in the morning. Luckily I had spoken to Fat Fluffs a few days before and they had given me the details for their vet, who I called in desperation. They were fantastic and told me to head over straight away. At this point I should say thank you to my wonderful boyfriend for driving us to Coventry in the middle of the night! When we got there, the vet was wonderful, they did a thorough examination and admitted him. He was there for several days while they tried to get him back eating as normal and they took such wonderful care of him. I was there every day to see him and they put up with me calling through the night to see how he was doing.

At this point it was thought the most likely cause of his problems was an intestinal blockage and when Harry perked up slightly and started nibbling at veggies they recommended to me that we transfer him to a rabbit specialist. They managed to build him up to a stage where they were hopeful that he would survive the journey and my brilliant mum took us to Bristol to the Highcroft referral centre. We left him there on the Saturday evening and I travelled back down on the Monday for his appointment with the specialist vet. After being examined by several of the vets, the next day I was told that they believed he may have liver torsion and that exploratory surgery was his only hope. The decision to operate has to be the most difficult decision I have ever made but thank goodness it was the right one, as when they opened him up they found that an entire liver lobe had become twisted. They think that it may have been twisting and untwisting, causing him to have up and down days and then the night he stopped eating was when it had twisted completely. They removed the entire lobe – one third of his liver. The vets were wonderful and they took me through and allowed me to stay with Harry for the next few hours while he came round from the anaesthetic. That night and the next few days were touch and go but all of the staff were wonderful and let me stay with Harry throughout his time with them. I’m sure that this made such a difference to his recovery as I was so worried that he would think he had been abandoned and lose his will to make it and it enabled me to be there tempting him with his favourite food and keeping him company when the staff were busy with other patients.

We’re now three and a half months on and while Harry is still on some medication, he is doing brilliantly. He is back to being his usual cheeky self, raiding the shopping bags, stealing my boyfriends spot on the sofa and trying to force his way inside the fridge every time it opens! I can’t believe that we have made it this far and I am so grateful for every extra day that I have with him. Hes been so strong through it all, so brave and so determined. I owe so much to the vets who wouldn’t give up on him and to my family for supporting me while I supported him.

I’m sorry this has been such a ramble and thank you to anyone who reads it!

I'm so glad he is on the mend. It's so fortunate that you acted on your intuition. Big hugs to your lovely bunny (and you after all that stress!!!) Take care.

Cookie Crumble said:

I'm so glad he is on the mend. It's so fortunate that you acted on your intuition. Big hugs to your lovely bunny (and you after all that stress!!!) Take care.

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Thank you

Oh gosh, your story brought a tear to my eye, what a journey you have all been on together. Amazing news that he is getting back to being himself again, and what a wonderful bunny mummy you are to seek out the very best care for him and help him through all that. Sending very best wishes that he continues to go from strength to strength

Thank you Annie, thats really kind