Human and bunny missing our pal - best way to proceed for surviving bun

My lovely Pip died this morning, whilst staying at the vets. Took him in late last night. Wracked with guilt as it was pasteurella and I keep thinking, if only I'd spotted sooner. They have both been to vet numerous times with sneezing and been fine, sometimes having baytril if ill. This time he just went downhill so fast. Keep crying when I realise he's not there. Sorry - wanted to say that around bunny lovers not people I know in real life.

Anyway I didn't put Mel (surviving bun) away last night - he slept on my bed. Probably will tonight too. Bun house/run is in my bedroom anyway.

Is there anything I should do? Will he be ok or waiting for Pip to come back? Mel was dominant bun btw if that makes a difference.

And how long should I leave it until bonding him with a new friend from the rescue?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, am much more shaken up by losing Pip that I would have expected...

I'm sorry you have lost Pip. It is heartbreaking when they go, particularly if it is unexpected.
Hopefully someone will be along soon who can answer your questions, but I would watch Mel for signs of her pining for her partner

I'm so sorry to hear that. We lost our 8 year old girl last month after a brave battle with pneumonia and she left behind her 7 year old boyfriend Harry.

The advice we were given by our vet was to find Harry a new partner as soon as possible - we rescued Molly two weeks ago to be his new partner (she's just been diagnosed with Pasteurella so your post makes for scary reading!! Do you mind me asking what happened with yours and if he had it long?), but in hindsight I think we should have waited longer. Harry doesn't seem ready to accept a new partner, and Molly hasn't got a clue how to behave around other bunnies having lived in a hutch all her life, so it's a bit of a mess. That said, I read that a new partner can help the bereaved bun to move on from their grief. Honestly I'm not sure there's a right or wrong way to approach this - go with what feels right for your household and for Mel.

Sending hugs - it's a truly rubbish time.xx

So sorry to hear this, sending hugs for you and Mel

Mel(anie) is a boy btw, if it makes any difference. They were both boys. Melanie knew his name by the time I realised he was a boy!

HannahB - When I was bonding my two it took ages and was just really weird. Mel was displaying some dominant behaviours but Pip was in a world of his own! He was a young pet shop/hutch bunny (5 months) and just not displaying any rabbity communication at all. Eventually Mel just seemed to go "Oh, all right then" and started grooming him to show him how it was done. So don't lose heart, I guess!

Please do double check what I am about to say! As far as I know, pasturella is just there once they have it and it doesn't go away. A bit like MRSA or other things in humans - if you swabbed us a lot of us would test positive but are perfectly healthy. It's only sometimes, usually if you are ill/weakened already, that you actually get ill with MRSA.

Both rabbits have been sneezing sometimes and get taken to the vet, and have been given baytril (antibiotic?) I took Pip to the vet 2 weeks ago for this reason, but it had already cleared up tbh. But this time the opposite happened and downhill really fast. Mel is a tough little thumper of a rabbit, whereas Pip was very delicate. I don't know, I just kind of always thought he seemed kind of fragile and knew he'd go first. I don't know if that helps at all. I was taking them in maybe every 3 months but twice they were fine... as they'd carried on eating I hadn't rushed them to the vet at the weekend, and they were fine by monday when I had an appointment! This time it just hit him really hard and he stopped eating, although I took him to out of hours vet as soon as I realised.

I'm so sorry xx