Bonding sisters after spay

My girls have finally been spayed, last week they had their operations and everything went very well according to the vet. They had a check-up yesterday and everything's healing fine, they're starting to act like their normal selves again. The vet said it was alright to reintroduce them, so we put them in a neutral, fenced-off part of the pen that no bunny resides in to see how they would go. Now, Cleo has always been the aggressor. She's quite content around the boys, but when it comes to her sister she gets very cranky. Petra came over slowly to sniff Cleo, and out of nowhere Cleo attacked her and it was on, fur flying everywhere. I know their hormones might not have settled down completely just yet, and we've split them back up again for now. I know this is only early days and I was expecting some spats, but I was wondering if anybody has any suggestions for a particularly mean rabbit in bonding? Both of them get along just fine with the boys, it is Cleo's problem with Petra that is causing issues. I can honestly say for every time they have fought, 9/10 times it has been Cleo that struck first. It's not a health issue causing her aggression as the vet checked them both out and they are perfectly healthy. She's also only aggressive towards her sister, she's quite friendly to people and gets along very well with both the boys as I said before. What are some better ways to go about bonding them? Currently they are set up next to eachother with a dividing wall between them so they can see/smell eachother, is this a good idea? Is there anything I can do to make Cleo calmer around Petra? Is it possible she will just never get along with her sister?

I'd personally wait longer - we waited three weeks after neutering before introducing our girls to each other. I'm not sure how long its been since they were spayed?

How big is the area you're using roughly and what room is it?
How are they when they see each other through their dividing wall? Do they ignore each other, try to get at each other etc?

daphnephoebe said:

I'd personally wait longer - we waited three weeks after neutering before introducing our girls to each other. I'm not sure how long its been since they were spayed?

How big is the area you're using roughly and what room is it?
How are they when they see each other through their dividing wall? Do they ignore each other, try to get at each other etc?

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OK, we weren't really sure how long to wait. They've lived together their whole lives but recently their fights were getting nastier. When they weren't fighting before the spays though, they would snuggle next to eachother and stuff. It's only been a bit over a week, so we'll wait for another couple before we try again. The area is about 3 x 3 meters, not a room but a big pen outdoors. They seem fine with the divide between them, no aggression there. I've caught them both sniffing eachother and lying down together against the divide, Cleo especially hangs out as close as she can.

I am afraid the Vet's advice was not good. I hope your bunnies are ok. I would give them another month for hormones to settle, and with some females this is not long enough.

They say six weeks after a spay for hormones to go down/away

I have female sisters who were spayed and tried bonding them myself, and every-time binky the aggressive rabbit went near Bella - Bella wouldn't do anything apart from try to be nice and binky would try and fight her!
Honestly I ended up not being brave enough to keep them together because I'd sat with them for twelve hours and couldn't cope lol

Goodluck, bonding females is more difficult Xx



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Do they normally live with the boys? Could you introduce them all together (not sure how many you have).

When my bucks fell out (just after being neutered) I left them apart for a couple of months to forget their differences then introduced them to each other, adding in two bonded does. They now all live happily as a quad.

The area sounds good. And the fact there is no aggression between the bars is also a good sign.
I'd say leave them a little longer for hormones to fully settle (min 4 weeks post spay) and then introduce them. Make sure its a place you'd happily stay in for a few days if needed.

In the mean time you can feed them so they eat near each other. Our girls used to share their veg through the bars & had litter trays of hay side by side (separating panel between them) to encourage them to relax.

tonibun said:

I am afraid the Vet's advice was not good. I hope your bunnies are ok. I would give them another month for hormones to settle, and with some females this is not long enough.

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Oh dear... Well, I definitely won't be trying to put them back together anytime soon.

aaammmyyy said:

They say six weeks after a spay for hormones to go down/away

I have female sisters who were spayed and tried bonding them myself, and every-time binky the aggressive rabbit went near Bella - Bella wouldn't do anything apart from try to be nice and binky would try and fight her!
Honestly I ended up not being brave enough to keep them together because I'd sat with them for twelve hours and couldn't cope lol

Goodluck, bonding females is more difficult Xx



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I was never told 6 weeks or anything like that... :? I suppose the vet more or less just performs the desexing operations for the local rabbit rescue, I might contact the lady there for some advice bonding them.

tulsi said:

Do they normally live with the boys? Could you introduce them all together (not sure how many you have).

When my bucks fell out (just after being neutered) I left them apart for a couple of months to forget their differences then introduced them to each other, adding in two bonded does. They now all live happily as a quad.

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They do normally live with the boys, 4 all up. The boys were a bonded pair when I got them, I've considered the idea of pairing them off with a girl each if things don't work out between the sisters, but I don't really want to separate the boys. I'll consider including them when I reintroduce the girls, they have always been a sort of mediator between them.

daphnephoebe said:

The area sounds good. And the fact there is no aggression between the bars is also a good sign.
I'd say leave them a little longer for hormones to fully settle (min 4 weeks post spay) and then introduce them. Make sure its a place you'd happily stay in for a few days if needed.

In the mean time you can feed them so they eat near each other. Our girls used to share their veg through the bars & had litter trays of hay side by side (separating panel between them) to encourage them to relax.

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Alright, I'll definitely leave them separated for a while longer. We have been feeding them near eachother actually, since Cleo hangs out there all the time we started putting her food there. I'm glad I'm at least doing that part right!

6 weeks after spay is when the hormones usually die down, and when they're fully healed internally - you can bond before that (though I know some people like to wait) , but that's what I meant Xx


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aaammmyyy said:

6 weeks after spay is when the hormones usually die down, and when they're fully healed internally - you can bond before that (though I know some people like to wait) , but that's what I meant Xx


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Oh, OK! Thankyou!

I had 2 sisters who were spayed at 5 months. The following day though they were so sad that I put them back together again so they only had 24 hours apart. They were back snuggling each other straight away. My vet advised me to keep them apart for 5 - 7 days but I just couldn't do it. Good luck with yours!!

jayne2710 said:

I had 2 sisters who were spayed at 5 months. The following day though they were so sad that I put them back together again so they only had 24 hours apart. They were back snuggling each other straight away. My vet advised me to keep them apart for 5 - 7 days but I just couldn't do it. Good luck with yours!!

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Aw, you got very lucky by the sounds of it then! Hopefully mine will be back snuggling together soon.