Neutralising the living room for bonding

Ok, so i'm planning on bonding Harvey and Coco is a few weeks (i hope), once Coco is all healed from her spay op.

For the actual bonding process i can put them in a pen in our bedroom (hubby is going to love it!!). But i understand from reading around the topic (inc the Bonding guide from the Rabbit Crossing) that i need to neutralise the space they are going to live long term as much as possible.

At the moment Harvey is in the living room, which is where we will have them both once bonded. He gets very territorial, especially about the sofa (which his cage opens out onto). He has peed on it many times :roll: and i now have a litter tray for him on there as i could never persuade him to move the extra 1ft into his cage to go pee.

When Coco is in the living room i shut Harvey in his cage and let Coco run around. When she goes on the sofa near his cage Harvey goes mental, chewing and clawing at the bars and sort of charging at her (even though he cant get to her). So my worries are a) is this a really bad sign for a bond, will it ever work? b) will he ever accept her on the sofa, even after they are bonded? c) How can i 'neutralise' the sofa and carpet etc to try to help him not to think of it as 'his'?

Any tips much appreciated, i've never done this before!

Harvey is getting too stressed by the sight of Coco in his territory. Can you not let Coco run around somewhere else until they are bonded? Once they are bonded Harvey won't be as territorial over the sofa although it will still need to be neutralised as well as can be. White vinegar and water is what most people use but I have never had to neutralise a sofa so not sure about that.

Thanks Tonibun. I live in a two bed terrace house. i'm keeping the main bedroom neutral for bonding, the second bed is my OH's office (he is self employed and lots of cables, books etc so no freeranging in there) and that only leaves the living room and a tiny galley kitchen, so there really is nowhere else for Coco to go I could try to stop her getting on the sofa, but she like to cuddle up with me there and it would really reduce the space she has to roam. I generally keep her away from his end of the sofa so he doesn't get stressed, but i'm mainly worried about long term territorialness (not sure thats a word). How can i make the space more neutral when they 'move in' together?

As I said before, when they are bonded he won't be territorial with her. I have never had to neutralise a room, some others have so maybe someone else will reply to you about that.

Thanks Tonibun. I appreciate your response. Hopeful he will be ok with her, but i'm concerned once i move tehm out of the bonding pen into their 'real' accommodation he will revert back to being territorial if the living room is not totally neutral.

If you keep them together for 1-2 weeks it should be ok. You can do some neutralising especially where he's toiletted. You can use a pet friendly disinfectant to spray here and there on the carpet. By the time they return to the living room it should be ok.

Fantastic, that's really good to know. Thanks im going to take a long weekend (4 days) to do the main bonding bit. They can stay together in our bedroom for a week or two after that without it being a problem.

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Hi bizziel

I echo what tonibun has said. He should be fine with her in his territory once bonded. Bailey is fine with Belle now they have moved into his room. I thoroughly neutralised the room (it's the conservatory however so no soft furnishings, but if your sofa is fabric, perhaps put the covers in the wash?) and moved things around a bit so it looked and smelt different. It obviously worked as Bailey looked quite confused when they went back in and hopped around smelling everything inquisitively.

Whilst Belle was healing from her spay I kept her in a different part of the house, but an area Bailey did spend time before she came. After a few weeks I was advised to let each other hop around each others cages whilst each other were in them. Unfortunately this didn't go well and Bailey was doing exactly what Harvey is doing. I was told to stop these encounters and just go straight into bonding as the buns may develop negativity towards each other even before the bond? Not sure if this would have happened though (maybe someone else has some experience of that?) To be safe, is there anyway Coco could fit in the kitchen at all?

xxx


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Hi Emma. Thanks, I'll keep Coco away from Harvey's cage from now on.

Unfortunately the kitchen is very narrow (less than a metre wide of floor space) so there is literally nowhere for her to go that wouldn't be in the way of the cupboards, oven, fridge etc. However, Harvey doesn't seem to mind her on the floor in the living room, it's just the sofa near his cage he objects to so I think I can work around it.

The sofa is one of those futon ones, I've scrubbed the area he has peed on and now it's covered in a waterproof bedsheet, in case he strikes again. I'll make sure I wash the sheet and cushions etc. Do you think some kind of natural fragrance mind help, maybe lavender, to cover up any remaining scent?

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I'd definitely use vinegar (my house only smelt like a chip shop for about a day.haha) and yeah, don't see why lavender wouldn't work?

Once bonded he should be okay with the sofa though

Lots of luck!

xxxx


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Great, thanks Emma. I'll be off to Tesco for my bulk vinegar order :thumb: