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Bonding an entire and a neutered male

d2007ave

Young Bun
Hi
I wonder if you can help, we are looking to get a companion for our 1 year old male bunny, not neutered .
Ideally we were looking to get a neutered female, but a friend is looking to find a home for their 2 year old neutered male. We thought to maybe try rehome him. Would it be a practical pairing or is it likely to be problematic?

My friends bunny appears quite docile, more so than our jumping jack of a rabbit
Thank you for your advice
 
I think what would most likely happen iis that your rabbit would assume the other one is a female and would keep trying to mate with him. (her)! Even if your rabbit was neutered the chances of them both being compatible are small compared with a male/female pairing. So you would have to have your bunny neutered first before trying to pair him off with another rabbit.
 
:wave: getting a companion for your male is an excellent idea, but he will need to be neutered first whoever you try and bond him with. Male bunnies, however docile, still have nature's instinct to pass on their genes, so two male bunnies together with one unneutered will result in very serious fighting - and male bunnies tend to go straight to the testicles, which would result in very painful injuries to your existing bunny. I once fostered a bunny who had been injured in this way and he constantly weed up himself because the injuries gave him a wonky willy - and I've known of another whose injuries were so severe that the bunny ended up having to be put to sleep.

Similarly, if trying with a neutered female (unneutered not recommended for obvious reasons!) the hormones will mean that he will hump her constantly and she is likely to get extremely irritated with him which again could result in fights - also when they get excited they tend to hump the other bunny's head and I have also known injuries where bunny's bits have been bitten by a grumpy bun being humped! It's not fair on the female to keep her with an unneutered male, and it's not really fair on the male either as he will get so frustrated and also risk injury.

Neutering males is a quick and straightforward operation, so as long as you have a good bunny vet who undertakes lots of castrations without problem, there isn't really a big worry about getting it done. It used to be quite risky but these days it isn't really at all. Once neutered and calmed down over 6 weeks or so, you could try him with the other male if he is still on offer - and it may work - or you could try finding a neutered female from a rescue to try him with. Same sex bonds can be trickier than male/female ones, but it sounds as if you may have opportunity to at least try.

Good luck x x
 
I would advise getting your present rabbit neutered, anyway, for his own sake as well as for bonding reasons.
 
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