Jaffacake
Alpha Buck
This is my first time using these forums, although I've often looked to them for advice =D I really wanted to share the story of my newest family member, how we came to have her, and some pictures of my two babies together and their new set-up. If you want to skip the very long story, the link to the pictures is at the bottom =]
I bought two lovely rabbits with my family at the end of November- Foxglove and Merry. They were meant to be girls, but turned out to be boys and after a while Merry started bullying his brother. We got them from Pets at Home (something I would never do again) and they were both sick with snuffles. We took them to the vets at the petshop for a free check rather than our usual vets and she didn't tell us what was wrong, she just said they had a cold because they were stressed by the move, it happens to most rabbits and would get better. We pushed her and got a course of antibiotics for them which made no difference, and the fighting got so bad they had to be separated. Foxie had some quite bad wounds on his testicles and was a mess. Merry then started attacking our cats, and was angry and miserable all the time. We booked him in at the same vets to be castrated and he unfortunately passed away in January during the operation.
After this we returned to our original vets who said that often rabbits from pet shops have poor health and it was likely Foxie would have a chronic illness for the rest of his life. We tried two more courses of antibiotics but there was no difference. He appeared happy in himself, and the only affect the snuffles has on him is occassional sneezes. The vet said that due to his snuffles castration would be dangerous. This upset me as I know how much bunnies need company! The only other solution we had was to turn him into a house rabbit who had free run of the kitchen at night and free run of the garden during the day, as well as lots of cuddles and attention. We put a child gate into the kitchen so we could have him be part of the goings on in the house and spent as much time with him as possible until he became genuinely the friendliest rabbit I have ever met. I watch TV now with him flopped out on my back licking me =P He also became quite good friends with the cats!
However, we can't always be around, and there are many times when I would look in the garden and he'd be huddled in the corner looking depressed. He stopped 'hoppity skippity jumping' as I call his binkying, and he didn't play with his toys anymore. This is when I started pestering my family that it might be worth the risk to get him a friend. Foxie has never shown any sexual behaviour. He was attacked quite badly by his brother and had to be on medication for damage to his testicles and I think this did something towards calming him. He is really placid, he doesn't spray, he doesn't even 'play' with his football and teddies like my old neutered rabbits used to. I read a lot of online forums and advice pages that said that in cases where an unneutered male rabbit is very placid bonding with a neutered female is possible.
I found a lovely little girl at our local shelter who seemed perfect! She was 6 months old (the same age as him), very friendly, slightly bigger than our tiny boy, and desperately looking for a home! My family didn't want to risk getting her and then him going crazy and having to risk putting him under for castration, but at a charity event at the shelter I got them to go look at her and they all fell in love! They chatted to the staff about our issues, paid to reserve her and booked her to be spayed. After much questioning the shelter agreed to let us have her if we ensured we got Foxie done if it was necessary. She was done two weeks ago, and we picked her up last Monday. We've named her Belladonna Took from Lord of the Rings. We think fluffy footed rabbits suit hobbit names so we've had a Bilbo, a Merry and now a Belladonna! It also fits as Belladonna and Foxglove are both beautiful but poisonous flowers. We kept her completely separate for 24 hours, but she hated being cooped up in the house so we divided the garden and put her outside. We've been swapping their hutches every night, and letting them take turns in the big area of the garden and turns in the house with us too.
I've bought them a new 6ft by 2ft by 2ft two tier hutch for overnight and some new toys, and we have an old 4ft cage that we are using whilst we are bonding them. I can't believe I used to keep rabbits in that cage. Even though it was only overnight, I still feel bad for not realising it was small. Our rabbits have always had run of the garden during the day and access to the house, but for overnight it wasn't until I started reading the RWA website that I realised why a decent hutch is still necessary. They are both small rabbits, and they look so happy in there =D We still have the child gate in the kitchen, a litter box in the corner and a cat flap so they can come inside =P Bella seems almost as comfy in the house as Foxie is!
We were planning on waiting another week at least before letting them in any area together, but earlier on today they were flopped out beside each other either side of the fence looking so happy that we opened the gate and carefully supervised them together. Absolutely no problems! No sexual behaviour, he didn't even try to mount her for dominance, no fighting or aggression of any sort. They literally sniffed each other, started running round the whole garden 100 miles an hour hoppity skippity jumping and then both flopped out in different parts of the 'run' area and ignored each other. It was hilarious! For another week we will keep them in separate cages so Belladonna can heal completely, and I know it is still early days. But honestly it looks like bunny love is on the horizon!!
