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Angie65

Wise Old Thumper
I don't know how to tell this story really.

I have a wildie bun - Bella. She was spayed forever ago- when she was 8mth old. Vet couldn't find "much" but everything there was removed. They told me to never keep her with an un-neutered male just in case.

I successfully bonded her into my group - but a few months in, she started bullying Smirnoff & Flint - the two boys in the group. I separated her - assuming it was "wildness".

I had too many singles - so got Jacob a partner - had her spayed, & bonded Bella with Tony, my honeybunny foster. All good. All bonded really easily, & left me with 3 pairs, a trio & a group. I was inventive with space - building runs around runs, adding levels - only had a referred aggression problem if Jacob & Bella saw each other- so dealt with that.. But Bella does this weird pacing thing, if she's not got a lot of space - I've assumed stress related?

A neighbour brought a baby bun round a while ago - they had found her & assumed she was mine. I kept her single for a while, & spoke to a local Rescue about taking her when she was older, but for ease, & space after a couple of months I put her with the group. No hormonal issues, she's good as gold. Fully intended spaying her - but was quite relaxed about it as she was the only un-neutered here, & I figured if I waited until spring, could get away with a dog crate in the playhouse after her spay - no bond broken.

When Smirnoff followed Flint to the Bridge earlier thisyear - I figured Tony might settle into an all girl group & tried him & Bells with the girls. All good. No problems. This meant Bells space was doubled overnight.

They've lived like that for a few weeks. The bonds seem quite close - there aren't any pairs now, like there used to be.

Saturday I was doing my weekly "big clean". I had done the playhouse & I have a old wooden 4ft hutch with no door as a run shelter in the aviary - actually added in case Tony didn't learn how to operate the the catflap properly -although he had it down within the first few hours. It was basically just stuffed with hay & a bowl of water as it didn't seem to freeze in there. Checked the hutch for buns, rolled it onto it's back & emptied it into a binbag. Half hour later - after chucking bin bag onto pile of binbags - I saw it was moving. Opened it up - a baby bun fell out. Completely searched entire binbag & found 3 others. Put all dirty materials back into hutch to rebuild nest with buns, & rang poor Angie on here bawling my eyes out.

Knew I had one unspayed girlie, on closer inspection, she had obviously being feeding & she's white & I'd found a bit of white fur in the nest. But bar Tony - everybun else had been spayed by my vet. Tony, on inspection was a neutered male. My only other two males - were Calel, & Jacob - both neutered ages before & not in the group. Angie told me to check wildie - I did. She has one ball the size of my little fingernail. She is tiny, but this is disproportionate

I am absolutely gutted that I risked all my buns like this by putting an un-neutered male with them. I was a bit angry with my vets on the phone - this was never brought up as a possible issue. Bella is getting neutered for free tomorrow - & is currently pacing in my emergency set up - a 6x4 run on concrete.

I separated Mum & put her in the hutch, with the intention of locking the group in the playhouse for a couple of hours a day, so she could have the run of the aviary. I checked the babies 11pm Sat night - all were alive but not "full". I wanted to give her a chance at feeding them, but couldn't sleep, so went out with my milk at 5am. All were dead. So she did a better job when left alone, with Dad & a load of other buns than when I got involved:cry:

Feel like a complete :censored: Girlie bun is booked in for a (free) emergency spay tomorrow :cry: , although have put her straight back in the group with no issues - she's going to the hutch a lot:cry:
 
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Oh hun, massive (((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))). You did everything you could for all of them. Its not your fault at all. I can't believe the vet could have not told you she was a he!! At least they are doing the emergency neuture and spay for free. Sending lots of vibes for mum bun xxxx
 
I know it's hard but please try not to blame yourself. You did what you thought was best for all of them under the circumstances. But sometimes these things are out of our control, and mother nature has her reasons for what she does :cry: sending hugs
 
It's very sad but none of us are clairvoyant or omnipotent (though a few members obviously come close). You did your best for everyone, including the kits, but sometimes the best laid plans go pear-shaped and hindsight then becomes a wonderful thing. Please don't beat yourself up. Good luck for the spay later this week.
 
What a total nightmare Angie :cry: It could happen to any of us really, why would you question your Vet whom you have used for ages.
I hope the two neuters go well and that they both make a full recovery.
 
So sorry this happened. I don't really know what to say. Good luck for the spay/neuter, and for getting them back together again if that's the plan.
 
I can only repeat what I said on the phone and what others have said here ...it realy isnt your fault...

no matter how hard we try sometimes there are going to be mistakes tat we cant help .

:(

You do so much for bunny welfare ...dont let this get you down .

hugs .x
 
What a horrible experience and must have been very traumatic for you :cry::cry: So very sorry - you couldn't have known xxx
 
It's so so sad and so unfair :cry:

So when they spayed the wildie, I wonder what they took away? If s/he is a hermaphrodite, then nobody could have predicted what happened, I would imagine that's extremely rare in wildies anyway? or maybe not if there's a lot of inbreeding?

It's all so incredibly sad :cry::cry::cry:

Sending vibes for the neuters.
 
Please don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault at all, how were you to know? If you've had your buns spayed and neutered at your own vet, why would you even think to question it?
I'm so sorry you had to go through this, and I'm sending you huge hugs. Hope the buns are ok tomorrow.
 
It's so so sad and so unfair :cry:

So when they spayed the wildie, I wonder what they took away? If s/he is a hermaphrodite, then nobody could have predicted what happened, I would imagine that's extremely rare in wildies anyway? or maybe not if there's a lot of inbreeding?

It's all so incredibly sad :cry::cry::cry:

Sending vibes for the neuters.

I'm hoping to get some more answers tomorrow. I've looked at her again tonight - and if I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't see that plum. Tis really tiny. They have dug her records out so they can see what was actually removed - my Bunsitter (vet nurse) who actually arranged for bun to come to me- remembers material being removed from what was said at time.
 
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