rabbit bereavement time...

Hi!
unfortunately my little girl died at the end of Jan, I was with her and I brought her husbun in to say goodbye. He spent the entire duration pawing at her head trying to wake her and then sat on her all protectively before I had to remove him.

that day he spent binking, and I mean mental binking, running, prancing and grunting. Hmmm I thought. He is a stupid rabbit anyway (ha he really really is, just a big ball of stupidness who loves his food and goes into random attacks of running and bashing into things, I love him really), after that we spent a week of him looking for her and now he spends every evening sat watching tv with us. Still eating, still running, still random binks.

I will eventually get him another bun for company but not until I'm 100% and sorted as it wouldn't be fair, but I'm wondering how long that should be or are there no set rules? He seems ok in himself, obviously lonely on his tod but no issues health wise or with food....

Hi :wave:
I think it depends on you and your bunny. I know when we lost Wilbur I couldn't stand seeing Otis on his own (he is an outside bun and hates coming in the house) so took him to meet Miranda within the same week. Luckily they hit it off straight away and have been together since they first met.
Otis didn't seem to mind being on his own at all but I felt really bad. It was Christmas time and I didn't like to think of him being cold without anyone to snuggle
Sorry for your loss and I hope you and her husbun are doing ok x.

love to you both.xxx

Hi there,
I'm so sorry you lost your wee girl.
Sounds like your little boy taken it in his stride, that's not to say he didn't have a strong bond with your girl, he obviously did given his actions on the day she passed, but just that all rabbits deal with things differently, and differently to us too.
In my experience, and I've only had to go through this once, my bunny boy was ready for another bunny friend much quicker than I was. I sensed he was sad so we went to the rescue for bunny dating after 7 days, I found it hard to do, thinking I was replacing the lost bun so quickly, but I just felt it was right for him so I put him first. He licked the new girl within a couple of minutes so I knew I'd done the right thing for him and that made me smile for the first time in 7 days.
One thing I would say is be prepared for you to find it difficult, or even impossible, to bond with the new bun at least for a couple of weeks, it's odd seeing your bun with another bun, but this will pass.
Good luck to you and your wee boy xx

Thanks for all the replies!!! Yeah I think I'm more bothered about my reaction to another, Domino was my little girl that I had since she was 8 weeks old. She was extremely easy to handle and such a character, never known anything like it in my life. She even used to jump on me when I'd fallen asleep on the sofa to see if I was still alive before jumping off and binking. To be honest I've not properly grieved for her if that makes sense due to everything else going on so even though I know it is best for him I'm not sure if I'm ready yet, ha. How odd.

Yeah he is a big softy, he loved her very much. She just tolerated him and I think over their relationship I saw her clean his eyes about 5 times in total whereas he was all about the "love meeeeeeee!!!". having said that she did bully and use him (so she could escape...), he was originally a rescue bun so came from being on his own to the mad house, now he gets to have all the food without someone bopping him on the head to get out of the food bowl or running off with his treat.

We are both fine thank you, he isn't a cuddle bun but likes to follow my feet a lot....

Well we shall watch this space then

I think if your buns seems ok in himself, and you can give him more time and attention, then waiting until your more ready for a new bunny won't hurt. I think that was what stopped me bonding with my new girl, I was still grieving the loss of my girl. But it was a reciprocal process, as I came to terms gradually with my grief, I bonded more with my new girl, and visa versa.

My bun was grieving and was not happy so I did it ASAP I wasn't ready I was still grieving but I is what was best for her and in the end it did help me but I am still dealing even now xxx