Temporary seperation of bonded pair

Hi,

Not a problem as such but more something that interested me.

Unfortunately one of my rabbits (Jasper) has an ear infection, I am on top of this from a health point of view. He spent yesterday at the vets getting various scans and tests. Any other previous visits to the vets Jasper and Jessica have always travelled together. They are free range house rabbits and although they do spend time sitting out of view, they are never apart too long and are very much in love.

As Jasper was off to the vets to be sedated he was away from Jessica all day. I was aware that seperating bonded pairs is best avoided so i was a little nervous bringing him home. I took the lid off the carry case and Jasper (the dominant bun) having been sedated was naturally groggy and probably stressed so just sat there. Jessica however went into a frenzy sniffing the outside of the carry case, rubbing her scent on it (probably as it had new smells) and then started sniffing Jasper in a frenzy but not grooming like she normally would. I stayed close before it was clear they were back to normal which probably took about 15 mins. Jessica is quite fiesty and she made me nervous. Was i just being paranoid or could the temporary seperation have sparked some territory issue, did she recognise him fully, what was she thinking?

thanks

Dan

No you weren't being paranoid, rabbits live by smell mainly and she would not recognise your little boy. She could have attacked him but fortunately she didn't. Sense prevailed before it was too late.

This happened to my two recently too after Truffle had an overnight stay at the vets. It took us 3 full days to get them back together again. It's normal.

Spending time at the vets can make a rabbit smell wrong and as scent is very important to rabbits for identifying individuals that can make them attack. One thing you can do, is give the returning rabbit a rub with some dirty bedding or a towel/blanket they've had before the trip - that can help put the scent right

Thanks guys.

Its not like she did anything wrong, she just seemed really on edge but to fair probably just really curious. She was turning her back on him after a min or so which made me think she recognised him or accepted him without even realising he was the same old jasper at first. They had a really easy bond first time around. I was all set to step in on their first meet but it was just easy.

Anyway fingers crossed they won't have to be separated again