Here are some pictures of them playing. I hope that from you bunny lover's perspective we are doing this alright? Foxie definitely seems happier, and Bell is already following us round the house and garden and giving us bunny kisses.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95220398@N08/
=]
I bought two lovely rabbits with my family at the end of November- Foxglove and Merry. They were meant to be girls, but turned out to be boys and after a while Merry started bullying his brother. We got them from Pets at Home (something I would never do again) and they were both sick with snuffles. We took them to the vets at the petshop for a free check rather than our usual vets and she didn't tell us what was wrong, she just said they had a cold because they were stressed by the move, it happens to most rabbits and would get better. We pushed her and got a course of antibiotics for them which made no difference, and the fighting got so bad they had to be separated. Foxie had some quite bad wounds on his testicles and was a mess. Merry then started attacking our cats, and was angry and miserable all the time. We booked him in at the same vets to be castrated and he unfortunately passed away in January during the operation.
After this we returned to our original vets who said that often rabbits from pet shops have poor health and it was likely Foxie would have a chronic illness for the rest of his life. We tried two more courses of antibiotics but there was no difference. He appeared happy in himself, and the only affect the snuffles has on him is occassional sneezes. The vet said that due to his snuffles castration would be dangerous. This upset me as I know how much bunnies need company! The only other solution we had was to turn him into a house rabbit who had free run of the kitchen at night and free run of the garden during the day, as well as lots of cuddles and attention. We put a child gate into the kitchen so we could have him be part of the goings on in the house and spent as much time with him as possible until he became genuinely the friendliest rabbit I have ever met. I watch TV now with him flopped out on my back licking me =P He also became quite good friends with the cats!
However, we can't always be around, and there are many times when I would look in the garden and he'd be huddled in the corner looking depressed. He stopped 'hoppity skippity jumping' as I call his binkying, and he didn't play with his toys anymore. This is when I started pestering my family that it might be worth the risk to get him a friend. Foxie has never shown any sexual behaviour. He was attacked quite badly by his brother and had to be on medication for damage to his testicles and I think this did something towards calming him. He is really placid, he doesn't spray, he doesn't even 'play' with his football and teddies like my old neutered rabbits used to. I read a lot of online forums and advice pages that said that in cases where an unneutered male rabbit is very placid bonding with a neutered female is possible.
I found a lovely little girl at our local shelter who seemed perfect! She was 6 months old (the same age as him), very friendly, slightly bigger than our tiny boy, and desperately looking for a home! My family didn't want to risk getting her and then him going crazy and having to risk putting him under for castration, but at a charity event at the shelter I got them to go look at her and they all fell in love! They chatted to the staff about our issues, paid to reserve her and booked her to be spayed. After much questioning the shelter agreed to let us have her if we ensured we got Foxie done if it was necessary. She was done two weeks ago, and we picked her up last Monday. We've named her Belladonna Took from Lord of the Rings. We think fluffy footed rabbits suit hobbit names so we've had a Bilbo, a Merry and now a Belladonna! It also fits as Belladonna and Foxglove are both beautiful but poisonous flowers. We kept her completely separate for 24 hours, but she hated being cooped up in the house so we divided the garden and put her outside. We've been swapping their hutches every night, and letting them take turns in the big area of the garden and turns in the house with us too.
I've bought them a new 6ft by 2ft by 2ft two tier hutch for overnight and some new toys, and we have an old 4ft cage that we are using whilst we are bonding them. I can't believe I used to keep rabbits in that cage. Even though it was only overnight, I still feel bad for not realising it was small. Our rabbits have always had run of the garden during the day and access to the house, but for overnight it wasn't until I started reading the RWA website that I realised why a decent hutch is still necessary. They are both small rabbits, and they look so happy in there =D We still have the child gate in the kitchen, a litter box in the corner and a cat flap so they can come inside =P Bella seems almost as comfy in the house as Foxie is!
We were planning on waiting another week at least before letting them in any area together, but earlier on today they were flopped out beside each other either side of the fence looking so happy that we opened the gate and carefully supervised them together. Absolutely no problems! No sexual behaviour, he didn't even try to mount her for dominance, no fighting or aggression of any sort. They literally sniffed each other, started running round the whole garden 100 miles an hour hoppity skippity jumping and then both flopped out in different parts of the 'run' area and ignored each other. It was hilarious! For another week we will keep them in separate cages so Belladonna can heal completely, and I know it is still early days. But honestly it looks like bunny love is on the horizon!!
Here are some pictures of them playing. I hope that from you bunny lover's perspective we are doing this alright? Foxie definitely seems happier, and Bell is already following us round the house and garden and giving us bunny kisses.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95220398@N08/
=]
I hope the bonding continues to go well, you certainly see to be off to a good start and they are happy bunnies 
