After the death of my little boy in August I now have an elderly widow. Pandora turned 8 at the beginning of September and while she maintains her mobility, she does have worsening kidney insufficiency and a chronic nasal issue that keeps requiring medication. A couple of weeks ago she had a sudden and inexplicable bout of stasis that involved her being full of gas (x-ray) from front to back and not passing anything for a day and a half. Thankfully she was strong enough to make it through.
She's on the waiting list to be bonded at the rescue that I work at. After a bond they plan to start tomorrow, she appears to be next in line.
Here's the thing- if the boy bunny tomorrow successfully bonds, only two male rabbits will be left (if they have no new intakes). I had thoughts about one of them already and today I asked how old he is. Both rabbits, who came in together, are SEVEN.
For the people in the rabbit section at work, they thought this sounded fantastic. A seven year old and eight year old? Good matchmaking!
I don't want to discriminate against an older rabbit, especially as an elderly rabbit is few people's first choice, but his age has now got me a bit concerned. I also don't know exactly how seven he is; in the lifespan of a rabbit there is a bit of a difference between "he was six a week ago" and "he will be eight next month". He could be only a month younger than Pandora for all I know.
On one level, there is this- I have never had a rabbit reach the age of 9. My first rabbit, my only other female, was three weeks shy. Pandora is making a good attempt to take the crown but if we consider that getting to 9 is a good feat, especially with chronic health issues, getting to 10 is perhaps stretching it rather a bit. The odds are that I will lose Pandora within the next year, two at best. This will leave me with an elderly widower, potentially eight or nine years old, who may have his own health issues by that point, but also leave me open to a double whammy of losing both rabbits within a short time period.
What worries me more though is the fact that, excusing incidents like the bout of stasis, there's no particular reason to think that Pandora is going any time soon (touch wood). If their ages may only be months apart, there's nothing inappropriate about him having old age take him to the great beyond before her, which would make her a widow for the third time and she would be older and more infirm than she is now. That concerns me a lot.
Of course I appreciate that even if I got her a younger boy anything can happen to any rabbit at any age and at any time (indeed, it already has to her previous two husbuns!) but I can't help but think that getting a male entering the twilight of his own life might be setting her up a bit.
On the other hand, he's still going to be old and still going to exist whether I adopt him or not, someone has to go for it!
What do you guys think? :?
She's on the waiting list to be bonded at the rescue that I work at. After a bond they plan to start tomorrow, she appears to be next in line.
Here's the thing- if the boy bunny tomorrow successfully bonds, only two male rabbits will be left (if they have no new intakes). I had thoughts about one of them already and today I asked how old he is. Both rabbits, who came in together, are SEVEN.
For the people in the rabbit section at work, they thought this sounded fantastic. A seven year old and eight year old? Good matchmaking!
I don't want to discriminate against an older rabbit, especially as an elderly rabbit is few people's first choice, but his age has now got me a bit concerned. I also don't know exactly how seven he is; in the lifespan of a rabbit there is a bit of a difference between "he was six a week ago" and "he will be eight next month". He could be only a month younger than Pandora for all I know.
On one level, there is this- I have never had a rabbit reach the age of 9. My first rabbit, my only other female, was three weeks shy. Pandora is making a good attempt to take the crown but if we consider that getting to 9 is a good feat, especially with chronic health issues, getting to 10 is perhaps stretching it rather a bit. The odds are that I will lose Pandora within the next year, two at best. This will leave me with an elderly widower, potentially eight or nine years old, who may have his own health issues by that point, but also leave me open to a double whammy of losing both rabbits within a short time period.
What worries me more though is the fact that, excusing incidents like the bout of stasis, there's no particular reason to think that Pandora is going any time soon (touch wood). If their ages may only be months apart, there's nothing inappropriate about him having old age take him to the great beyond before her, which would make her a widow for the third time and she would be older and more infirm than she is now. That concerns me a lot.
Of course I appreciate that even if I got her a younger boy anything can happen to any rabbit at any age and at any time (indeed, it already has to her previous two husbuns!) but I can't help but think that getting a male entering the twilight of his own life might be setting her up a bit.
On the other hand, he's still going to be old and still going to exist whether I adopt him or not, someone has to go for it!
What do you guys think? :?